After the Beatles packed it in, Paul McCartney put his worn Höfner bass in storage. Decades later, when he decided to play it again, Mr. McCartney flew the bass on the Concorde (in its own seat) and had it delivered to Flip Scipio for restoration. Looking at another battered Höfner just delivered to his shop, Mr. Scipio said, "I could make a career just out of fixing these."

Many luthiers, as guitar-makers are known, grudgingly do repairs for steady income, putting their real efforts into the crafting...