Non-musician Luthiers

[GaryDavis]

Greetings from Montana. I assume most luthiers are also musicians to some degree. I am not a musician and not really a luthier as I have only built a baritone ukulele. I am currently building a F5-inspired mandolin and a classical guitar. I may build one or two more instruments (or maybe more).

Do non-musicians find it difficult to build musical instruments? I know nothing of tone or tap tuning or action or anything music. I love to listen to music but don't play.

I think I'm really close on the mandolin plates but struggling with "when to stop." To complicate matters, I'm using non-traditional woods so existing graduation numbers aren't exactly relevant.

Just curious - how do non-musicians fare in the luthiery world?

Gary Davis

[Nevin]

Leo Fender did OK

Seriously, I think you should make friends with some musicians who probably would love to collaborate. That said, the problems you are having are ones written about here by beginners ( and sometimes not such beginners) all the time.

[buckhorn]

I have been building mandolins since 2001, and offering parts for sale since 2010.. I have made about 30 some mandolins under my belt with many repairs to mandos, violins , ukes , and guitars .. Even tho I've tried playing guitars, banjos, and now mandolins, I've never been any good.. I know maybe six or seven different things to play, but that's about it... But I can make one dang nice F5 or A5 mandolin.. Been a woodworker all my life along with the love of bluegrass.. So lets mix the two together and love both.... Keith

[John Flynn]

Bill Bussman (Old Wave) makes mostly right handed mandolin family instruments, but he is a left handed bass player. I'm sure he can play some, but I was in a music store with him once and he picked up a few mandolins and plucked them, but he didn't play anything. He makes great instruments, though.

IIRC Rolf Gerhard, who pioneered the legendary Unicorn and Phoenix mandolins did not play.

[sonic]

I have built a few mandolin family instruments.
If you asked my wife she’d say I wasn’t a musician
I can play quite a few chords and bits of songs. But don’t really put in the time to improve. I would like to but life keeps getting in the way

[sunburst]

Learning to do good fret work and set up work (essentials for building good, playable instruments) can be a little more difficult to learn if one doesn't play, at least a little, but it can be done. I barely play mandolin but I've learned to set them up well, and frets are frets, so playing any other fretted instrument helps with learning good fret work.
I have to say, though: I've seen quite a few instruments, made by luthiers who are far better musicians than I am, with poor fret work and poor set up. Being able to play is somewhat of an advantage to the luthier but it is not necessary, and it is does not automatically make one a good builder. We have to learn the craft either way.

[GaryDavis]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'll just move forward and hope I don't embarrass my son down in Boulder.

Gary

[JeffLearman]

As an older guy with not the best hearing, my guess is it's more important to have good ears than to be a musician. And of course, WAY more important to have the building skills. I agree with those who say it's a good idea to befriend musicians and get their feedback.

Regarding fretwork, it's more important to understand what's important about a good fret job, than to be able to play. Most seasoned players will have already built this understanding, but there's no barrier to a non-musician learning it. And, what's important is mostly obvious: if you put your finger here and press and pluck there, you want to hear a good clear note with minimal buzzing, but without having to kill your fingers pressing down. That said, there's also a lot of variation in how much action different players want, so even a top-notch musician would still need to be able recalibrate to what other musicians want.

You just have a bit of extra learning to do, but there is certainly no barrier here!

BTW, on youtube videos where I learned about graduating tops, I see almost everyone uses an electronic tuner to detect the note. For me, it's easier to thump it and play a piano note to compare (unless I need to measure down to cents.) So, even experienced builders are using tools rather than ears for some of the stages.

[MontanaMatt]

My trusted fiddle luthier, who repairs, builds, regraduates, restores all levels of bowed instruments, can’t hardly play a note...he’s a sousaphone player. I let him work on my expensive (at least to me) fiddles.
He has me playing while he adjusts sound posts, as he can’t play well enough to evaluate the results.

There must be some mandolin pickers in Billings. Probably a cafe member...make a “looking for mandolin player in Billings” add here, see who bites.
If I wasn’t 120 miles west of you, I’d be glad to help.
Good luck

[GaryDavis]

Thanks for the offer MM. I'll do as you suggested and maybe I'll visit next time I'm in Bozeman.

Gary