Man for someone who don't know how to play fiddle, you sound fantastic to me. Your work speaks for itself Jerry. People like to hate on things they cant have and afford. Not me I can not afford one myself but I know quality when I see it and I think you are spot on and even a little low. Any good business man knows a 40 to 45 % profit margin is average. And your labor is worth a lot more then that brother. I am so grateful for the time you spend to put these videos out here for us. I for one am so very grateful Thank you sir.
Anyone cramping on a luthier's style for cost of a handmade instrument... doesn't realize that, like teachers, your investment/time is higher than most people know. Love your videos.. I'm a player, and have been fixin' my own for years. Working on the next level, neck resets, complete refrets. Your vidoes are invaluable. You're a great human being. Best in life to you!! .... plus you're entertaining :-)
Jerry - don't apologize for making a living! Anyone who's watched your videos should see the quality and talent involved here! Keep up the excellent videos, I've sure learned a lot from watching!
Know very little about instruments but my friend the longest 55 years knows all about music. ( He has his first guitar " s&h green stamp) ( 1960 something ) would love this. Your the best
Your work is worth whatever you say it is , I wish I could afford a custom made instrument !! But no way you can say your work is not worth it . You are amazing ! I've seen you do things that I know if I tried to do would be a disaster !! Thank you for your time .
Another great video and another great repair! Very kind of you to explain the cost of a custom instrument. I hope the person who wrote that see's this video and is better informed now and is enlightened!.....cuz the last thing you're doing is gettin' rich! In all of your videos that I've watched, I've never saw you take a short cut! In fact quite the opposite! You've always gone out of the way to do things right! Which reflects the passion you have for what you do, as a luthier, a builder and a person! Nothing but the highest regards Jerry! See ya on the next video!
working my way through all your posts, love em, thankyou for taking the time & making the effort to film these, gives me something interesting to watch whilst my wife watches all her crap on TV, thankyou for saving my marriage!
Great work Jerry! I always enjoy watching your videos, and appreciate your craftsmanship and attention to detail. As a man who has always worked with my hands, I find it amazing that I enjoy watching others work too, it's relaxing to watch the work. That may be why the shows on TV of someone making something are so popular LOL. Less and less folks seem to know how to do anything these days. However, I've never worked on instruments, but it looks enjoyable. On pricing for work, those who don't do the work have no idea of the time involved, and you need to get paid for the talent and your knowledge too. Great video!!!!!!!!
wow you were so calm that was not a rant by any means . If one were to purchase a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari one goes into the experience knowing that quality has a price tag. You certainly have no need to justify the pricing of your craftsmanship, after all , the beautiful instruments you have built to order are not sat in your workshop they are with their owners who were happy to pay for your quality...I'm loving your videos and learning so much ..thanks again 🎻
I discovered your channel recently and I have fallen in love with "The Rosa" mandolins. For a custom instrument, especially one with details like the rose on the back anf the head stock, the carved scroll etc. $6,000 is a very modest price! I see mandolins with no special attention to detail like yours go for much more. Keep up the good work! Hopefully someday I will have the money to upgrade to "The Rosa"!
For peg hole patches, I have found that a small hole saw with a 1/4" center drill works perfectly if you cut through the side grain instead of the end grain of your repair piece of wood. However; your repair of those peg holes was fantastic just the way you did it. just a note of observation, one of the things that makes your videos really great, is that you make us all feel like friends rather than just potential customers. Thanks for this video.
Jerry, first of all, thanks for the videos. I really enjoy them. Secondly, you are not greedy I’m not a luthier, but I do make furniture by hand, and I have an appreciation for the amount of work that goes in to making a piece. $6,000 sounds more than fair.
Love your calm and laid back attitude. It shows in every video you make and I also love your ability to not rise to the bait of aggressive, rude or obnoxious comment. Also enjoy your professionalism. So keep up the good work from a subcriber in the west of Ireland and thank you for sharing your videos.
PS this is form someone with near none of your patience and literally no knowledgle. I fell that you teach a lot and as someone waiting on their first guitar you've helped keep my interest high.
It never ceases to amaze me what people think. Just because you make an instrument you can give it away. 6000. for a hand made mandolin is cheap. You use quality material and the time spent in making it is alot. I make violins and I know the pain staking task that you go through. Great job on the violin and I also would have used tite bond on the neck. It came apart once with hide glue it will fail again with hide glue. Keep up the good work.
