Meet Allen Maxwell Smith | Maker – Woodworking / Violin Maker / Teacher / Designer / Piano Tech

We had the good fortune of connecting with Allen Maxwell Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Allen Maxwell, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Honestly in the beginning I had little faith in myself to be able to bring in enough work to be completely self-employed. In the beginning I was repairing musical instruments and tuning pianos.

I had part-time jobs here and there that not only supported me in lean times, but also taught me important skills in not only the physical work, but also in management, building positive relationships with customers, repairing and making good on promises made, time management, assessing my capability to satisfactorily complete a project, etc. etc.

I picked up skills along the way from various jobs that I found useful in crossing over from one field to another, so that basic instrument repairs evolved into violinmaking, furniture and finish repair, boatbuilding / repair, clock repair, designing and building cabinetry, as well as teaching these skills as needed in schools /museums as well as developing professional skills of employees at a company.

While the scope of my business has evolved and expanded, taking turns here and there, my main philosophy has always remained the same:

Listen to what the customer wants, be honest and respectful from the beginning and be clear about what is to be expected out of a job. Don’t cut corners and give nothing less than the best.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
At risk of sounding pretentious, my life and work are my art.. or more so my craft. I’ve never been just any one thing, but am this ever-expanding sum of experiences. As I’ve grown, the type of projects I’ve taken on have expanded. From stringed instruments, violin making, wooden boat building, cabinet making, teaching, to repair and maintenance of stringed instruments, pianos, clocks, and the occasional boat. At the time of this article current projects include:

Commission of a viola to be built for a customer to be finished by summer 2025.
Restoration of a Beetle Cat sailboat, steam bending ribs and rebuilding various parts.
Building parts for and assisting on the restoration of a 1926 Herreshoff S-Boat to be relaunched this summer.

Repair of an heirloom clock for a customer, repairs to mechanics as well as cabinet.

Teaching woodworking classes at the Hudson River Maritime Museum, Kingston NY.

I miss is just a sampling of the various projects I have taken on and continue to take up from time to time. What makes me stand apart from others is my versatility and wide range of experience in various fields for over 10 years. I have become the “go-to” for one-off design and replication projects.. primarily in wood with some amount of metal machining…embracing challenges as they come up.

How did I get here? I’ve arrived at where I am today, because of my endless passion for learning new skills, figuring out how things work, as well as designing new items, stressing simplicity and beauty. If I had another life to live, I might’ve become a mechanical engineer. But I am quite happy with how things turned out.

It wasn’t easy to get here. The development of my professional life and “Brand” was intertwined with my own self discovery and development. I graduated college as a Music Education and History major but found out fairly quickly that I didn’t want to teach public school and so I needed to find a new track for myself. I was lucky that my parents served as role models as small business entrepreneurs in media and began exploring that route using my skill to make my way.

As the years went by, I picked up different skills and have continued to develop them over time slowly deepening the well of knowledge and experience to be used in new ways. The challenge remained to convey to customers that I’m not just one “thing”, but in fact many “things”simultaneously. I realized at some point that I needed to own up, embrace, and keep promoting myself as this wide range of skills, the more I do so the more comfortable it becomes.

I’m currently in the process of shooting YouTube videos of ongoing projects presented in an engaging way with aims to highlight my diverse services. If in the very least it provides someone with mindless entertainment or crafty ASMR I’d be happy with that.. if it inspires them to learn something new or reach out to me with a project, even better!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’ve never been to L.A. so I can’t advise.. However I’d be more than willing to fly out and meet with a client.. I’ll have to get back to you on that one 😎

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m indebted to the people in my life who’ve truly inspired, encouraged, and influenced who I’ve become:

My Mom and Dad, for all their encouragement and advisement, their insistence on doing the right thing first, and for being an ever-present sounding board for crazy ideas.

My partner Raha for her support and understanding, belief in me, and insistence to take a step back, reflect, and try again.

Pat Yealy – who was hospitable enough to open his woodworking shop and a whole new world to me.

Music Inn World Instruments, David Gage String Instruments, Vincitores Piano Shop, Supreme Pianos, and Art May – Cabinetmaker – for taking a chance on me and teaching me what I know.

R.J. Storm – Violinmaker Beacon, NY who for two years taught this apprentice not only violin making and business but also about doing the right thing in life.

Luke Milanak and Walker May – the closest friends and confidants one could ask for.

Hudson River Maritime Museum – Kingston, NY and the Eric Sloane Museum – Kent, CT – both fertile environments for developing woodworking and teaching skills, not to mention a gold mine of support and advice.

NAWCC chapter 84 – for their mentoring and ongoing support in learning the finer points of clock repair.

Instagram: @maxwell_multicrafts

Facebook: Facebook.com/maxpianoclocksvc

Youtube: YouTube.com/maxwell_multicrafts

Other: 347-997-4105 amaxwell.smith@gmail.com

Image Credits
Group shop photo credit Hudson River Maritime Museum. Demonstration photo credit Eric Sloane Museum