Official Luthiers Forum!

I’ve always had mixed feelings about commissions. They can be stressful, but I enjoy the interaction with a client to design and build something that speaks directly to him or her.

To relieve the stress from me, I offer a 100% money back option after a 48-hour trial period. If I can’t sell it to someone else, I don’t really want to be building it. Fortunately, no one has yet asked me to inlay their name across the fingerboard (heel caps, yes, but they’re easier to replace). So far, I’ve successfully discouraged extreme personalisation that would make the instrument difficult for me (or the customer) to sell to someone else.

I also do repair — I find one side of the lutherie coin gives tremendous insight on the other. Just last week I had a custom-built instrument come in the hands of a very disappointed customer. It is actually a nicely crafted instrument, but the customer had asked for an arm bevel and the luthier had never made one before. I was asked if I could “replace” it with something more to his liking — I said “no”, but I’ll do a proper setup on it today, so it’s nicer to play. Lesson: if you’re not prepared to give a money-back satisfaction guarantee, you’d better stick to designs and techniques you know really, really well. Commissions are not a good place for experimentation, and we all need to do a bit of that to grow.

Of course, I’m talking as someone who doesn’t really need to do this to put bread on the table. My business model fits a retiree with loads of business and life experience, but with another passion burning for release. Works for me, YMMV.


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"Considering support after delivery as an element of the 'engagement' considerations does seem to me to have some bearing on the OP's question."
... I've had a bridge lift and one top fail, they were replaced at no cost to the customer. I don't give any type of warranty, but if I am so inclined I will fix what is wrong.

I don't know about switching to furniture. I used to make custom furniture, the issues were pretty much the same as guitar making and it was just as hard to make a reasonable wage.

Made furniture and cabinets for 30 years as a living prior to guitars.... Much worse! requires a larger shop, work is much heavier & clients were worse! More indecisive, more mid project changes and much more " This isn't what I expected"...

I think it is really important to try to figure out ways to see your instruments back after a year or two when the situation permits, sometimes it is very gratifying, other times there are unexpected surprises.