Advice re: taking a commission when you are not sure your game is there yet?

[TubularCorporation]

So I've made a few guitars over the last couple of years and the most recent one turned out pretty well. There are a few things that I'm not psyched on, mostly due to design choices I would have made differently now but it came out well enough I've shared some photos of it on a few forums (including EKT). At some point down the road I hope to start making them for other people, maybe even making it a job some day if I'm lucky.

 

So anyway, I was just checking in on one of the other forums, one I rarely look at these days, and it turns out somebody asked me about building him a guitar on commission. It's not someone I've ever talked to or recognize, and I'm not a particularly active member of the community or anything but it's a pretty small, chill place and I've got no doubt his interest is legitimate. I PMed contact information and told him I wasn't officially in business (yet) but that we could definitely discuss it. It feels pretty great to have a total stranger consider having me make something like that for him, but I'm conflicted about what to do next if he really wants to go for it.

 

On the one hand, I've had a pretty solid plan to make at least one more for myself and see how it came out before I even considered offering to make one for money, especially for a complete stranger. As a player I'm not really super picky - I can definitely notice and appreciate some pretty subtle stuff about how an instrument plays and feels in he hand and all, but I also tend to just adapt to what I have and not worry about it too much as long as it's not totally unplayable and sounds good. As a builder, though, I'm pretty picky and I don't want to start putting stuff out in to the world too soon.

 

On the other hand, even when I'm really focused it's a slow process because I work almost completely with hand tools, but when I don't have a deadline it can slow to a crawl, because I tend to drift back and forth between building and music. The last one took forever because I moved in the middle of it, and then spent most of the next year putting all of my time and energy into production stuff. I feel like a commission would give me just enough pressure to really step up on the next build, and if I improve half as much as I did between the last two then the next one could be really good.

 

Assuming he's serious about it, I see three realistic options:

 

1 - Tell him I'm not taking commissions yet but that I will be in touch when I am ready and we can discuss it then. Lowest risk, but chances of him flaking in the mean time are pretty high.

2 - Tell him I have to complete the one I just started (it's for me, so I don't actually have to have it done any time soon but it would be more practice) but I can take a deposit (maybe 25% of whatever we come up with based on his specs), use that to buy the materials and then ply through my guitar before I get started on his. Odds of disappointing him with the end product aren't too bad but odds of him getting sick of waiting and possibly backing out seem higher than I'd like.

3 - just do it, take half up front and half on completion, and then build the other one for myself later. Odds of the guitar not being as good as I'd like are highest but I bet I could pull it off. Plus the added bonus that when I went back and finished the guitar I just started for myself I'd benefit from the practice and probably end up with a really nice instrument.

 

 

So yeah, pardon the long, sleepy, slightly tipsy ramble. Thoughts? Advice? WWWATMMD?

[Blir]

Considering you say you tend to go back and forth between building and making music, I would say that I can't forsee any clear point where you're suddenly going to wake up and realize you should start taking commissions. I think if you're going to take a commission then you need to have discipline and commit to working on a project. IMO the answer is definitely take the job. You have to jump in the deep end eventually and there's no better learning process. The fact you have somebody waiting on your handiwork is only going to inspire you to get the work done to a high standard, if customer satisfaction means anything to you at all, and I'm sure it does!

 

Don't fret about how this work might not be as good as the work you take on after, just take every project as its own thing and work on it to the best of your ability. I think you'll find your standards increase just on the fact that you're building it for somebody in particular. Regardless 9 or 10 commissions down the line you will probably look back and see how far you have come. I mean, I know nothing about building guitars but I think the same general rule would apply for any craft. So yeah, the only option is 3.

 

Oh, be straight up with the possible time to completion though. There's nothing worse than waiting on something, especially if you've paid something up front, then starting to feel like it's never going to happen. Be communicative and honest, it's things like that that are going to go in your direction if you want further commissions in future.

[BCM]

 

 

Don't fret

lol

[Blir]

I'm glad that didn't go unnoticed

[MichaelListon]

 

Don't fret

lol

 

lol

[MadameChaos]

if i were you i'd play it by ear

[BCM]

just string him along for a bit

[TubularCorporation]

I'm glad this didn't get many big, serious replies, because since I posted it we've talked and he's after a completely oddball, nonstandard kind of design s I am definitely 100% down. We are of similar minds.