I've thought about the same thing--becoming a luthier after I retire. First, you have to learn from a master and apprentice under him or her for a few years. It takes a lot of time so you MUST be serious about it. It's not going to be a little something you do to mark your time and make a little money, it has to be something you are passionate about.
Also luthiers can actually a LOT of money. It depends on who is among your clientele. My luthier makes double basses for $12,000 as a minimum. The more you want done to it, the more you pay. He makes bows for $3500 a piece. He re-hairs bows and does restoration work as well. He also makes violins, violas, cellos, mandos, guitars, ukes and is now studying making sitars and morin khuurs as well as ancient stringed instruments that are not played anymore except by specialist musicians. He is in great demand and makes a lot of money. He also takes care of many of the violinists in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra which is a major world-class orchestra.
I've been to his shop on the west coast of Michigan. He does not advertise and his shop has no signs on it--just a little wooden cottage at the end of a long wooded road just off Lake Michigan. From the outside, you'd never guess it was luthier's shop or even inhabited. It's all word-of-mouth. The inside of the shop is like stepping back into the 17th century--horsehair hanging from the ceiling, instruments all over the place, all kinds of woods stacked up all over the place, Bunsen burners going, wood-stove heated in the winter.
He was my instructor's instructor's luthier who was the principal double bassist for the Detroit Symphony which he held for 36 years. When my instructor became his student, he also picked up this luthier as his own. When I became a student, I too picked up this luthier as my own. That's how he advertises--referrals strictly. You won't find him in the phone book.
If I could learn from him, I'd definitely become a luthier.
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