Klarinet Archive - Posting 000145.txt from 1996/05

From: Steve Fowler <sfowler@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Instrument Repair as a Career Change
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 22:28:06 -0400

> I may be leaving my lucrative high pressure job which I really
> do enjoy. I naturally would prefer to continue working doing something
> else that I enjoy and where doing the job correctly is appreciated.
> Instrument repair appears that it would meet both of these criteria.
> I would like to hear from the repair people on this group as to their
> thoughts on this. This may not interest a lot of people so you could email
> me directly if you can or will take the time to do so. Some of the questions
> I have are:
>
> Is quality work appreciated? It was in another specialised service business
> that I owned. There will always be the individual who wants quick and cheap
> but I would think most people would prefer the job done right at a slightly
> higher cost.

Quality work is always appreciated, although that appreciation may
not necessarily be acknowledged by way of monetary compensation. A
lot of what you find depends upon who you are working for. If you are
_really_ good... no, make that _GREAT_, at what you do, the
professional player will pay whatever you charge. Most will know the
value of your work and pay willingly.

The semi-pros are a little more trouble. These players make their
livings doing things other than playing, and may include some very
fine performers. It may also include those that play in community
bands or orchestras, or play in the Arbour Day Parade because they
enjoy playing, but don't have what it takes to make a living at it.
This is not necessarily due to a lack of talent, but for some reason they
choose not to compete at the professional level. This group usually
doesn't want to pay for the best. They forget that although they may
not be professional players, their instruments still require very
much the same care as the pros. As a tech, it is very difficult to do
incredible work on one instrument and only "fix what's wrong" on
others. To be honest, trying to make cheaper instruments play well
is a hell of a lot harder than it is to do a super job on a pro
instrument. However the customer doesn't care. They didn't "pay that
much for the instrument in the first place," therefore your time is
worth less to these people.

Next down the ladder come the students. These are the
customers that usually come in and tell you what is wrong and how
much their teacher said it will cost! :-( You need to be careful with
these guys. The ones that are going to be really good players are
used to knowing more about their instrument than most people working
in music stores today. When they talk to a tech, they usually don't
understand that you know more about their instrument than most of
their teachers. (College professors excepted. ;-)) You need to
educate them without stepping on their egos. You always listen to
them and try to decipher what it is that they _really_ need.

>Do you work for a dealer, are you a dealer? Are you self employed and is that
> in conjunction with a dealer? If you are employed is it a salary or commission
> basis? What kind of salary range can one expect doing this?
>
I have worked for the Naval Academy, hired technicians for my own
shop, worked for dealers, and worked for schools. If you can find
someone to work for, by all means start that way. Let someone else
worry about the rent and utility bills, parts that you need, but
won't be paid for for 6 months, tax hassles, etc.

The manner in which a tech gets paid could be one of several. 1) You
could work straight salary or hourly. This is probably the most
common. 2) You could work on a commission basis. The last I heard, a
60/40 split was the rule of thumb, although some techs were working
for 70/30. 3) You could work on a combination where you guarantee
your employer a certain amount of production based upon your salary,
then you earn bonuses based upon overages. This is a good situation
if you are a very productive tech. This allows you the security of a
salary plus the incentives of the bonuses .

Starting salaries for Band Instrument Repair Techs have recently
been around $15-20K. Not the sort of income you can raise a family
on. A good tech will make $30K and the "best of the best" low 6
figures.

Until quite recently, (1975 or so) musical instrument repair was
something that many dealers considered a "necessary evil." It was
provided as a service and everybody repadded clarinets for $25-40
each. Many of the old-timers still work for very little. They are
techs because they must be. It is what they do, who they are. The
money is the "necessary evil."

I have heard many younger "techs" say how much easier it is to make
$100 selling a new instrument rather than repairing them. There are
dealers that still consider productive shops in competition with their
sales floor.

> Can you specialize in woodwinds or do you do brass as well?
>

If you speciailize, you are saying that you don't need the other work.
Only you can make that decision. Of course, if you are independently
wealthy, you can specialize all you want to. Those of us that have 2
kids in college, pay rent on a commercial site, and like the phones
to stay connected usually will take in whatever is necessary to make
ends meet. (Personal note: I try to draw the line at Accordians...)

> How flexible is your work schedule? If there is an ICA meeting can
you get > the time off to attend? I realize that is shop dependent
but I am looking > for an industry generalization here. I shall
elaborate on this. I have > worked as an exempt engineer for over 20
years. I have had a somewhat > flexible work schedule that has
always required a lot of overtime. But > my start-stop times have for
the most part been of my own choosing as has > the methods I use to
accomplish the job requirements. I am not sure how > I would do in
an environment where you "punch a time clock" and/or have > a
supervisor over your shoulder telling you how to work. >

Interesting... If you work for yourself, then you only have the
customer looking over your shoulder. Maybe not literally, but you do
have to answer to them regarding options, finishing schedules,
quality of work, pricing, etc. Sometimes having someone running
interference for you is worth their telling you when they need a
particular instrument.

Usually shops are very busy during the summer, fall and into the
winter months. We all try to be busy all the time, but usually find
we have a little too much time on our hands during the months of
April and May. Not so coincidentally, this is the time of the year
that NAPBIRT has their annual convention. The ideal work load is such
that you find yourself always a little behind in your work. That
usually takes care of the bills.

> How do you acquire the skills and knowledge for this? Does anyone know of a
> school offering training in this field? I am thinking of something
> accelerated rather than a 2 year curriculum. This training could be in any
> English speaking country. I love to travel and have lots of frequent
> flyer miles saved.
>
Nowadays, most techs do in fact come from two year programs. The last
I heard, Redwing, Western Iowa Tech, and Five Towns College in New
York all had 2 year Musical Instrument Technology programs. Allied
used to have an accelerated program, but I believe they no longer
teach. None of the major manufacturers have any programs to the best
of my knowledge.

Apprenticing is how many techs develop their skills, but it is
really difficult to find Masters willing to teach their craft. There
are many techs that feel threatened by teaching others, and in a
world of shrinking arts budgets, both in and out of schools, it is
not difficult to understand. I have personally taught 5 people over
the last 20 or so years. 4 out of the 5 are now competitors of mine.
With the cutbacks in school funding that can be a scary prospect.

> What are the best and worst parts of the job in your opinion?
>
Best... doing the impossible.

Worst... it taking so damned long.

One of the signs in my shop reads: "The difficult we do immediately;
the impossible just takes a little longer."

> What are the benefits of belonging to NAPBIRT?
>

For the newbie, plenty! Through NAPBIRT you can obtain additional
training by means of TechniGabs, TechniTalks, articles in their
TechniCom, etc. There is one point to remember as you read through
_any_ information on repair, "If you have 10 techs, you will have 7 to 10
different ways of getting the same job done." That doesn't
necessarily mean that any one method is better than the other, but it is
true that a certain way may work better for you. Keep an open mind,
try it, and analyze the results. One of the greatest things about
this business is that it is an old-world craft in a constant state of
change. New materials, new methods, new technologies all lead to the
same end; making musicians work less on the production of "sound" so
they can concentrate more on the production of "music"

> And I would appreciate any other inputs you could give on this subject.

Don't open a shop anywhere in the Baltimore/Washington area! :-)

> Thanks in advance for any advice and information you can give me.
> --
> JackD.
> music@-----.com
>
>

Your welcome!

Steve

Steve Fowler (sfowler@-----.com)