FIRST PRINCIPLES

When a professional luthier takes on someone new, the amount of learning needed to become a trusted employee can be overwhelming. Sarah Kluge explains her method of training an apprentice from scratch, including an essential list of dos and don’ts

Sarah Kluge (left) shows intern Jordan Smith how to sharpen a blade

SARAH KLUGE

Over the past two decades of violin making, I have become a professional learner. In my role as head of a workshop, I need to work alongside my colleagues while at the same time maintaining the role of team leader. In the process, I have discovered how this mindset of leader–partner translates from industry to industry, and from teacher to student. (Given my other role as a trainer of horses, I’ve even realised how it extends to different species!) Before training as a restorer more than 20 years ago, I worked for a time in human resources where I was exposed to matters such as ‘training scales’ and the ideas I explain in this article. They have helped me during my own apprenticeship, through to owning my own shop and my participation on the board of the Violin Society of America. I also found it helpful when I was setting up my own musical charity.

I believe that the rules and guidelines described here can inspire learners to participate fully in workshop matters, and grow more quickly by preparing the way both psychologically and developmentally.

Make it hard to do the wrong thing

The basic purpose of this principle is to be able to leave your team alone while they are on task. Proper care and attention make it harder to do the wrong things: for instance, cleaning and environmental preparation will help to prevent accidents of slipping. So, add a mat and keep the work surfaces clean. It is now more difficult to do the wrong thing. Finally: don’t use punishment to ‘make the wrong things hard’.

This is the first principle for a reason. All the other rules you introduce should support this one, and it encompasses some of the most basic principles. Always announce when using power tools; always label a customer’s case and fittings; always set expectations for the customer before they leave, and so on. Always support your work.

Don’t let things build up

Any luthier will know that a workshop can be a place of tension; maybe customers have spent too long waiting to be served, for instance. As soon as the immediate difficulty is over and done with, you need to give yourself a breather to relax and support yourself. Letting things build up will just make it easier to do the wrong thing (see above). And once someone’s behaviour has changed, let it go! Don’t expect future failure or that is what you will get.

Create a tool before you use it

When solving a problem, from dry-clamping to counterpart design, you first need to ensure the tool you’re using is fully functional. It’s actually better to do nothing than to integrate the wrong tool, or use it at the wrong time. Furthermore, at the beginning of an apprenticeship, projects are often passed around. Once you’re sure all the tools work, be certain that it’s clear which team member is responsible for each part of the process. Transparency and accountability are the watchwords here: everyone involved needs to understand the ‘what’ and the ‘how’. (The ‘why’ comes later.)

Timing matters

Don’t call people out on their mistakes in public. Don’t use force. Don’t be conflict-avoidant. Instead, give cues as you go that ensure trust and dependability. Communicate clearly and consistently. Try to break your task down into several steps, so the learner can engage with a choose-to-learn mindset. This principle is very important in teaching the team how to respond positively to your leadership, especially in stressful circumstances.

Cleaning cracks on a 1778 Benjamin Banks cittern converted to a banjo

SARAH KLUGE

FRUSTRATION AND FEAR OF FAILURE CAN SHUT PEOPLE DOWN OR CAUSE GROSS, EVEN DANGEROUS, OVER-REACTIONS

Apply the opposite

This isn’t the same as putting dark strings on a bright fiddle at all. Rather, it’s to do with action and reaction. Be the release of stress, not the cause, as you urge your colleagues to persevere with the job. Immediately before the fight-or-flight response kicks in, we look for a friend.

The Pac-Man method to purposeful perseverance

When you get something wrong, return to the absolute beginning and start all over again. When your apprentice doesn’t understand something, be ready to explain it again from first principles. Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. Taking the time up front will lead to more efficiency.

Choose where you work and where you rest

This is an amazing foundational tool to avoid burnout and improve stamina. Lunch breaks are away from the bench. Phone breaks should be away from the bench. Meetings are away from the bench. Employee choice in the matter is key. You don’t have to step away to be productive, but could doing so improve your quality of life, work output, or ability to focus? Eventually you should be able to walk into the shop and be instantly energised by the vibe in your healthy space.

