Official Luthiers Forum!

wow.
i read this this morning, and looks like it's grown into a redwood tree.
fwiw, do what you want or feel like about telling the builder.
not in public. you'd need a jury in some of those cases.
ha! the person that bought the guitar wanted to originally, right?
so it must have sounded good and played to their liking, right?
i would just fix it, and not say anything to the builder, or the customer,
unless, it was something dangerous about the guitar that could hurt somebody.

I don't see why you would need to contact the luthier who made it. The customer brought it to you to fix, not the maker. I might ask how old the instrument is and if it seems like it may be a warranty issue then I might tell them to call the maker but otherwise I would just do what the customer wants. It's their instrument, not mine.
Jason

I know someone who had to repair a musical instrument with a failure that seemed to be related to an unusual design feature. (Specifying the instrument, the failure, or the feature, might reveal the maker.) Without thinking, and regrettably, this repair person tried to contact the maker without mentioning this to his/her customer. He/she did not mention the customer's name, but did describe the failure, and inquire about the finish used on this instrument to facilitate the repair.The maker did not respond to the inquiry.
My questions:#1: Did this repair person act unethically in contacting the maker? #2: Did the maker act unethically in not responding to the inquiry? #3: Did the customer act unethically in not contacting the maker? #4: Did the guitar act unethically in failing? #5: Have I acted unethically by suggesting that musical instruments can fail? (Is "failure" perhaps too negative a word?) and #6: Has anyone encountered a similar success reduction?

This is an imperfect world. Can we settle for a spheroidal chicken? (I see those for sale at the supermarket.) And can it please be an ethical spheroidal chicken?

I'm thinking any talk of some onus being upon anyone to contact a builder because one of his guitar is having an issue is just a little too precious, it's not like the repair guy has the builder's wife sitting up on the bench, its just a guitar. The builder had his chance to get things right 'before' he sold the guitar. The customer, that is the guy who now 'owns' the guitar, well he made a choice not to take it back to the builder and that was his choice to make. The priorities of the repair guy should of course remain what is best for 'his' customer and if he knows his stuff, then he can quickly identify the problem and clarify for the owner if the issue was caused by shoddy workmanship or some other issue over which the builder had no control.

Of course if the repair guy thought that the 'builder' may have in fact have had 'his' wife up on the bench at some time, then the accuracy of any assessment regarding the extent of the builders liability may be questionable.....

Customer: Hey can you fix my guitar? I put my foot through the top when I was drunk and now I'm too embarrassed to take it back to the builder and show him what I done.

Repairer: Who was the builder?

Customer: Its a JB custom guitar.

Repairer: That wouldn't be a 'Joesph Bloggs' piece of junk would it???

Customer: Why yes! What's the problem??

Repairer: Well where do you want me to start? Lets just say I love that klutz cause he's single handedly paid off my mortgage.

Cheers

Kim

I have to be honest and say that I've been watching this forum for the last 30 or so days
just for material like this.....

Kim's 'wife on the bench'....Todd's 'big bench'....and oddly shaped chickens all in the
same thread???

I can't stop laughing....

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

If it's something that would change the voice of the guitar, you shouldn't do the repair. If it has the potential to, at the very least, let the builder know.

If its something routine in the repair shop like a setup, changed fret, or whatever, the builder probably doesn't need the interruption.

Or we need to get theirs!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Hey Waddy, Filippo said "life" not "wife"

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Grains of sand ... everybody got their own version of "Alister s "Do what thou wilt"
and particular persuasion of morality for justifying what ya gonna do to, with and about clients busted ax. All are valid, at least to the person doing them.

Me ain't got time for fixin me own builds ... hence "warranty stops at the door" let alone look at some other dudes nightmare. That don't mean me wont fix something me built, just means me charge them for it. Chances are me just gonna slap some bondo on it and send it on down the line. When me tell them that, they usually opt to fix the thing themselves, now me don't gotta deal with it. Simple eh.


Blessings

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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what if the repair involves the removal of a Verzi Plate ?



(ducking and running...)

-jd

Ah jd,

very good...

Is true, as an artist, me humbly request that future luthiers respect my creations and leave them as they are, repairs and restorations excluded. However if they gonna be modifying the sucker, then take me name off of it, cuz that aint the way me the artist designed it and in fact would be in violation of international artists copyright laws to still try and pass it off as the artists work. These laws have be challenged many times and the artist has always won.

Personally I don't give a sh*t what others do with the thing, just don't try and pass it off as my work any more cuz it ain't.

The distinction here being that of crasftsman vs. artist.

I am an artist, working within the medium of luthierism, creating interactive objects of art that produce sound.

Ain't it nice to know that the ancient craft of luthierism has now be reduced down to a simple medium like water colours.

Back to Heshs posting regarding "contacting the original builder" ... you dudes gonna do what you gonna do and so spare me the morality of it all. Since the OP had nothing to do with copy write laws, I didn't bother to bring up the "Virzi Plate"* concept.


blessings
Padma

* references to the "Virzi Plate" may be found in me "Two Mando Build" about in the middle of the thread. Here is the link.
viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=21036&hilit=+two+mandos

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Sorry wud

me didn't answer you question directly...
If the "repair" involves removal of the plate...me got no problems with that...as long as they put it back.


blessings

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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