Luthiers

[formula73]

I hate how the term, "luthier," is tossed around like it doesn't mean anything. Luthiers are artists, true craftsman that work with wood and glue and chisels and clamps. It's a labor of love, for them. In fact, one I'm thinking of probably wouldn't know how to do anything else. It's a calling. The guys who replace pickups, tuners, and cut nut slots are techs. I'm not saying a luthier can't do these things and I'm not knocking a tech, but one is an Accord and the other is a NSX.


/rant.

 

[The Dali]

Re: Luthiers

ok...

Who is throwing this around? People who claim to be luthiers but are really techs? People who call others luthiers, but really don't know what they are talking about? Are you a luthier who is insulted by other people who call themselves luthiers?

 

[crguti]

Re: Luthiers

what's your point?

 

[sbecker67]

Re: Luthiers

Most 'techs' that I know are certified luthiers, they just get so much business doing the mundane things that they don't have time to build. And technically, even if you never build one you're still a luthier

lu·thi·er (lt-r)n. One that makes or repairs stringed instruments, such as violins

 

[jcthejester13]

Re: Luthiers

Most 'techs' that I know are certified luthiers, they just get so much business doing the mundane things that they don't have time to build. And technically, even if you never build one you're still a luthier

lu·thi·er (lt-r)n. One that makes or repairs stringed instruments, such as violins

Word. I totally agree with you 100%

 

[formula73]

Re: Luthiers

I'm not a luthier, just a hack guitarist and, at times, do tech work, but I know my place. So I can cut a bone nut that stays in tune. Am I a luthier? It's just a rant. Take it at face value.

 

[John_L]

Re: Luthiers

In the UK you have to have a certificate from the Guild of Master Craftsman to be a Luthier so technically not any old person can call themselves one.
I can but don't most of the time. I guess I'm a bit like a non practising doctor. But there should be a distinction. Some people can swap pickups, do set ups and that sort of thing bout wouldn't know where to start with a broken head stock, truss rod pop out or anything more major like that.

 

[formula73]

Re: Luthiers

In the UK you have to have a certificate from the Guild of Master Craftsman to be a Luthier so technically not any old person can call themselves one.
I can but don't most of the time. I guess I'm a bit like a non practising doctor. But there should be a distinction. Some people can swap pickups, do set ups and that sort of thing bout wouldn't know where to start with a broken head stock, truss rod pop out or anything more major like that.

THAT'S what I'm getting at. Shade tree mechanic vs ASE (level of proficiency, not necessarily the certification). There is a difference.

 

[David Collins]

Re: Luthiers

Certified? Unfortunately, there is no such thing in any official sense. There are schools, some good, some near criminally bad, which have certificates printed out at Kinkos for any student that pays to take their course. There are manufacturers who authorize or certify techs or luthiers to do warranty work, some of them great, some absolute hacks.

There is however no guild or union to issue journeyman's cards, no board of certification, no bar exam. Not here in the US anyway.

Baker, artist, gardener, mechanic, writer, luthier, certified. People will apply whatever criteria they wish to most titles like this, and it really doesn't matter much in the end.

 

[formula73]

Re: Luthiers

I'm an astronaut!

 

[SrDeMaFp]

Re: Luthiers

I'm an astronaut!

Is that how you got that sweet ass helmet?:18:

 

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Re: Luthiers

In the UK you have to have a certificate from the Guild of Master Craftsman to be a Luthier so technically not any old person can call themselves one.
I can but don't most of the time. I guess I'm a bit like a non practising doctor. But there should be a distinction. Some people can swap pickups, do set ups and that sort of thing bout wouldn't know where to start with a broken head stock, truss rod pop out or anything more major like that.

Yeah is their one near Leicester?

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: Luthiers

I'm an astronaut!

:laugh2:

I'm an actor!

No, really. I'm going to get a part-time job waiting tables, then I'll show up at a casting call or two. Instant certification!

 

[formula73]

Re: Luthiers

:laugh2:

I'm an actor!

No, really. I'm going to get a part-time job waiting tables, then I'll show up at a casting call or two. Instant certification!

Sweet! We can hit casting calls up together when I have time between trips to space on my off time. What's that you say? I'm not an astronaut? Prove it!:18:

 

[formula73]

Re: Luthiers

Is that how you got that sweet ass helmet?:18:

Sure is. I picked it up off a dead speeder pilot on Hoth. He wasn't really using it...

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Luthiers

There's a guy I know in southern utah. He's some kind of luthier, as he's got a whole wall in his shop of guitars he made... so I had him cut a nut for me, and it was TERRIBLE. It was huge, the string slots were way too tight, way too deep, and it wasn't aligned in the nut pocket well.

Sadly, not everyone who claims to be a luthier is a master of everything needed to do it right. That's my experience.

Here's a pic of that nut.

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: Luthiers

There's a guy I know in southern utah. He's some kind of luthier, as he's got a whole wall in his shop of guitars he made... so I had him cut a nut for me, and it was TERRIBLE. It was huge, the string slots were way too tight, way too deep, and it wasn't aligned in the nut pocket well.

Sadly, not everyone who claims to be a luthier is a master of everything needed to do it right. That's my experience.

Here's a pic of that nut.

:eyecrazy:

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Luthiers

:eyecrazy:

... yeah.
Anyways I'd love to meet a real luthier sometime. Sometime when I have money. I'd love to get some work done on a few things, and get my dream guitar made (burgundy mist 2pc ash tele, front and back pearloid binding, humbucker neck pickup, tele bridge pickup, Am Std tele bridge, soft-V 1-pc maple neck w/ satin nitro and rolled edges and 6105 frets).