I was a tiny bit shocked at the price of a new instrument but I've seen your work on You Tube and was willing to be schooled. Now I say, you aren't paying yourself enough for Master Luthier (plus) skills! I think the old artisan (skilled workman) levels should be reinstated: apprentice, journeyman, master, and a level for geniuses with their hands. The problem would be how to set the skill levels - and make them stick - in this age of "everyone's an expert"! I know that if an instrument was beaten to pieces on walls and floors and most of the pieces were saved, you could put it back together with as many original parts as possible. Of course, only a rich, crazed collector of such a musician/basher of unfortunate instruments would pay for it!
People get annoyed with me when I ask a reasonable price for a turned vase that I have over 150 hours into. Apparently they think that if it's a hobby and I enjoy making it that I don't need to get paid for my time. You seem to be "blessed" with a little bit of the same thing. An easy way to tell that your price is unreasonably high is that nobody pays it! On the other hand, if more people want instruments than you feel like making, your price is too low. I don't play an instrument but I really enjoy watching a craftsman working in a field different from mine. I have really enjoyed your videos and have even learned some things that can apply to my own wood butchering. Thank you for continuing to do this.
Hi Jerry, regarding the comments on your prices, and on your character: You obviously had a raw nerve touched by that email. You are clearly a sensitive person (as am I ) and it clearly bothered you. Don't let it. It was from someone who had no understanding of how your business, or any business works. He has the choice to buy elsewhere, let's hope he does, but you do not need to justify your prices or costs to us my friend (and especially not to him!) and I have never seen a luthier in a Mercedes yet! As a videographer here in New Zealand I cannot believe how you find the time to run your business and shoot all these videos, but I am pleased that you do. You unselfishly show us all of your trade skills and secrets at no cost to us-- even when things go wrong , which is really refreshing. I enjoy them immensely , so keep on keeping on- you are an artisan at work in the nicest way. All the best from New Zealand Rod.
You know what else you get for 6 grand? A whole treasure trove of videos showing a master at his work.. A humble Man that has no doubt worked his fingers to the bone not only applying his craftsmanship to the creation a fine instrument but also showing the repair of other instruments as well. Please look at what he does outside working his Farm and crafting needed parts for the upkeep of his machines etc. I just bought my first Mandolin that cost 700.00 and it will be my life long mandolin worth every penny. Would more than gladly pay this guy six grand for a beautiful piece of art and instrument just to see him build it. Greed is buying a piece of pottery at a road side store in the Navajoe area only to find that when I got home the bottom of the bowl said made in China.
I used white glue on one of my violins 22 years ago , and only now after all this time playing my violin and noticing the changes that have occured through time I am soaking and removing ALL the white glue and reparing properly this time with the real violin glue . Thaks for your video and taking the time , a little water would have helped your neck come off without damage .
I build Archtop - Jazzguitars since 12 years and i know exactly what materials cost and i know how much time it takes to carve the top and the back out of rough wood. 6000 Dollars is a low price for high end instruments like these. And by the way, you can hear and feel the effort and the love you worked in the instrument by playing. I hope i wrote it all right, my english is as good as a german can do ;-). Nice video work and well done woodworking.
Hey didle didle the Jerry can fix your fiddle and you’ll be over the moon 🌙! It is difficult to find a customer that is able to pay for quality work and difficult to find one that is willing! There are those that are glad to stand in line for a craftsman and appreciate your efforts and understand the value that they deserve!
Quality, hand made instrument? $6,000 is not overpriced...in fact, it could be a good deal depending on perspective. When folks find out that I build and repair furniture, I regularly hear things like, “I saw a table at xxx store for $399. What can you make it for?” I don’t build throwaway furniture. I tell them that if they like what they saw, they should buy it. If they want quality and can afford it, let’s sit down and discuss the project. Great work, Jerry. Keep it up!
Enjoy watching your work, as always, Jerry. I haven't commented much lately but I check youtube often for your submissions (email notification stopped working for me for some reason). Regarding the complaint of your prices for your handmade instruments, all I can say is the guy must not have watched many of your videos. Otherwise, he'd understand fully the quality of your builds. Your patience, knowledge and attention to detail are what makes beautiful looking, wonderful sounding instruments that I know are also setup to play perfectly.
