Straight Frets Houston is looking for right guy to run the shop. One must possess repair shop or guitar factory experience, comfortable with people, and being in front of the camera. Looking for someone with dependable transportation and energized enough to want to set a high bar for consistency and customer service while being a team player. Creative types and out of the box thinkers are welcomed.
Straight Frets is a total of 12 luthiers in Austin (half subcontracted), plus one of my Austin guys travels to Houston to teach guitar 2 days a week, transporting needed advanced work. The extension of Straight Frets from the Austin shop has been 6 years in the planning. Fully equipped with a dust controlled workshop, a classroom of 6, in addition to a nice showroom with 160 sets of strings and AllParts galore, employee break room, a desk, a brand new bathroom and HVAC, three additional workstations, a large Craftsman double tool box filled with tools and vintage parts, a large TV for the luthier lectures/clinics, and a security cage for instruments in a seperate inventory room.
There's three Plek machines (available to the public) in the state of Texas: Dallas, Austin, and Houston, a city of 7.5 million people. The scene embodies metal, Texas blues and rock, in addition to a bit of a bluegrass scene about 45 minutes south of the city. There's plenty of wealthy people with large collections of nice guitars, acoustic and electric. The Plek has been in Houston a year and recently moved into a more central location, close to Karbach Brewery, close to the Heights (the Austin part of Houston), and 290.
The details of the sliding scale pay system is fully detailed below. Applicants please either answer this ad or preferably the Luthier Employment page on the Straight Frets homepage:
Houston Straight Frets is looking for the right guy (or gal) to run the operations of the shop during our business hours: TU 1:00-6:30, WED- SAT 10:30-6:30.
Base pay is $25,000, but also includes other jobs that aren’t on the Plek (setups, electronic work, headstock breaks, etc) at 60% of those jobs.
The base pay of $25,000 in on an increasing sliding scale, based on how many guitars were on the machine from the previous month. Here’s the breakdown of how the mid month Plek bonus works:
Base salary is $25K but monthly paycheck increases with the numbers of the Plek from previous month:
$416.67 more @ 40 guitars/month (2 a day) - $30K annually
$833.34 more @ 45 guitars/month (2.25 a day) - $35K annually
$1,250.01 more @ 50 guitars/month (2.5 a day) - $40K annually
$1,666.68 more @ 55 guitars/month (2.75 a day)- $45K annually
$2,083.35 more @ 60 guitars/month (3 a day) - $50K annually
$2,500.02 more @ 65 guitars/month (3.25 a day)- $55K annually
$2,916.69 more @ 70 guitars/month (3.50 a day)- $60K annually
$3,333.36 more @ 75 guitars/month (3.75 a day)- $65K annually
$3,750.03 more @ 80 guitars/month (4 a day) - $70K annually
$4,166.70 more @ 85 guitars/month (4.25 a day)- $75K annually
$4,583.37 more @ 90 guitars/month (4.5 a day) - $80K annually
$5,000.04 more @ 95 guitars/month (4.75 a day)- $85K annually
$5,416.71 more @ 100 guitars/month (5 a day) - $90K annually
$5,833.38 more @ 105 guitars/month (5.25 a day)- $95K annually
$6,259.05 more @ 110 guitars/month (5.5 a day)- $100K annually
Plus: 60% of all other non-Plek jobs completed (electronics, headstock breaks, finish touch ups, structural repairs, etc).
Shop foreman responsibilities would include opening/closing the shop, running the Plek machine, overseeing quality control, helping train luthiers to get up to speed, ordering parts/supplies, and organizing classes of 4-7, which would pay $400 per class (with at least 4 students), and helping organize weekly Facebook and Instragram posts by taking pictures/videos with the company cell phone (at least 1 or 2 posts a week), in addition to taking short 30 second videos of guitars on the Plek and have that sent to the owner via text.
