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I would like to retire in about five or six years’ time from my full time IT job, after my youngest finishes university. I would like to become a guitar and bass maintainer and repairer.
I have been looking after my own modest collection of acoustic and electric guitars (and will add a bass at Christmas) for a few years now and have built up a good set of tools, and feel very comfortable…
Areas where I have no experience are…
I will give myself some experience of the finish repairs and refinishes over the next few years, and I have an old acoustic that I want to work on that will give me some experience of bridge removal and replacement, and I can try taking the fingerboard off and replace that as well. But I’m not going to break any headstocks to gain that little bit of skill (my son has an SG anyway so it’s only a matter of time). But general woodwork is a bit of a hobby, so I do have some skills in gluing and clamping so hopefully if one ever comes my way I will be able to work on it.
I am not looking to be a guitar builder.
Are there any other areas that the more experienced repairers and maintainers of you out there think would be useful to get some experience of over the next five or six years?
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Comments
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jul/20/10-pound-a-week-recipes
The usual situation boils down to "make it wonderful" even though the typical customer cannot express in plain English what the faults are.
Some punters remember to say please and thank you. Many do not. This is understandable. People who do not understand how musical instruments work are unlikely to appreciate what work is involved in getting the best out of them. Similarly, people do not usually care to be told that there is only so much that can be done to rescue their low budget Argosocasters.
This should include your own.
Is there some sort of liability insurance you can get. I would have thought that should something accidentally happen to someones very expensive guitar whilst in your possession that would spell disaster in terms of the finances.
I think not being comfortable with removing fretboards and repairing headstock breaks etc is not unreasonable for a guitar tech. These kind of jobs are relatively uncommon anyway and declining these kind of requests should not affect income or reputation too much.
added: it took quite a few phone calls to track down exactly the right cover and it’s definitely worth finding a broker who specialises in this kind of thing to do it for you
www.rexterguitars.co.uk
If possible, set up something now so that you can take on a few jobs while you’re still working the IT side of things. Nothing massive.. maybe some basic setup stuff, fret work etc.
Itll help to get your name out locally and build up a customer base. It also worth buying broken guitars, fixing them and either selling them or using for practicing finish repairs on. Full on refinishing will probably require more time, space, money and equipment than anything you plan to do. Don’t be shy about finding a local finisher to take on your work if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself.
If you can do fretwork and setups I’d say you’ll have enough to keep you going nicely. But definitely get your name out locally and start building your business now before you retire from IT.
All the best with your venture
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