Kitten ~ Luthier in Oz ~Do I have to play or NoT

[Kitten]

Hi ~ Thanks for having me ~ My Name is Kitten ~ Im a Luthier  from Oz (Australia)

i Build, Repair, Service & Restore Guitars, Banjos, Ukuleles (mainly) but all and any other stringed instrument included. I can’t play.. any of them... I haven’t found it necessary, that may sound crazy given my job but it hasn’t been a requirement höwever some find it insulting that I can’t.  (They like the way i fix them though.)

Do I really have to PlaŸ  or  NöT  ??? That is the question 

[Sgt. Pepper]

4 hours ago, Kitten said:

Hi ~ Thanks for having me ~ My Name is Kitten ~ Im a Luthier  from Oz (Australia)

i Build, Repair, Service & Restore Guitars, Banjos, Ukuleles (mainly) but all and any other stringed instrument included. I can’t play.. any of them... I haven’t found it necessary, that may sound crazy given my job but it hasn’t been a requirement höwever some find it insulting that I can’t.  (They like the way i fix them though.)

Do I really have to PlaŸ  or  NöT  ??? That is the question 

If your job is to fix em and you fix em good then no I don't think you have to play. The coach of team many times did not play the sport they coach.

Edited September 25, 2020 by Sgt. Pepper

[kidblast]

I've had a couple of top notch fix it/setup guys and even know a luthier (eg: builder) who really can't play all that much or in one case at all.    They were good at what they did though.

But to play devils advocate, the ones that I know that do play, (and a few of them were very good players) had a bit of an advantage of getting it right a bit faster when you're getting down to some real specific things.  But,,, we're splitting hairs here.

 

[rct]

Leo Fender couldn't play to save hisass.  We all know how that worked out for him.

rct

[jdgm]

If you build them it helps if you can play some basic stuff, know harmonics and exactly how stringed instruments work. 

For instance - the difference between a medium scale (e.g. Gibson) vs a longer scale (e.g. Fender)?

[Rabs]

I am a luthier too.  I do play but that could easily be questioned  🙂   

I dont think its absolutely necessary BUT it cant hurt can it ... If just repairing them I dont think it matters. But building them from scratch, making decisions on the shape  of the guitar and neck profile and stuff like pickup choice and as mentioned above technical stuff like scale length  totally comes down to my experience using them over the last thirty plus years or so... I think without that I would be just making clones of already popular guitars which I dont see that much point in doing, theres thousands and thousands of them out there. 

[Sgt. Pepper]

On 9/25/2020 at 4:22 PM, rct said:

Leo Fender couldn't play to save hisass.  We all know how that worked out for him.

rct

He sold the company and made millions.

[rct]

7 minutes ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

He sold the company and made millions.

 

He thought he was going to die soon.

rct

[Kitten]

On 9/25/2020 at 10:12 PM, Kitten said:

Hi ~ Thanks for having me ~ My Name is Kitten ~ Im a Luthier  from Oz (Australia)

i Build, Repair, Service & Restore Guitars, Banjos, Ukuleles (mainly) but all and any other stringed instrument included. I can’t play.. any of them... I haven’t found it necessary, that may sound crazy given my job but it hasn’t been a requirement höwever some find it insulting that I can’t.  (They like the way i fix them though.)

Do I really have to PlaŸ  or  NöT  ??? That is the question 

Thanks for replying guys, I’m taking a bit of a advice & opinion from each of you 

so.. it looks like I’ll try & learn to play a little tune or two,  I can tell you I’m not very good but I’ll keep on fixing them like any good luthier wood. 

Cheers Kitten 

[Brucebubs]

Where about are you? I'm in Eden on the far South coast of NSW.