Official Luthiers Forum!

Sorry Kyle - I'm not in the right state or profession. Welcome to the OLF though!
Christian

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Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian

Robert Benedetto has been advertising for employees.

Stock up on exotic wood while your there or else youll be saying - "dang I used to work at a place with all these nice wood,...I wish I had of" &
"man if I only knew I would have needed"

Cheers
Charliewood

Kyle, contact John R. at R.V. and see if he has any leads. He knows lots and lots of folks out there and he might have a tip for you.
But I think there's a grim reality to your situation. Saddly, I don't think many small guitar operations are all that excited to hire someone that has Luthery training. It sounds strange but I'll try to explain. Most builders have their methods for building. Everything from where the bandsaw sits to how the top is tuned. If there were a need for them to hire someone they would be better served by hiring low wage labor to cut pieces of wood to X dimension. Rather than having a young guy just out of luthery school and risk having them second-guess their methods. "wouldn't it be better if you cut it to Y dimension".
Also, once this person has put in some time and has more than their "school" guitars under their belt, they are likely going to want to fly the coop and go out on their own. It's a pretty big risk for a guitar operation to train you just to be their competition.
If you look at most of the larger guitar operations, the only people that have luthery experience are those in the high level design and r&d positions. Most of the folks that are actually building the guitars are just doing the task that they are told to do.
Sorry if this sounds overly negative. I know exactly how you feel when finishting school and wanting to concur the world of guitars.
On the other hand, if repairs are your thing, then your training is a huge asset to have. If that is where you want to land, I'd just start googling guitar shops and give them a call. Ask to meet with them and see their shops. I think many of them would be thrilled to have someone with your education in their shop.
Good luck!

Paul hit the nail spot on the head I think (first time for everything right
Paul?). Your not likely to find a job working one on one with a Luthier as
they don't have the time nor the money to hire someone most of the time.

Your best bets are either try to find a job as an entry level repairman.
There are always a need for repair work and you actually make better
money most of the time. Either that or find a job at a production guitar
house. If your lucky you might find a job at a smaller shop like Collings,
Bourgeois, Santa Cruz, breedlove, ect...

Check the websites of these Co.'s as they often say if they are accepting
applications. They get hundreds and hundreds of applications for entry
level positions, so your competition is steep, but keep trying and you'll
get there.

I work for McPherson Guitars here in Wisconsin and we may be hiring
a entry level position, check with the guys over at RV to see if they can
put in a word for you as we talk directly with the major luthier schools (we
just got a guy from RV as it were).

Good luck to you.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

[QUOTE=John Mayes] Paul hit the nail spot on the head I think (first time for everything right
Paul?). [/QUOTE]

Yes! I finally got something right. What's my prize?

[QUOTE=John Mayes]
There are always a need for repair work [/QUOTE]
Especially with folks like Mayes and me building guitars.

Right Paul ... lets get one of them RV guys to do our strap pins from now on...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"