Paychecks would reflect:
$2,083.33 base monthly salary
$416.67 bonus per Plek numbers increasing in intervals
of 5 starting at 40 guitars a month
$400 for assisting in a setup class (4 hours)
60% of all other jobs completed not on the Plek
EXAMPLE PAYCHECK for 41 guitars on the Plek in one month:
The first paycheck of the month would reflect $2,083.33 base salary, plus 60% of all other jobs done in the last 2 weeks of work (let’s say 60% of $475, which is $285). Total for the first check of the month would be $2,368.33
The second paycheck of the month would reflect the Plek machine bonus money and other jobs completed during this 2-week period. Let’s say the previous month had 41 guitars on the Plek. The bonus for the previous month would be $461.67 plus any other jobs completed at 60%, let’s say $550 non Plek jobs were completed which would be $330, plus running a setup class that month of 5 people ($400). Total second check would be $1,246.67.
Total for the month would be $3,515, or $42,180 annually.
EXAMPLE PAYCHECK for 53 guitars on the Plek in one month:
The first paycheck of the month would reflect $2,083.33 base salary, plus 60% of all other jobs done in the last 2 weeks of work (let’s say 60% of $475, which is $285). Total for the first check of the month would be $2,368.33
The second paycheck of the month would reflect the Plek machine bonus money and other jobs completed during this 2-week period. Let’s say the previous month had 53 guitars on the Plek. The bonus would be $1,250.00, plus any other jobs completed at 60%, let’s say $550 which would be $330, plus running a setup class that month of 5 people ($400). Total second check would be $1,980.01.
Total for the month would be $4,538.33 or $54,459.96 annually.
EXAMPLE PAYCHECK for 61 guitars on the Plek in one month:
The first paycheck of the month would reflect $2,083.33 base salary, plus 60% of all other jobs done in the last 2 weeks of work (let’s say 60% of $575, which is $345). Total for the first check of the month would be $2,428.33.
The second paycheck of the month would reflect the Plek machine bonus money and other jobs completed during this 2-week period. Let’s say the previous month had 61 guitars on the Plek. The bonus would be $2083.34, plus any other jobs completed at 60%, let’s say $350 which would be $210, plus running a setup class that month of 6 people ($400). Total second check would be $2,693.34
Total for the month would be $5,121.67, or $61,460.04 annually.
EXAMPLE PAYCHECK for 75 guitars on the Plek in one month:
The first paycheck of the month would reflect $2,083.33 base salary, plus 60% of all other jobs done in the last 2 weeks of work (let’s say 60% of $575, which is $345). Total for the first check of the month would be $2,428.33.
The second paycheck of the month would reflect the Plek machine bonus money and other jobs completed during this 2-week period. Let’s say the previous month had 75 guitars on the Plek. The bonus for the previous month would be $3,333.34, plus any other jobs completed at 60%, let’s say $550 which would be $330, plus running two setup class that month with a total of 10 people ($800). Total second check would be $4,463.34.
Total for the month would be $6,891.67 or $82,700.04 annually.
Anything over this number would likely require a part-time, or even full-time Plek operator. I have on average 50-65 guitars a month on my Plek machine in Austin, but I have put 76 guitars on the machine one month, and if an efficient shop is run, there can easily be 6-8 guitars a day on the machine. I’ve successfully ran 10 guitars in one day, but only once. The Plek in Atlanta was doing 120-150 guitars a month in 2019. Houston is the 4th largest city in America and could possibly get to that point.
The Houston shop is only doing about 20 guitars a month at this point, but there’s more traction every week. I’m looking for someone who knows electronics and setups, in addition to some basic acoustic repairs. We have a team of 10 luthiers in Austin (half are subcontracted) and we transport guitars back and forth almost every week, so if you’ve not done a fret job in a while, or aren’t comfortable with a neck reset, we have all the bases covered here in Austin.
I’m looking for someone who preferably knows how to run the Plek, who has dependable transportation, is comfortable with making social media posts and loves doing it. This would be an opportunity of a lifetime to the right luthier, as a few of the senior luthiers in town are about to be hanging it up. Please send your resume, any before and after jobs, any Instagram pages, plus a list of your tools and the jobs you’re comfortable with to Danny Shoemaker. Email address is on the website, along with a luthier employment link preferred).
I would be interested in hearing from you!
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