Jerry, I tried something different on the electric violin I am building right now. On the top of the neck I relieved the center wood just a few thousands of an inch lower than the edges. When I glued the fingerboard on, I got the best fitting joint I have ever gotten. Absolutely no glue line at all. Don't know if this is of interest to you or not, but it worked for me. Your brad locators reminded me of this as I was thinking of doing the same thing to that joint as well as the center relief. I decided that as the fingerboard was narrower than the neck and I needed to match the neck after gluing to just make sure the fingerboard was properly centered when I glued it by using a couple of dots of super glue and carefully setting the board. That way you can hold it right until the superglue sets up enough to hold it for you.
Hi Jerry, another great video! I fully agree with you re pricing for hand made high end instruments - some folks just don't understand or appreciate the skill levels involved, the years of experience it takes to develop those skills, the cost of the materials, the indirect costs, and the need to make some profit at the end of the day. Keep up the great work. Cheers, John
Hi! I enjoy every of Your videos. I am starting My own repair shop. You are mentioning comments in the beginning of this video and I took a look. I don't understand why people have negative view on the white glu. All You need to melt it is heat and moisure our water. I do it the same way and I allso get criticised. You mentioned couple of times that if someone asks You to do the video about taking apart violin that is glued with Titebond, that You will show Us. Pleas Mister, show Us how simple is to remove Titebond from wood. Thanks for all Your videos. Keep going. Greetings from Serbia!
In one of my videos I take apart a guitar neck that I built. I did it in less than 15 minutes. That's pretty fast especially considering it was Titebond.
Have to say this Jerry, you are underpaying yourself way too much, if a mechanic charges $80 an hour, an artist like yourself should be up around $150. Your videos are an inspiration and show there are still at least a "few" people in this world of ours that just HAVE to do it right. Beautiful work show in this and every video I have seen since coming here from Jeff Bradshaw's channel over at Elderly Iron. Thank you for showing us what you do, and it's about time you increased your prices my friend. Great Job, Jason
Nice video Jerry, I've got to comment on the greed guy, He probably would want to buy a Picasso for 79 bucks and 10 green stamps. You and I have talked about price some, and from all the research I've done your prices are very fair. Your products are really works of art, in addition to being beautiful sounding instruments. One of these days I will have one of your mandolins.
Jerry, I feel bad that you have to explain yourself to a complete moron. A custom hand built instrument by a Master will one day be priceless. Your 30 plus years, and countless referrals speaks for itself. I would feel extremely gifted to own a fine instrument built by you. Keep up the good work, and keep making videos. I love watching them
On the internet when you reply to an idiot who is clearly not thinking, we call that feeding the trolls. Don't feed trolls. You know why it costs that much, you don't have time to tell people why. You rock as a luthier.
I'll give you my 2 cents . 6k is a lot of money for most folks , ( at least for me ) however being a musician for over 30 years I do know that a fine hand made instrument is worth the money all day ! To add to this , I have watched your mandolin build video series and while you make everything you do look easy , that mandolin build was intense ! I never knew the work that was involved just carving the top and back !!!!!! learning how to play is easy , learning how to build !!! hmmmm. I'll leave that to the real artist !!! You are the best Jerry . BTW : I can hardly change my strings , but I binge watch your videos just the same ! LOL
Had no problem pointing out the clamp-tightening scratches from previous chin rest tightenings, but says nothing about the compression scratch- when he used the violin body as a Fulcrum as he pried the stuck Pin out with the Needlenose Pliers. Why wouldn't you remove Anything in the way of your work- beforehand? .....and a protective piece of Felt or thin Leather to Protect the original Finish? .......or am I just picture frame straightening?
I am a professional for going on 28 years. My fees have not gone up nearly as much as my overhead over that time. I figured out a long time ago not to apologize for the fees, if the complainers could do it they would be, and be charging twice what you are. If you had said $1500 there still would have been someone call you greedy.
I have an old fiddle inherited from my Grandpa. It has a no cracks, a solid back with the name HAYDN stamped on the back, with nothing on the inside. I can’t seem to find any information about it in trying to research its age or manufacturer. It was a mess when I got it. It had been varnished, had runs, was wrapped in a blanket & had the lint stuck all over it.... I was in the process of a restoration, but stoped when I realized I was a bit over my head with limited knowledge at the time. The finger board has grooved wear & has been removed, but what has me most concerned is the tuning peg holes, they are worn and oblong so badly that the pegs wont to stay put. I’m wondering now if I should only restore it to view, or restore it to again be able to play.