They need to know the answer before you ask the question

The answer should always lie in what they’ve already been taught. Again, timing matters. Don’t surprise someone while working unless it’s absolutely necessary to stop them and redirect. Be mindful and redirect fearful thoughts, so that interns will look for answers rather than a way out. And then use tact, grace, respect and fairness. Set clear expectations and a single purpose for each step, and include a pause point. Lay out clear ‘pass’ and ‘fail’ criteria, including a margin for error, and points where technique can be interpreted. Specify where it can’t.

Most people have baggage about what they don’t know. Be the first person, finally, to teach them how to learn.

Isolate, separate, recombine

Any time you are asking an apprentice to do two or more things at once, they need to know them perfectly, and separately. When you put them together and it doesn’t work, you mentally need to isolate the one that is not working. Separate it out and correct the issue before moving on.

Don’t let a trainee’s predictable behaviours following failure affect you personally. Your staff members would do it correctly if they really understood what, how and why. It’s you who can help them find and fix the disconnect – providing they care about the job anyway.

Frustration and fear of failure can shut people down or cause gross, even dangerous, over-reactions. Result: wasted potential.

Anticipation is your best friend or your worst enemy

Luthiers are masters of anticipation. Knowing when to enhance it and when to suppress it is a key element of training.

Work with the people you have

Do what is needed without holding on to hang-ups or fearing future results. Stay positive, stay present. Accepting failure and allowing yourself and others to be authentic builds trust.

No two days are the same. Take experiences at face value and embrace that moment in time.

Gratitude

Finally, actively seek ways to acknowledge a job well done. Develop a culture of gratitude and service with all those around you.

Anessential tool in my workshop is the project management software ClickUp. It’s incredible for all kinds of tasks, from setting deadlines (it actually reminds me of them), sending intake forms to customers, photodocumenting work, and organising what’s in the shop and who has responsibility for what.

I have workspaces and categories split into six thorough training tracks:

1. Intern

2. Assistant

3. Worthy Apprentice

4. Fearless Apprentice

5. Appointable Apprentice

6. Partner Apprentice

After that, they go elsewhere to ensure well-rounded skills or earn ‘journeyman’ status. When they graduate to each level, they receive a leather badge for their apron, which they receive in a little ceremony.

I try to structure each day with three things: something new of interest; something the trainee can already do; and something doggedly rigid to be done exactly as I specify. In my opinion, it’s important to have that balance, as it militates against burnout and frustration. I’ve built structured training time into each day (in theory), plus I will be able to walk away and do my own work.

I start by including interns on ClickUp training. It’s written out and there are videos. They start by making an instrument inventory of non-profit weekly repairs, work on our database and, when appropriate, help generate posts on social media. As time progresses they start cleaning and vacuuming out cases. This helps them learn to spot bow bugs and treat cases and instruments appropriately. They are trained in how to hold and interact with instruments, our shop’s vocabulary. They are short-term members of the team, sometimes coming in less than once a week. So clarity, purpose and process are key to being able to hand over work at any stage.

Assistants should be able to help with shipping and shop cleaning. I allow them access to tools and pigments, and let them walk in the workshop so they can see projects mid-flow. They begin to make what they can of tools they’ll need with the use of my shop resources. Alex Schmer (who has since worked his way up to Fearless Apprentice) started with a tool case, an apron and clamps. I also show them how to use Japanese water stones for sharpening, and give them a fundamental understanding of tool usage and safety, even though tools might still be foreign at this point (assistants might still only come in once a week).

Preparations for varnish retouching

PHOTOS SARAH KLUGE

Besides watching luthiers work, the first step to advancement is taking an inventory and making template measurements. This enforces so much of our culture and really demonstrates what the shop stands for, particularly in terms of the level of respect we show each instrument, customer and project. ‘Templating’ also involves the use of precision tools and has built-in quality control; there are even built-in reference points where they need to stop and assess their work before moving ahead. This way, their eyes can become accustomed to the minutiae. Over weeks and months we introduce assistants to all aspects of shop life, in accessible chunks. Ideally, everything is simplified so new tasks build on what’s gone before. For example, tools needed for a certain step will first be made, bought and organised by section, before being used in that particular stage. Certain parts of set-up, for instance, are discussed and trained in an ‘I do half, you do half’ process. More advanced aspects of set-up are saved for later training. But all the way, the sets of tools and order of events are repeated, as with every other part of the system – broken down tool by tool, step by step, according to the training scale.

