Average Luthiers Salary

[Straddy]

Hello

I was wondering if  some guidance could be provided on salaries  and wages for part time and full time luthiers working in a violin shop.

Doing student instrument set ups and repair, restoration work.

Thank you.

 

[FiddleDoug]

That would probably depend a lot on your skill and experience. It would also depend on where the shop is located, and the market.  I'll also throw in how long you've been working there.

Probably at least $15/hr.

[Brad Dorsey]

I find this on the North Bennett Street School website:

 

"According to O*NET, the average annual salary for musical instrument repairers was $36,810 as of 2020, with an average hourly rate of $17.70. Payscale reports that the median hourly wage in 2022 was $15.35. However, they also note that experience has a moderate effect on income. Income for this occupation varies widely based on industry and location."

 

The pay data given above are for the general category of "musical instrument repairers."  They are not specific to luthiers or violin shop employees.

Many years ago, newspapers reported on a survey of all occupations and professions in the United States.  The survey found that “musical instrument repairer” was the least stressful occupation.

[David Burgess]

16 hours ago, Straddy said:

I was wondering if  some guidance could be provided on salaries  and wages for part time and full time luthiers working in a violin shop.

I think a lot will depend on how good, and how fast the person is.
It's a bit like asking how much a violinist makes.

[Randall The Restorer]

2 minutes ago, David Burgess said:

I think a lot will depend on how good, and how fast the person is.
It's a bit like asking how much a violinist makes.

It also depends on clientele and locale, as in: “ Charge what the traffic can bear”.

That principle worked for my father as a printer and for me as a house painter.

 

[Barry J. Griffiths]

I was once offered new contemporary violins from a wholesaler and asked him “What can I sell these for?” His response was: “How sharp is your sword?”

[duane88]

9 hours ago, Brad Dorsey said:

I

Many years ago, newspapers reported on a survey of all occupations and professions in the United States.  The survey found that “musical instrument repairer” was the least stressful occupation.

I was a Critical Care Nurse in Pediatric ICU before violin making, and while I can assure you that "musical instrument repair" is much less stressful than my former profession, depending on what you have  on the bench, it is not without the potential for significant stress.

I remember that survey. Didn't believe it for a minute!

[Randall The Restorer]

2 hours ago, duane88 said:

I was a Critical Care Nurse in Pediatric ICU before violin making, and while I can assure you that "musical instrument repair" is much less stressful than my former profession, depending on what you have  on the bench, it is not without the potential for significant stress.

I remember that survey. Didn't believe it for a minute!

I trained as a Respiratory Therapist in the PICU of Sick Kids Hospital Toronto and in the NICU of Mount Sinai Hospital across the street.
My mother was a pastry chef. 

Sick and injured children, wedding cakes, cherished instruments - all valuable and fragile, usually one of a kind, and no room for error.
 

[MikeC]

I wonder where 'surfing the internet for a living' ranks on the stress level...   slightly higher than being retired I suppose.    

[IBK]

If you are doing set ups and repair work on school instruments and getting $15.00 on average for an 8 hour day, 5 days a week and are employed. In the northern and central east coast of the U.S. this will put you at poverty level.  If you are self employed and operate a brick and mortar shop, you would need to make at least 75.00 per hour in order to exist in the same geographic location..  Those are the realities of today's economy.

[AaronS76]

The other way to look at it on gross income is the cost of work and how long it takes. I am in Australia and I recently had a luthier install a new soundpost, dress the fingerboard, make a new nut and install a new bridge made by himself. It was $300 excluding taxes. Considering a tradesman here would charge $100 an hour I hope I didn’t pay the luthier less than that per hour.
 

He also does cello lessons. Has a brick and mortar store. So not sure what the net would be. 

[Mike_Danielson]

Ancient joke:  "want to make a small fortune?  Start with a large fortune and become a luthier."

Unless you own the shop, the pay is not going to be very good.  Mechanics are charging out a shop rate of $200/hour in my location--Washington state.

[Skeezy Bojangle]

Projections are not good for luthiers of any kind.

[uguntde]

This is like asking for car repairer's salaries on a classic Porsche forum.

[Don Cooke]

5 hours ago, uguntde said:

This is like asking for car repairer's salaries on a classic Porsche forum.

Hey, I used to have a classic Porsche (68 912) but I did all the work myself. My wife is in nursing education, she loves it, but the bad news is that she's in education. She makes way less than $15/hr for all the work she does. Luthiers should make way more than $15/hr IMHO, for what they offer to us players. Warped priorities in my opinion. Thanks to all the luthiers for what they do for us!

[Randall The Restorer]

On 10/31/2024 at 9:56 PM, Straddy said:

Hello

I was wondering if  some guidance could be provided on salaries  and wages for part time and full time luthiers working in a violin shop.

Doing student instrument set ups and repair, restoration work.

Thank you.

 

More than a cook in a restaurant and less than a non-union carpenter framing houses.

I have been both in Toronto and in the small town of Penetanguishene, 150 km north of Toronto.

In small towns and rural areas there is high demand for good repair luthiers for violin and guitar family instruments.The cost of living is lower and the lifestyle is sometimes less stressful than in a big city.

I hope that answer helps you and anyone else reading.

Yours truly,

Randy

[The Violin Beautiful]

I don’t think there’s a simple answer to the question. One of the biggest problems is that the trade is such a small niche that the phrase “average luthier” really has little to no meaning, as the people who do this kind of work have vastly different approaches to making it viable. For example, some are able to make a living solely from doing violin work, but a good number of those in the field rely on a secondary income, either from another job or from a spouse. Some take up the trade as a hobby or special interest, some get into it as a retirement pursuit.

The topic of wages and salaries for luthiers is one that is discussed in hushed tones among luthiers from time to time, but there’s really no simple answer, as the experience of the luthier, the education, the tool skill, the reputation among players, the geographic area of the shop, and the clientele all play parts in what the luthier takes home.

Some shops act as training centers for luthiers, and their mindset is that they pay a small wage to the employees who are learning to help them provide for their living expenses, although it is not always enough to prevent them from needing secondary sources of income. Other shops will carefully select people in whom they see a longterm potential and invest in their careers by paying a very attractive salary and providing good benefits.

The type of work being done in the shop makes a considerable difference as well. A shop that only does rentals is not in need of the high level of skill that a restorer of priceless instruments would provide, so its staff and the wages they’re paid will reflect that. A shop selling rare instruments will usually need to have a very high level of skill and experience among its staff to be successful. As you might expect, the earnings of employees at these different shops will be incommensurable.

If a large number of luthiers were to simply share their personal experiences, it would be possible to take their numbers and put together an average on paper, but even that would not provide a truly meaningful answer. I also suspect that those who are paid well would not feel comfortable admitting it and those who are not paid well would be too embarrassed to want to admit the discrepancy between their skill and remuneration. 

[M Alpert]

@The Violin Beautiful

Beautiful answer, bravo!!

[uguntde]

On 11/8/2024 at 5:06 AM, Don Cooke said:

Hey, I used to have a classic Porsche (68 912) but I did all the work myself. My wife is in nursing education, she loves it, but the bad news is that she's in education. She makes way less than $15/hr for all the work she does. Luthiers should make way more than $15/hr IMHO, for what they offer to us players. Warped priorities in my opinion. Thanks to all the luthiers for what they do for us!

It is a matter of the market. More customers, more demand, higher prices. There are few people who can play or appreciate a violin.