Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Designation of occupation

Maker of plucked musical instruments (m/f)

Duration of traineeship

3 years
The venues for training delivery are the training company and the vocational school

Field of activity

Makers of plucked musical instruments work in craft or industrial enterprises to manufacture and repair mainly guitars, zithers, mandolines, dulcimers, banjos, lutes and harps. They plan, execute and monitor their work on a self-reliant basis.

Occupational skills

Makers of plucked musical instruments are capable of carrying out, unaided, the technical tasks involved in manufacturing these instruments. They are familiar with the products manufactured in their enterprise and also with those of domestic and foreign competitors. In some enterprises makers of plucked musical instruments are also engaged in customer service activities.
The main activities involved in manufacturing plucked musical instruments are:

• manually crafting and machining woods, metals, and other materials used in manufacturing instrument parts;
• joining components, mainly by pasting and glueing;
• assembling the components of plucked musical instruments, e.g. body, neck and finger board, and also stringing these instruments;
• surface finishing; assembling and tuning the instruments and carrying out final checks for acoustic and optical perfection;
• recognizing different instruments and distinguishing between different types of instrument manufacture and acoustic concept;
• preparing, reading and applying sketches, parts lists and drawings;
• setting up a workplace at a bench or a machine tool;
• operating and maintaining tools and machinery;
• ensuring safety at work, environmental protection and the rational use of energy.

Last modified on: December 12, 2006