Thanks John. I can take either apart. The problem as I see it is that about 25% of the fixes I see are because hide glue comes apart. I don't see that with the glue I use. Just about every fiddle I see has something that has come loose. Thanks for taking a look and the comment.
At the beginning of this project you were trying to remove the neck and as you often do you sped the video up to save video time and it looked comical to us like you were going at it like a madman trying to tear this thing up. Whenever you're moving the instrument around a lot it looks like you're attacking it. We appreciate the videos. You do excellent work. Would've liked to have seen some more improvement in the finish on this one, but it's fine for what it is - and for what you were hired to do, it's excellent.
Litterally Centuries of hyde glue track record- and You use Titebond? Any future Accidents to this Violin will hamstring the next Luthier- and even flakings of Varnish will change the To e of a Stri ged Instrument. I have seen people Gently re-attach varnish flakes ( with highly thinned fresh varnish), in order to maitain the Instrument's "Voice". Don't even get me started on using picture frame nails as Fingerboard Centers. Just because you Re-assebled this violin, does not mean you Repaired it.
I sure know what you mean about videos being time consuming! Just wait until you get up around 10k subscribers, you probably won't believe some of the things people say! Speaking of comments, hyde glue and violins, check out my videos on that old violin I worked on a few months back, had a jerk comment on all three of them about me not using hyde glue on a violin, after his third comment, I replied lol Great video here Jerry really enjoyed.
My father built Pipe Organs for a living. Some of the largest in the US. Building an instrument is not a job it is an art. There are plenty of places to get a cheap instrument if that is what you want. But if you want something that plays as good as it looks, then $6000 seems very fair.
if you consider health insurance, and you have to come clear for any damage, overhead, and your risk of injury you are only making about 15 dollars an hour. I don't see any greed there. keep up the good work.
I don't think you need to apologize for making a living. That person who thinks you're greedy should give violin making a try and see what his costs come out to be when he achieves the same quality as your instruments - might take him 100 or 200 tries and maybe 20 or 30 years - but I bet he'll get there eventually :P
I hate when people criticize something like the price of a custom high end boutique instrument. Seriously, if you don't like it shop elsewhere. It's called capitalism. Frankly anyone that thinks 6k is too high for this sort of thing doesn't understand what he/she is talking about.
Just a QUESTION about sound posts. If they're so important in violins why don't they have them in other instruments? Guitars mandolins clarinets (jk). I think I maybe know the answer but I'd like to hear your take on it. In depth. Pull no punches. Maybe you already splained it but I haven't found it yet. I'll just keep watching your vids. Which I really enjoy and appreciate by the way.
Guitars and Mandolins are not Bridged string instruments. The Base Bar inside the Sound box, along with the Sound Peg, support the bridge under tension, and the Peg also transmits string vibrations to the Back of the sound box- enritching the instrument's "voice". Check out some RU-vid videos of violinmakers- and it will make more sense to you.
$ 6,000 for a custom mandolin? Seems fair to me. This is for a custom made instrument, which if properly cared for will span multiple generations of players. And just get better with time. And probably may hold much of it's resell value. And if for that, you get a mandolin that sounds like the mandolin in the intro to these videos, it's a bargain.
I have an old Maggini copy violin that has a neck where the angle is a little too steep for my liking. And which requires a very high bridge. A new Aubert bridge blank is barely tall enough uncut. Would this require a neck reset to fix the angle? (The neck is very solid just the angle seems wrong.) Or would it be acceptable to taper the bottom of the fingerboard, albeit creating the opposite taper from what was done to this fingerboard?
It's possible to do it with the fingerboard. But generally a neck reset is the way to go. A fingerboard planing is ok if there's enough meat on the fingerboard.
The price is pretty reasonable. I know you increased the price, but even at your new price you're still talking about a good value for a hand-built mandolin. I don't know many small bench luthiers in the US that would charge less for a hand built mandolin.
Jerry, I have an old HOPF fiddle, it needs a neck block and bridge. the neck and top are off of it. do you have a ballpark est .on how much it would take to get it in playing condition. Thank you. P.s why the neck block was partially missing I couldn't tell you
I'm sure I could fix it. Probably 3 to 4 hours labor. I charge $80 per hour. Shipping and parts would be extra. The biggest problem is I have more than 60 people on a waiting list waiting to ship instruments to me. If you would like to be added to the list, send me an email. My email address is rosastringworks@gmail.Com. good luck to you.