ALL THE WAY, THE SETS OF TOOLS AND ORDER OF EVENTS ARE REPEATED, BROKEN DOWN TOOL BY TOOL, STEP BY STEP, ACCORDING TO THE TRAINING SCALE

A freshly doubled spruce top in need of repair

Now we can begin training a Worthy Apprentice by showing them how to fit a button, then adjust pegs, trim and shape peg ends, and add notches to the bridge and nut. We discuss playability and function, and how these will be elements to look at (in that order) when every instrument comes in the shop. Next we do bridge contours and archings, discussion of string materials, and how form follows function. We discover why we sometimes use files and abrasive paper in contrast to the majority of times when we use hand planes. Worthy Apprentice learns with clear pass/fail criteria. This is followed by diagnosis training, buzz chasing, cleaning stages (stopping before the use of alcohol). These are the most common things to come through, and have often been missed by previous hands.

Rehairing a bow at the bench

Next we begin gluing cracks. Worthy Apprentice gets to play engineer with clamping, and then I show my own method. I explain how structural integrity must be maintained: if you find you have to force it, stop and look to find the root cause of the crack. We discuss structure and pressure points more deeply. We fit cleats, and later cut them down. We establish an order of operations in a concrete way, and learn to triangulate hypotheses through tone, structure and the movement of plates. We examine and test wood types, and learn about graduations using tapping and flexing with the hands. At this stage I also encourage apprentices to assist me with customer service and writing insurance appraisals. They begin helping me pour casts. I like an apprentice to have something in their hands while I’m serving customers (retouching a student instrument, for instance). If they’re continuing to work, they can listen without feeling awkward. Plus we learn better when involving more of the brain at once.

Worthy Apprentice is ready to move forward once their work is up to my standard 80 per cent of the time. If they are more than eight months in, you need to commit to paying them more, so they can afford to come in for 30 hours per week at a minimum. At this point, if not earlier, I share my entire notebook with them to encourage copying and note-taking. I offer my books and even assign homework. (Typically I don’t pay them for that, but I do treat them to Friday meals!)

Leather badges confirm the apprentice’s current status

Next we start on fingerboard work; fitting then making soundposts; more in-depth retouching and tonal checks; placement of the bridge (but still not carving one); and calculating tailpiece afterlength. Tailcord material begins to get tested for another layer of tonal education. This implies the occasional necessity to bush and re-drill buttons and pegs, and training follows suit.

Sarah Kluge teaching Fearless Apprentice Alex Schmer about wood grain

ALL PHOTOS SARAH KLUGE

I LIKE AN APPRENTICE TO HAVE SOMETHING IN THEIR HANDS WHILE I’M SERVING CUSTOMERS

When Worthy Apprentice is trusted to work alone, can interact with customers, prepare and pour casts alone, and can have work checked rather than critiqued, then they advance to Fearless Apprentice!

Then, when Fearless Apprentice can do a standard set-up below and above the bridge, can polish with alcohol, is ready to carve a bridge and complete a job from start to finish, then they graduate to Appointable Apprentice and we start all over again. This means building in another layer of understanding, which is deeper for each step in the journey. When Fearless Apprentice is ready to begin showing someone else what we have done up to this point, they can begin on bass-bars. In our shop we always follow the order of working operations, so try to instil that from the very start, based on the employee’s own goals. This also teaches a respect for the process, and it can be scaled for multiple training settings. I hope we can agree there isn’t just one right way to do anything; but there’s always consistency!

Thanks go to Warwick Schiller, John Safian, Kim Cafferty and all the others who are in my head, heart and eyes for their contributions to this scale over the years