What to charge for first job?

[John Cartwright]

Hi folks, I'm about to finish up on my first job for a friend.  I've spent so much time learning the craft, I haven't paid too much attention to the hours I've worked or what to charge.  The job has been extensive and a real proving ground.  I've probably spent at least 40 hours on it not including all of the research, but here is a rundown of what I've done to this 1900-ish Bay State parlor guitar:

Re-joined the back that was in two pieces lengthwise and glued two other semi-major splits.
Reunited/glued the back to the rest of the body.
Reglued all bracings as needed.
Glued and filled all cracks.
Reshaped bridge.
Reglued bridge to top.
Slotted bridge for new saddle
Made new bone saddle from scratch
Made new horn nut from scratch
Leveled, crowned, dressed and polished the frets, sealed finger board.
Currently refinishing the back in shellac with a French polish technique (the back was in such bad shape and repairs so extensive that
refinishing the
back was a must!)

And then fine tune/set-up when done.

I must say, that all has gone well! My glue jobs are clean and tight, fret work is clean and accurate (I'll know more when I've got strings on it, but it checks out good so far), cracks are good and secure and cross patches matched well by wood type.

I thank Erlewine's books, this forum and Frets.com for the myriad treasures of facts, and techniques!!!!

So what would you professionals charge?  (I'll give a discount on what you suggest since I'm new to this, and he's a friend)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!  THANKS!
-John

[FRANK]

WITH OUT FINISH I CALCULATE $500 BEING THAT HE IS A FRIEND MAKE IT $375 PULSE YOUR TIME AND MATERIALS FOR THE FINISH PROBABLY CLOSE TO $800.BONES ONLY IF YOU DID A NICE JOB I MUST ADD THAT IN THERE SOMEWHERE CHEERS PHB.

[Grahame Myers]

Here in Germany I'd charge about €800-850 for a regular customer, €600 for a friend, I always love doing jobs like this. Sadly, it's becoming more seldom that someone brings a really nice old guitar to me, and is prepared to stick this kind of money into it. Most of the guitars that I get as jobs only cost a fraction of these repair costs to buy new, and, when it needs this kind of extensive and expensive repair work they just throw it away and buy another cheapo :-(

Grahame

[Russell Vance]

HI guys, what to charge?.....for a first job, to be fair regarding the hours worked compared to how fast a professional must work you could try charging 50% of the hours against yourself given that you used this as learning experience and took your time to practice your skills. Even 20 hours @ AUD$50 (which is our base rate) is $1000 which is still a bit high for this work - you may need to work faster to be competitive with your peers. Alternatively, if you wish to go low rent on the cost per hour you are probably close to the mark.

I recall a rule of thumb that is used in small business to determine hourly rate: Take the amount of money you need to make a year to live OK and support the business and divide that by 2400 to work out your hourly rate for a 8 hour a day, 5 day week with four weeks of holidays. ie: $50,000 a year is $20 an hour - that sort of thing.

Being a guitar repair guy you have to double that figure to take into account the losses from endless phone calls from tire-kickers, friends and clients and also the endless (here anyway) paperwork/ordering/ coffee breaks and appointments with your therapist/marriage counselor/bartender etc. Good luck and enjoy it -it's a great job if done well.

Rusty.

[John Cartwright]

Grahame,

Thanks for your help. I agree, it is a sad thing when people discard old tools, musical ones and otherwise, because they feel new is better, cheaper or just easier. A guitar like this is living history, and if well cared for and repaired well when needed, it can continue to be a working tool for musical expression as well! A real 'win/win' as they say.

[John Cartwright]

Thank you all very much for your help. I really was at a loss. I have some clarity now!!! :-) Clarity is good.

When it's all finished up, I'll share some pictures - should be sometime next week if all goes according to plan.

THANK YOU!!!!