zeppelinchld Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 what are some good ways to make money by building guitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 Well you have to sell them!!!!!!! better be good enough first. Doing set-ups, re-wires and repairs can keep the money coming in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 It's that old joke: to make a small fortune building guitars, start with a large one. It's a murderous marketplace, though. The best money is probably in guitar repair, otherwise you need to build a fantastic guitar, top notch quality, distinctive enough (but not too much...or not distinctive at all, as many out there make a living building clones), cut down production time so you actually end up making a decent wage, and then you've got to deal with issues like finding and keeping a customer base, etc. etc. etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 what are some good ways to make money by building guitars Get a job at the Gibson or Fender factory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaam Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 There was this post recently about hardwood/cf paddles for certain types of people. I think that'd be a good idea to make money to support your guitar projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 +1 on repairs. There a guy in town who retired after 35 years as an electrical engineer and opened up a repair shop to have something to do. He's been so busy since the day he opened 4 years ago that he's gonna have to retire again to be able to slow down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 Hire some Mexicans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheIRS Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 Hire some Mexicans That was unnecessary and really offensive. Besides that comment.. working at a repair shop or a big guitar factory are the two 'simplest' ways to make money with guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 Hire some Mexicans Goes straight to the heart of the illegal immigration problem. Offensive, yes... but I chuckled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 I'm not offended by my MIM strat. Beats the heck out of paying someone for a custom build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 Depends if you're buying or selling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 That was unnecessary and really offensive. Yeah, pretty offensive. Unless he's talking about those guys from Paracho.... man they work fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 what are some good ways to make money by building guitars Trick question, I say! The only way to make money in this field is to make a good name for yourself unless you're doing "for hire" work for multiple guitar shops in your area. I never plan on making a great deal of money doing what I do, but I'm happy to offer the quality work and put my power tools to work for the time being. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Hire some Mexicans That was unnecessary and really offensive. It's not really that offensive... Down here in good ol' San Antonio something like 65% (I think thats the number, but not sure) of our population is Latino. Everyone jokes about it, but there is no racism hate. I can see how someone how lives up north wouldn't fully understand it because all they ever hear about it is whats in the news. Back on topic, Mattia hit the nail on the head. You need a topnotch product, great matketing, and a way to make your topnotch product quickly so you can actually turn a profit. It's very very difficult to make a living doing nothing but building custom guitars. You have to be totally devoted to it, it's much like an artist, he might make next to nothing his entire life, but he still loves his job. You have to love it or leave it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 I read the question, and thought : yes, it's very hard to make good or decent money building guitars (and also repairing guitars). Now, what comes to my mind when I think about most of the factory photos I've seen of Fender, Rickenbacker, etc. Why does Fender come to mind ? Because I suspect they make more profit than any other guitar company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 (edited) The real money in repairing guitars is with vintage and high end instruments as well as warranty work. Are you good enough and qualified to do this kind of work? Otherwise, forget it. Over the past few months I've done repair work on numerous guitars, the most expensive was a Larrivee acoustic. I sure didn't make a lot of money, I'm talking 30 to 70 bucks a pop. These were mostly guitars that a regular established "luthier" would turn down because their price would likely be more than what the guitar was worth, unless the owner was fool enough to spend that kind of money or rich enough to pay because of some sort of sentimental value they had for the guitar. But in most cases the owners wouldn't want to shell out that kind of money on a cheap guitar. I only do the work to get the practice. Edited August 16, 2007 by Southpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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