As Brisbanes population has continued to grow , so have the numbers of its bowed string players and ecosystem as well, we continue to have a short fall of luthiers (see becoming a luthier). I suspect this is a combination of various barriers to entry, attractiveness and opportunity.
1. Finding a path to gain skills
Traditionally luthier-ing has been something of a closed trade (much like electricians) where you have to be born into i, taught father to son (mother to son, mother to daughter etc) . An unkind interpretation is a luthier may not want to give away their trade secrets to a future competitor. I suspect though the truth is more mundane than that – it takes a while to gain the necessary skills to be useful, and not many people want to sit around in a workshop acquiring skills with little to no financial return on their time for extended periods of time.
2. Orientation
Next up is the orientation to become a luthier, it’s mostly an intersect of someone that likes music and has the mechanical affinity to work with wood. Apparently not a common intersection, let alone time to gain reasonable competence in both areas.
3. Attractiveness
In todays society, it’s not particularly high status, nor particularly financially rewarding. Although the intrinsic satisfaction is often high, and it beats driving a cash register hands down 😉 Further with many instruments being made in China, competing with that cost of labour to make and sell instruments is very difficult for all but the most skilled…who have spent years invested in developing and honing their skills. more accessible is Luthier setup and repair work, which is more of a grind with less attractiveness perhaps.
4. Having a workshop
Luthiers need a workshop, initially one bench can get you going but before long you need more. To be cost effective and efficient specialty tools and workshop power tools (bandsaw, drill press, sanding stations, dust extraction) help with operational efficiency. While you will find these embedded in the larger music and specialty string stores, setting this up yourself requires space and financial resources. Almost certainly you need to be a home owner so you don’t need to move. (Shout out to Ilya though whose built his workshop into a truck..very cool)
5. Instruments to work on (customer acquisition).
If you find work in a music shop this isn’t such an issue there are customers on tap. Stringers (string players) can tend to be a parochial bunch and hyper competitive, and it washes into many areas of the strings community. Building a reputation as a luthier takes time, where it’s not just the customer to be won over (even when they won’t balk to spend hundreds on sports shoes), but also critical stakeholders like teachers who control what brands are acceptable and whom to see. Adding then the orientation and ability to be able to promote ones self (as well as the mechanical and musical skills) is a further barrier entry.
Opportunities for entry
Luthier setup and repair work though is chiefly where the new entrant opportunities lie, particularly at the student end of the market with there is a large volume of work and the path to competency is much shorter. From here skills can grow over time, whilst earning an income and usher in a deeper dive opportunity.
So where is this leaving Brisbane in 2025?
Speciality string and some music shops have a regular cycling through of luthiers, sometimes apprenticed to a head luthier thats been there a long time. Aside from our independent makers, currently in Brisbanes shops we have a mix of traditionally trained and others that have moved into the profession, after careers in working with wood. Here informal apprenticeship opportunities await on the path to becoming a violin luthier, after the grind of setting up student instruments is mastered.
From this point more than a few have dipped into a European apprenticeship/ higher learning institutions, sought out Australian makers to learn specific skills or toiled in their evenings.
The interweb here also has a role to play with online learning, through courses and there are plenty of how to youtube videos. Online learning though has its pitfalls and is no substitute for face to face learning (this is certainly what I found teaching in mixed modes as engineering academic), an youtube is certainly highly variable in content. Im certainly fortunate to have a teacher and a network of luthiers to draw on as i progress in my journey
Bow rehairing a case in point
Rehairing a bow is an example of a specialty luthier task which while a specialist can command up to $300 to rehair a bow , its out of reach of many string player budgets and a skill in growing demand as more experienced luthiers slip away to retirement. Given rehairing takes significant instruction and something like 100 rehairs to gain reasonable competence, it’s a significant barrier to entry for anyone that might like to learn it. Learning involves finding a teacher to learn from and then to do lots of rehairs before you are ready to take on a customers bow.
It’s a significant investment of time, around $10, 000 in lost wages is the opportunity cost I reckon . For my own part this is something I’ve invested the time in, though a teacher and working on discarded student bows that grow like weeds in my workshop in my spare time. These I was able to on sell to recoup some of the investment of my time too. With the kindness of many in the strings community to “give me a go” I’m well on the path to competence …but that just my story. Where will Brisbane’s next bow rehairer come from? And its somewhat desperate times with 2 of our big strings shops outsourcing their rehairing and our resident makers flat out with extended wait times just working on their own instruments..
For my own part I am grateful to my teacher David Brown, the invitation by Dietrich to spend time in his workshop under the supervision of David Clark, the Sydney Strings Centre for guidance and supply of materials needed along the way. Thankyou also to Australia’s wholesalers and the informal luthier community of Brisbane and beyond as well.