Making custom instruments is expensive. People do not appreciate how long something takes to do, or the fact it is a hand made instrument. The instrument will last more than a lifetime. You have to make a living after all. Gibson et al should be able to make quality instruments at lower prices, but they don't. They have economy of scale, which you do not. They have CNC which you do not. However people don't bitch about the cost of a high end Gibson. As an artist myself, I know how difficult it is to price your work.
Use ORIGINAL TiteBond! Like animal glue, heat and moisture break the bond, when and if it becomes necessary. THE woodmasters, Tom Johnson & Jerry Rosa, are quite clear about the matter. Aliphatic resin glue yields the strongest joints, when good wood to wood contact is present. A strong joint that can be broken, without substantial damage to the wood, is about as ideal as it gets.
I live in Hawaii and have had the neck joint.... where it connects to the body come unglued 4 x now...on two different violins. the maker doesn't want to continue fixing them, sending them to me etc. I don't blame him. Im wondering if anyone knows any solution to living close to salty air, and also I go up and down from sea level to about 2,000 feet several times a week and I guess that can mess with the glue also. Im so sad and just don't know what to do and now I don't have a fiddle to play....
Hello Jerry, my brother wants to start making youtube videos. I told him that people do not care what they do on screen, they just want to visit with someone. That is pleasant and kind. I sent an email to you about linseed oil. I think you need to be specific and tell folks you use boiled linseed oil. I was told it might take several months to dry, if it ever does. Remember the mandolin you left your fingerprints in? I bet someone used linseed oil to finish it. If you had not refinished that mandolin it would have never dried out. You You are very pleasant to watch, Sometimes I think you ,live down the street from me but you don’t. What do you think it would cost to change the neck on my violin? I purchased a new hand carved neck. It is made from maple and it only cost $4.00 US
I know I am commenting on an old video, but Jerry, I have watched the whole series of videos of you building a Rosa Mandolin from scratch, and I was scared to ask what you charge for a mandolin build. $6,000 is nothing for what you put in an instrument. The guy who complained about it has no idea what a luthier's time and skill are worth. Pay him no mind.
Well, you didn't even clean up the joint before gluing. Sorry, but you are teaching it wrong. And you should use hide glue because someone might have to remove that neck in the future, for a neck reset, or whatever.
First I'm not teaching anything. You can take from it what you want or leave it. It's perfectly fine with me. Second it's a total myth that Titebond cannot be taken apart. I have a video out there where I took a neck out of a guitar that I built. It was glued with Titebond. I did it far faster than several videos where I've taken them apart with hide glue. In fact it only took 15 minutes to take it apart glued with Titebond. I defy anybody to do it faster with hide glue. Thanks for watching.
No problem. I think I came across too negative. I didn't mean it that way. I was surprised you did not clean up the glue joint but now I watched the video for the second time and I see the subtitle that says you cleaned up the glue joint off camera. I didn't see that subtitle initially and that whole thing threw me off. I really didn't mean to sound negative. Sorry about that. @@RosaStringWorks
That loser complaining about your mandolin prices, needed to check his greed status for not wanting to pay a man an honest wage, for his hard work! He would have complained if you told him your mandolins were $500. Some people are just miserable, and live only to complain! He needs to price a Lloyd Loar, and see that they are $150,000-$200,000. I'd venture to say your's are superior in alot of ways to real Loar.
Be willing to bet the person griping about the price of one of your custom mandolins cannot play one. Musicians do not gripe about prices. They are after quality.
Jeff's been cheating a little - he uses 2 or 3 camera's now - so he has more views from different angles, so he doesn't have to stop and change the camera position. He still spends a lot of time editing though. I like that he's incorporated some of your music - that canned stuff he has gets a bit old :P
$6,000 is high but not for the quality of the instruments you produce! Plus the fact that everyone you make is a separate Master piece . Tell the guy to look at the true Greedy Corporate CEO’s that on average make 1400 times the average pay of their employees 😡 if I could play a Mandolin I would not buy it anywhere else 👍
Gregory May yeah they're a little bit pricey. But they're less than 1/3 the price of my competitors. they're over $20,000 for Gilchrist and custom-made Gibson's. Thanks for watching.
