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Does anyone know of a good class on the East coast thats doesnt have a 5 year waiting list or cost more then my house?

Seriously the only one I know about is at penland school of arts and crafts. There are only 6 slots ever 2 years and apparently 100's of people would like to take it. Wayne Henderson teaches that one.

I live in North Carolina and I'm willing to travel.

If not a good builder that doesnt mind spending a little time showing a newbie a few things?

[QUOTE=alambert] Does anyone know of a good class on the East coast thats doesnt have a 5 year waiting list or cost more then my house?

Seriously the only one I know about is at penland school of arts and crafts. There are only 6 slots ever 2 years and apparently 100's of people would like to take it. Wayne Henderson teaches that one.

I live in North Carolina and I'm willing to travel.

If not a good builder that doesnt mind spending a little time showing a newbie a few things?[/QUOTE]


Sure. Frank Finocchio is in Easton PA. He was a process engineer for Martin for a long time, and I think he spent some time running the Guitarmakers Connection for them for a while too (not 100% sure of that though).

He is a great guy and a fantastic teacher. I have worked with him both in a class room setting and 1:1 instruction.

http://www.finocchioguitar.com/

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Although not a substitute for FF's in person class, he has a set of 5 instructional tapes that is pretty good. They can be rented from smartflix.comm for $10 each. He covers most everything except finish. Might be worthwhile to check out before committing to the class.

FWIW, I took one of those expensive 2 week courses (not FF's) and I was disappointed. There was just too much to do in so little time that I don't really remember much. I've learned much more from books, tapes, DVD's, and hanging out on forums like this one. If you've never built an instrument b4 I recommend that you build a kit 1st to get your feet wet.

CrowDuck

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Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.

Also, check out the Leeds Guitarmakers' School in Northampton MA.

I built my first two there and have been going strong ever since. Classes
range from 1 on 1 tutorials, to a three month comprehensive class of 4-5
students and two teachers.

Leeds School

Louis

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- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

Another possibility- while you are waiting and saving for the instrument building course- is to see if you can find any local 'fine woodworking'-type courses that emphasize hand tool use. They're a lot more common and you can learn some hand tool skills that will be useful in luthierie.
Even one-day courses on sharpening, hand plane tuneup, etc etc can be fun. Some things are tough to learn from books- somebody had to hand me a really sharp chisel and say: 'Try this one!' before I got the idea.
John

get in touch with Rick Turner.   He'll do a course for you if you get him a hotel & a workshop. Try a loacl college in the summertime. Sam might chip in here asI know she bounced the idea around with him coming to the UK to take a mando building course......

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

Our very own John at Blues Creek.

Check out the two week course at my web site. I am located in Luray, VA and
you actually build a completed (in the white) instrument which you get to
take home. The course is quite comprehensive and I am sure you will learn
much. Good luck no matter what direction you decide to follow!

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Sylvan
http://www.wellsguitars.com

Boy have I got great news for you. I know just what you want, got the perfect person for it, and he's in North Carolina. The guys name is Brad Nickerson. He used to teach at Leeds. He's worked with Cumpiano, and his guitar are wonderful.

Give me a PM with a phone number and let's talk about it.

Bill

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

You might look at www.vermontinstruments.com., William Cumpiano in western Mass, Al Carruth in New Hampshire or Tom Knatt in Mass. Leeds in western Mass has already been mentioned as well.
I don't know of the immediate availability of any of these options but I do know that they all teach.

Taking a class is a great way to increase your skills or to learn. Frank has a very detailed class. He also teaches arch top construction.
I have classes for beginners on up and includes some inlay.
Dave Nichols at Malone NY also teaches a great class. Dave was instrumental in bringing the Martin D45 back to life with Mike Longworth. He still does alot of Martins custom pearl work
http://custompearlinlay.com/

Dale Unger and Danny bBrown do a guitar class at Easton College .
   Sylvan Wells
So as you can see there are lots to choose from. What you can expect in most cases is a guitar that will be completed in the white as the actuall finishing process can't be done in 7 days.
   Most classes do cover the art of finishing as the process will take as long if not longer the the actuall building of the guitar.
   Good luck on your choice of class. I have 1 spot open this season for the week of March 3rd to the 10th
john hall

You've gotten lots of suggestions that all sound great - I might look into some of them myself!

Yet another suggestion, not as close to you, though (southern Quebec), is to take a month-long class with Sergei de Jonge. I couldn't recommend it highly enough. One of the nice things about his course is that it's quite affordable, and you live, eat, and work right there with his wonderful family in a beautiful place. It would be well worth it to study at the de Jonge's for a much higher price than they charge. Given a whole month, you learn so much, including a lot about repair, and french polishing as well. Your guitar may need some additional work on the french polished finish when you leave, depending on how quickly you pick that up.

Though I would generally agree that some guitar building or woodworking experience before a taking a guitar building class is a good idea, you can certainly take Sergei's class without, if you go into it with a willingness to work hard and rise to the challenge.    

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Wow guys, Thanks for all the information. I think I may do like some of you suggested and view some DVD first. That being said I'll hijack my on post.

