How to best approach amp repair for a living...

[Tonegeek]

I just got laid off my corporate job after 12 years at the same company and at 61 I am trying to decide what to do next. I have been doing part time amp repair for quite a while and am considering going full time. I also build and sell an amp now and then but am not counting on that part for survival. I have been my own boss in several ventures so am no stranger to working for myself. So far as a part time thing I have enjoyed amp repair and had minimal issues. I fix probably 8-10 amps a month now just by word of mouth. The going rate around here seems to be about 45$/hr which is what I shoot for but I have been advised to charge 60$/hr. I have no clue if that is realistic or not.

I have 2 kids, 14 and 11 to consider along with my wife who is a school teacher. We cannot make it on her salary alone for too long, mostly because we have to have health insurance which for us would be about 900$/month.

Maybe you guys can weigh in:
What can I realistically expect to make per year from this endeavor assuming the work comes my way?
How can I generate more work?
What are some of the the pitfalls?
A buddy who is the principle guitar repair guy in town offered me a room in his shop for 200$/month. Should I take this or keep working out of my house?

Any advice you guys could give on that would be helpful.

[xtian]

I'm in a very similar spot, though I'm not trying to make a living with amp building and repair. My city is 100K people. Not very big. My first business was from word of mouth. Then I became the repair person for a small guitar shop; that's a handful of repairs per month. We just got a new Guitar Center, and the employees there are happy to send people my way--I posted a flyer on their bulletin board.

I charge $35 bench fee, $50/hr. The guitar store (not GC) marks up my rate to $60, and they deal with the customer. That means some local driving, but it's not bad.

But, man, this is a hobby, for sure. I make a couple hundred profit per month.

[briane]

wow - big hopes there - I've been told you need to get a shop to send you all their work - someone told me he makes 20 an hour, shop charges 40 - but he cant stay busy with just one, its a hobby - and theirs 10 people that want his job for every 1 of him.

a thousand guys who repair amps around here - only one I knew who made his entire living off repairs - he went out of business after a few years - and he wasnt just good, he was god good.

I decided it could never be a full time gig for me - cant eat for 200 a month.

Hope you have a lot of contacts who have alot of money and a lot of broken gear. The key seems to be getting in with the pro players who have a lot of cash and GAS - become their personal friend - that how those who have made it - made it.

[Phil_S]

I have (mostly) been self employed for the past 9 years. I am a CPA. I work with non-profit executives who want the financial reporting function to tell them what's going on instead of something mysterious and I work with program mangers to achieve better integration between programming and financial accountability.

I mention my profession because it can sometimes (not always) command a billing rate that is 2-3x what you are discussing and it plays into the thinking. I am also functioning in a niche, not unlike amp repair, for which there is a limited market.

Have a good look at the statement about what I do. I say who I work with and what I do for them. I don't say how I do it. I cut to the chase. I'm saying you should say, "I work with guitar players who want the mojo put back into their amps, and musicians who want the ultimate tone." but that can't be far off. Notice, it doesn't say how I do it. That can come later. The point is, marketing communications is a whole new language for those who aren't familiar.

You will benefit from an assessment of your potential market size and work back from there. I generally figure if I can have 1000 billable hours in a year that I'm doing OK and 1200 hours is a home run. I have had a a number of years in the recent recession where making the 1000 hour mark was very difficult or impossible. I live in a metro area with population of maybe 3 million. If you include Washington DC and its suburbs, the number probably doubles. I know I have a market because of that.

On this note, be realistic about how many billable hours you will have, not how many potential billable hours exist. If you like $50 x 1,000, then you have done 2 things. You've set a goal that works for you and are being a realist.

There is a great deal written on being self employed. I kid you not, the most important thing you can do is learn how to market yourself and then to devote time to marketing every week. You will benefit from making an appointment with yourself to do it. It does not happen by itself. Spend $4 and buy this book used at Amazon.com, "Growing Your Business!" by Mark LeBlanc. You can read it in 30 minutes and it is chock full of good stuff. He also tells you what doesn't work.

There is every reason to follow your dream. Have a plan. Write it down. Look at it frequently. Measure your performance regularly. Get others to look at the plan. People will try to discourage you for what they think are good reasons. Be prepared to deal with this mentally. Being discouraged is in your head only.

