[sdiy] Small Business Idea -- synth techs needed

[Roy J. Tellason]

On Friday 04 November 2005 09:43 pm, klosmon wrote:
> My situation exactly.
>
> I worked for the University of California for 29 years -- during that time,
> amassed a collection of synths, parts, schematics & knowledge.  After they
> put me out to pasture last year (thanks, Schwartzenegger), I went  into
> "business" as a vintage synth repair tech -- I was thinking I could work on
> one or two machines a month & supplement my retirement pittance.  At this
> moment, I have two Chromas, four Prophet 5s (rev 2 & 3), an Aelita and
> numerous smaller synths (Cat, Solus, Prophet 600, etc) stacked in my house
> for repair (and more on the way). If I was serious about making a "killing"
> (which I'm assuredly not), I could have even more business coming in than I
> already have.  Even working at my own slow pace, not soliciting business,
> I'm making more now than I was working for UC.
>
> There is a space for more techs out there.

That's a surprise to me,  maybe I'm not hanging out in the right places,  or 
something...

> It amazes me that in a place like the bay area, with half a million
> musicians, there is so LITTLE effective tech support for analog keyboards.
> Anyone who has some skill, some knowledge & the will to deal with musicians
> (which is the hardest part of my job) can do quite well for themselves --
> the up side is the chance to play with all kinds of interesting & unusual
> synths;  the down side is "oh joy, another Odyssey with crappy sliders".

So what _do_ you do about those?  I have an Omni sitting in storage with a 
busted release slider,  need to get a hold of one of those someplace...

> About half my business is local;  the rest is shipped from around the
> country (& a few from outside the US).

We used to get people shipping stuff to us,  too.  Which is okay if they have 
an anvil case or something to ship it in,  but some musicians don't 
understand proper packing.   :-)

> Lists like Analog Heaven & Synth DIY are all the advertising you need;  once
> you've done good work for a few people, word of mouth spreads insanely.

Dunno about AH.  I've had some dealings with some folks in here,  and aside 
from a few minor bumps in the road I haven't heard any real complaints,  just 
delays when things didn't happen when they should've,  stuff like that.  (And 
if any of you guys _do_ have something to say feel free to contact me 
offlist.  :-)

Make a living at this stuff again?  I dunno about that.  But having been 
unemployed for coming up on 2-1/2 years now I'm not particularly inclined to 
turn anything away should somebody have a need...

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"