What are some good DVD's/ Videos. I know about the Mayes videos and I'm considering them. Stew Macs is anohter, and I can buy/rent Finocchio.

What else is there? Can any of the others be rented?

SmartFlix Looks pretty good!
http://smartflix.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=39

Alan-
The only instrument-building courses I've taken were about 4 weeks long (each) and my lute/fiddle was quite far from complete in both cases. However I learned a great deal.
I'd be cautious about 'intensive' courses that promise you an instrument 'in the white' in a week or 10 days. I was reading recently an account of a mandolin-building course of this type, and my impression was that it was very jig-oriented with students running components through standard jigs. It's very interesting, especially if you plan to produce a few standard instruments in quantity, but not necessarily for everybody.
Perhaps a longer stay without guaranteed 'product' at the end will suit some folks better.
John

I just saw this post....

The best option that I can think of for you is Brad Nickerson, who I believe is right down in NC. He used to be in Kentucky, but I think he recently moved to North Carolina. I believe Brad was part of the whole Stringfellows group with Bill Cumpiano a number of years back. He really knows his stuff, and teaches.

Virtually every reputable 7-10 day course out there, be it from Brad or Bill Cumpiano or others, will pretty much get you an instrument completed in the white. That is to say, for people with any level of skill at all. If you go in with no woodworking skills, that will be tough to achieve.
Most teachers will provide some level of "kit" for you to work on, without things like plate thicknessing done etc. But wood will be roughed and neckblock & tailblocks pre-cut. Usually, the instructor will build a similar guitar along side you, so you can see the operations first hand.
Don Williams39064.5607175926

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Alan,

Mike Collins is in Argyle, New York and does some one on one teaching as well. He is also a member here and did the resent rosette tutorial. You could PM him or visit his website here

Shane

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Canada

Where in NC do you live Alan? I am from the great state of NC myself.

Homeboy

[QUOTE=Don Williams] I just saw this post....

The best option that I can think of for you is Brad Nickerson, who I believe is right down in NC. He used to be in Kentucky, but I think he recently moved to North Carolina. I believe Brad was part of the whole Stringfellows group with Bill Cumpiano a number of years back. He really knows his stuff, and teaches.

Virtually every reputable 7-10 day course out there, be it from Brad or Bill Cumpiano or others, will pretty much get you an instrument completed in the white. That is to say, for people with any level of skill at all. If you go in with no woodworking skills, that will be tough to achieve.
Most teachers will provide some level of "kit" for you to work on, without things like plate thicknessing done etc. But wood will be roughed and neckblock & tailblocks pre-cut. Usually, the instructor will build a similar guitar along side you, so you can see the operations first hand.
[/QUOTE]


I can't speak to how everyone does it, but I know how Frank Finocchio teaches his class. You do not start with a kit. You start with raw lumber for the top back and sides. You joint and join the plates yourself and Frank thicknesses everything for you on the drum sander. You even bend sides over a pipe and not in a Fox bender. The neck and tail blocks are premade.

If you work quickly and have a good command of the tools you will have the opportunity to build a neck too, but if you are slow or run into problems then you will most likely employ a premade neck.

Frank is very laid back and will let you direct him to some extent. When I took his course we did wood bindings whereas he typically works with plastic in the classroom settings. I know others have incorporated inlay as part of the process too.

But... everyone left in 7 days with a completed instrument.

I have taken a pretty fair amount of training. My work and family life are such that taking a month or 6 weeks to go take a guitar class are impossible. But I try to grab a week or two a year as time permits.

I think that there are 3 basic types of guitar making instruction.

1) The wood working. Getting the basics of the carpentery work down so the guiar looks good and has the right geometery. This is very much what Frank's entry class falls into.

2) The finer points of construction. Advanced fretting, set ups, some levels of repair.

3) How to make the instrument better -- this is about voicing etc.


For me, it made sense to break these up into separate objectives. Otherwise it may have been just too much information to consume at once. But everyone learns in their own way so YMMV.


Brock Poling39064.5875694444

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

[QUOTE=Homeboy] Where in NC do you live Alan? I am from the great state of NC myself.

Homeboy[/QUOTE]

I work in the Raleigh/Durham area and live in the Burlington/Greensboro area

Another option is our own member Sylvan Wells in Luray, VA. You can check out his course offering here.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

If you check out the link on Sylvan's website you will appreciate how you can build a completed guitar in 2 weeks. Every aspect of the course is documented. While Sylvan (like all of us) uses jigs, I suspect that you will come away knowing more information as to what jigs are good to use and what operations should be done by hand...it is never all or nothing...

I dont even build steel strings (I only build classical) but the pictures made me want to take the course with him

Sylvan Wells at Wells Guitars puts on a great two week course during which you take part in all phases of construction and walk away from the school with a beautiful new instrument. I took his course earlier in the year and learned a great deal about the mechanics, geometry, and most importantly the sequences of operations by which a guitar is contructed. By the very nature of the way Sylvan builds, you will get an absolute immersion in the use of jigs and fixtures associated with guitarmaking. Many ingenious jigs and processes used in his methods. Check it out at http://www.wellsguitars.com/index.html