Yes, it is probably challenging to make a go of it in amp repair and custom building. Ask yourself if you are willing and able to do what it takes to make it work.

[selloutrr]

Figure you can only charge what your market can support. How many local repair techs are you competing against?

Insurance... One client finger in an amp after you touch it your $$$$ fucked.
Limited liability business license. Warranty your work but for how long???

Cost of tools, wear and tear...

How fast are you? Do you have parts on hand or do you need to order.. How long? Shipping? Can you support investing to become a dealer to maximize profit margin...

Guesstimate I was/am the go to amp guy in my area after 4 years of building up my rep by honest work with fast and fair prices. I averaged 6 amps a month at about $100 profit per amp. With a repeat client base of about 200 local / professional musicians.
Keep in mind once it's fixed it's often 5-10years before you see it back on the bench.

Are you set up to test tubes... Really test tubes!

You can pull some extra work from buying broken amps and flipping them. However if you want top dollar you must use OEM parts or they are just a modified amp.

I did the above and built a rental fleet of studio amplifiers 160+ amps strong. I have about 35 amps rented at any given time minimum $25 day. It covers the tech bills and keeps the amps working. This isn't all profit you have shipping/transit, ata cases, and bullshit from clients plus tubes bias service wear and tear.

It's doable it would be best to have a background in electrical engineering or a mind for understanding circuits, signal flow, and troubleshooting. One bad repair and word of mouth spreads a lot faster then praise.

Expect $20,000 innitial investment.

You can't get manufacture endorsement for repair without a storefront. You have to able to display the logos and promotional packets for public view.

Some manufactures are free to take the test for certification others require you pay for training courses.
Mesa, fender, Ampeg, peavey, crate, Marshall (korg)

Hope it helps

[DonMoose]

I live in an area with a metro population of a bit less than a million. There's a go-to guy and two other full-time shops.

I started up on a shoestring and did a little advertising and marketing. For the year I really pursued it, my best month was a $400 profit, including the Boogie MkIII I bought for $200, spent an hour ($45) and $20 on, and sold for $650. My average over that time was close to $40/month.

Now, the things I did wrong - no stock (always had to order), no bench fee (lacked confidence in my diagnostic abilities), the only ad money I spent was on biz cards and magnetic signs for my truck.

Treat it like a real job, and a real business, and ... maybe.

[selloutrr]

I think you have a pretty realistic out come of amp repair as a profession. It's not a get rich gig. It's. a labor of loving what you do and getting by. But most techs are substidized by other income. I'd estimate by the time you average dark time with business it'll net less than minimum wage. Probably $15-18k annually on a great year. A great addition to a music store or studio. I started mine solely to offset having to pay someone else to keep my equipment operational.

[BTF]

I worked as senior tech for 25 years at a medium sized music store chain/ service center and have to say I don't miss it (can you say burned out? ). If you're going to have a go at it, I'd recommend getting certified as a factory tech for as many amp companies as possible. That way they pubish your name and location on their sites and mail order houses will send unhappy clients to you (mixed blessing). You also get inside info on problems and fixes. The general cheapness of electronics may get to you (any more companies want you to replace the board, not repair it). Our labor rate rose from $35/hr to $65/hr in about five years at the insistence of the companies (levels out the playing field with the other service centers). On the bad side, the companies get a say into how you do business, your relations with your customers and what you can and cannot do relative to electronics still under warranty.

Hope this helps a little, Good Luck.

[chief mushroom cloud]

I think you have a pretty realistic out come of amp repair as a profession. It's not a get rich gig. It's. a labor of loving what you do and getting by. But most techs are substidized by other income. I'd estimate by the time you average dark time with business it'll net less than minimum wage. Probably $15-18k annually on a great year. A great addition to a music store or studio. I started mine solely to offset having to pay someone else to keep my equipment operational.

truth
I'm not doing it any more...just isn't worth my time...love or not
I was doing it for tax free grocery $ and utility $......and in the end, I only learned to hate guitar players even more....

[Tonegeek]

Good advice so far. @Phil_S: book ordered. also thanks for mentioning "Billable" hours. It helps to be reminded that there are many hours you can't bill for and that you must factor that into the equation.

