Klarinet Archive - Posting 000139.txt from 1996/05

From: CLARK FOBES <reedman@-----.COM>
Subj: Instrument Repair as a Career
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 20:27:09 -0400

I really think that the job of repairing instruments is a wonderful
one in many respects. However, I get the impression that for those who
have never tried it it is over romanticized.

I am very, very fortunate in that I live in a city that will
support me in a very finely defined area of expertise - Clarinet
repair. It took 10 years of training and working for other shops before
I had the experience and confidence to stike out on my own. And after
20 years I am evolving into a mouthpiece maker and hope someday (VERY
SOON!) to quit repair work entirely and devote my efforts as an artisan
to mouthpiece making. Let's face it, the largest part of instrument
repair is very tedious. A clarinet overhaul requires 6 hours of sitting
at a bench performing many small intricate tasks. Do you have the
patience to do that?

"I want to enroll in an accellerated course.." There is no such
thing. Learning this trade well is a matter of training and repetition.
I would say the minimum time required to learn this with a modicum of
expertise is 2 years. After 5 years of working in a full on shop you
may have seen and worked through most of the problems.

I never went to a repair school. Thank God! I was fortunate to work
as an apprentice at a local music store in Fresno, CA. There I learned
brass repair, string repair and woodwind repair. Over time I gravitated
to woodwind repair exclusively, but the skills I picked up overhauling
trumpets and sousaphones sometimes still come in handy.

It is not enough to just want to learn this trade, you must have
talent. Do you know that you are good with your hands? Through out the
10 years I worked in shops both in Fresno and San Francisco I saw many
young men try to learn instrument repair and give up in total
frustration.

And yes, most people do appreciate good work. That appreciation may
not be expressed in a direct compliment, but building up a a devoted
clientele speaks volumes.

I have a wonderful life. I never work on weekends. I see customers
when I am available and I have complete flexibility to adjust my
schedule to suit my very active free-lance career. But, it has taken me
20 years of devotion to excellence in both careers to get where I am.
And I would say the first 10 years were often very frustrating, because
I was not my own boss.

So after all that, if you still have a burning desire to be a
musical instrument repair person go for it! Initially the wages may be
low, but in 20 years you may be on top of the heap!

Clark W Fobes