Thank you for writing this article. As a technician who has shifted to pro work nearly exclusively, it's difficult to work on student model instruments, now. I've struggled with wanting to pursue preciseness in all my work knowing that I'm wasting time in the realm of student models. However, they can be an opportunity to try a technique I may want more experience on. Currently, I think I'm at the cusp of not doing any more student level work.
My main struggle is the price differences of professional to student work. I'm still figuring out how much time to estimate when adding key fitting and tone hole leveling and improving the mechanisms, etc... I'm still not sure I'm charging enough.
I enjoy your articles and I look forward to meeting you one day.
Playing on both sides of the fence with woodwinds can be extremely challenging. I cannot think of anyone who does it successfully--I know several techs who do it pretty well, serving both sets of clientele adequately, and if adequate is sufficient then they have hit their sweet spot. They probably do school band stuff at a higher quality than most, and how well they handle the fancy stuff is solid for the expectations of those who use them. It is much more common to see a tech who does high end woodwinds very well and then student and marching band brass repair very well.
With woodwinds the trade off is always there. Either the fine detail needed for the high end stuff will be diminished, or the lower end stuff will cease to be cost effective and start taking longer and longer chasing a degree of perfection that was never intended and is unnecessary. They are 2 very different paradigms. You can employ the processes and methods of one in the other only to a certain point before it breaks down and simply doesn't work.
Thanks for your insight, the paradigm shift is real. And I am getting bogged down by repairs that I spend too much time on. I would rather be recognized as a high-end repair tech who does great work, and I can see the straddle you portrayed and how it's untenable. It's a leap to turn down work, but I think it may be time. Thanks again for your thoughtful reply, this was more than helpful.
Thank you for writing this article. As a technician who has shifted to pro work nearly exclusively, it's difficult to work on student model instruments, now. I've struggled with wanting to pursue preciseness in all my work knowing that I'm wasting time in the realm of student models. However, they can be an opportunity to try a technique I may want more experience on. Currently, I think I'm at the cusp of not doing any more student level work.
My main struggle is the price differences of professional to student work. I'm still figuring out how much time to estimate when adding key fitting and tone hole leveling and improving the mechanisms, etc... I'm still not sure I'm charging enough.
I enjoy your articles and I look forward to meeting you one day.
Playing on both sides of the fence with woodwinds can be extremely challenging. I cannot think of anyone who does it successfully--I know several techs who do it pretty well, serving both sets of clientele adequately, and if adequate is sufficient then they have hit their sweet spot. They probably do school band stuff at a higher quality than most, and how well they handle the fancy stuff is solid for the expectations of those who use them. It is much more common to see a tech who does high end woodwinds very well and then student and marching band brass repair very well.
With woodwinds the trade off is always there. Either the fine detail needed for the high end stuff will be diminished, or the lower end stuff will cease to be cost effective and start taking longer and longer chasing a degree of perfection that was never intended and is unnecessary. They are 2 very different paradigms. You can employ the processes and methods of one in the other only to a certain point before it breaks down and simply doesn't work.
Thanks for your insight, the paradigm shift is real. And I am getting bogged down by repairs that I spend too much time on. I would rather be recognized as a high-end repair tech who does great work, and I can see the straddle you portrayed and how it's untenable. It's a leap to turn down work, but I think it may be time. Thanks again for your thoughtful reply, this was more than helpful.