I see the amp repair thing as very doable around here. There is some competition but I am good at diagnostics whether its electronic or computer code, my prices are fair and I am fast. I know the local musicians because I am one and also worked sound production years back for many of them. I also get referrals from several mom/pop music stores and the best guitar repair guy in town. I don't stock a lot of parts but can see where that might become necessary to get the work done more quickly. Plus shipping charges add up. If I commit to this thing full time, I will get some inventory. Since I also build amps, I do keep some parts on hand and on occasion have raided my build stash to get an amp fixed. People do like it done quickly especially if they don't have a backup but so far I have been able to accommodate most situations.

I have no desire to do warranty work but understand it might be a necessary evil. Realistically i may have to keep doing what I did at my corporate gig which was systems analysis/programming. I could do some contract work and balance that with amp repair until I can grow the business. Building a fleet of rentals is a cool idea, but there is not much need for that in my area although I do know a few studio owners that I could ask about that. Since I have contacts at a couple of live music venues where I once did production I considered offering my services on an emergency basis to help support touring acts that have an immediate need. There are lots of opportunities here. I know growing a business is hard work but it is at least already started and generating some income and I get repeat business and referrals from satisfied customers. I have all of the tools I need. Selloutrr asks "can I really test tubes?" No, I don't own a tube tester. The best tube tester I know of is the handle of a screw driver. A tube tester is one of those tools that probably helps from a marketing perspective but in reality it is not that helpful unless you are buying and selling tubes. Maybe I should post another topic just about tube testers and are they really necessary for guitar amp repair purposes. I bet opinions would be all over the place. I will probably get one just to say yes I have a tube tester. A bias checker, that's another story. A must have. I have 2 of those and need another. I digress. I think I will give this repair thing a go.

[BTF]

On the stock thing, to show you what a mixed blessing a factory-authorized tech can be, one company insisted on you ordering particular caps from them. In other words, if you needed a 25uF/25V cap, they wanted you to get it from them. If you didn't want to wait and wanted to install your own Radio Shack variety (a Nichicon is a Nichicon is a Nichicon...), you had to get permission from one of the tech assistants at the factory and put the permission number on the warranty form!

[LeftyStrat]

No matter how talented you may be, study up some on running a business. Tax breaks, liability, marketing, market analysis, etc.

There's a reason talented people in other fields end up working for those that studied how to run a business.

I can program circles around Jeff Bezos, but I ended up working for his company, Amazon, contributing to his riches, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt, or something like that.

If high schools and college were geared towards doing best for individuals, instead of producing a good work force, business administration would be required alongside every field.

If you can't profit off your talents, someone else will.

[sepulchre]

This will save you $7.95 + shipping (the cheapest I could find it).

http://www.ectownusa.com/MarkLeBlancGro ... ssBook.pdf

[ampdoc1]

I had a shop for 10 years from 1985-1995, and made a meager living in a town of 500,000 with only one competitor. I was set up with ALL the amp companies and I was always busy,,,saw a lot of neat amps,..and for the most part I enjoyed it.

But these days? To make a living you'll HAVE to do warranty repairs. And can you imagine the ratio of good, interesting amps to the commercial pieces of shit that are out there today? Gives me goosebumps to think about it.

a'doc1

[Tonegeek]

I had a shop for 10 years from 1985-1995, and made a meager living in a town of 500,000 with only one competitor. I was set up with ALL the amp companies and I was always busy,,,saw a lot of neat amps,..and for the most part I enjoyed it.

But these days? To make a living you'll HAVE to do warranty repairs. And can you imagine the ratio of good, interesting amps to the commercial pieces of shit that are out there today? Gives me goosebumps to think about it.

a'doc1

I have come to the same conclusion. There is way more shit out there than good, solid amps. One option I am looking at is just doing the amp thing on the side like I have been and then doing some contract computer programming to augment it. My one rule right now is the amp must have at least one tube in it or i don't take it in unless I can diagnose the problem without opening it up.

@lefty: I am going to definitely try to get a handle on running my business in a way that works. One thing I am sick of is having the fate of my future in someone elses hands and that they benefit more from my skills than I do. Interesting that your worked for Amazon. My former company uses their cloud services.