I start my first repair gig on Tuesday. I will be doing general repairs during rental season (but with an emphasis on flutes and clarinets), and then mostly flutes and double reeds through the rest of the year. I'll have to do a little bit of everything depending on what walks through the door, but mostly flutes and double reeds.
I start my first repair gig on Tuesday. I will be doing general repairs during rental season (but with an emphasis on flutes and clarinets), and then mostly flutes and double reeds through the rest of the year. I'll have to do a little bit of everything depending on what walks through the door, but mostly flutes and double reeds.
Boy, this is a yin/yang type thing. I'm about to leave my very last repair gig. It's been 36 good years, but I'm ready to put away my tools. I bought homes, raised a family, worked very long hours during rental seasons, and had a good life.
Good luck to you. Just remember 3 things, the customer is always right, even if they are wrong. Like it or not, good or bad, the boss is the boss. And lastly, don't be afraid to become you own boss (start your own biz).
JButky wrote:You working in a shop for someone or in your own shop for a store?
I'm working for someone. It's an odd situation... sort of. I'll be alone 3/5 days a week. The other two either the owner/head tech will be coming to my location, or I will be going to his location. He's looking to retire from the bench soon and since he does all the flutes and double reeds, he's transitioning them over to my bench. He has several other techs on staff and they all have dedicated areas of focus (One for brass, one for strings, one for piano, and a guy who does all of the clarinets and saxophones that come in. It's a very woodwind heavy shop). The only time I will be doing general repair is if it is something simple that I can do while the customer waits instead of taking it to the other location where the specialist works.
Sounds typical of most music stores, they do some in house work and sub contract everything else out.
This is how my business works, but on the sub contracting side, I have a repair shop front, but most of my work comes from stores and schools who have sub contracted the repair out to me to complete
