Guitar building course free taster session

Guitar Building Course:

Basic principles for electric guitar construction.

• Learn valuable skills and techniques for the construction of an electric guitar of your very own design.
• Kickstart your creative side and meet new people with similar interests.
• This one-year course will run one night a week throughout term time, and it will probably take between 2 to 3 terms to complete the guitar. (There are different build options to make the process a little quicker or easier if you require.*)
• Week on week commitment is not necessary if you can't commit but the more time spent in The Shed, the more skills you will gain.

About this course

Learn valuable skills that will enable you to build your own instrument using minimal specialist tooling. This means that with a relatively modest workshop you will be able to continue building your own guitars.

The course begins with the basic design process using simple pencil and paper principles that will break down the complexities of your build. This can be a very exciting part of your build as you can let your imagination run wild (within the constrains of material capabilities and time frame) or choose a standard guitar shape that you like.

Once you are happy with your idea, it's time to start cutting some wood!

Build principles will include

• Designing your instrument or using a pre-existing design.
• Cutting and shaping body and neck templates.
• Cutting out and shaping of your guitar body.
• Routing body cavities for pickup and neck (alternative time saving option available*)
• Cutting out neck blanks, fitting fingerboard and fretting the neck (alternative time saving option available*)
• Final shaping, sanding and finish of body and necks using oil/water based rub on finishes.
• Final assembly and set up.

Who is the course for?

The course is designed for adults who are complete beginners with little or no woodworking experience or those wishing to learn a new skill to add to their woodworking practice.

Mostly though, the course is aimed at people who want to have a bit of a laugh, drink tea and make a lot of sawdust along the way.

Course tutor.

Ben Thomas studied at Leeds College of Music and gained a HNC in Musical Instrument Technology. He went on to work in various music shops, repairing guitars for customers and friends and taking on commissioned custom guitar builds.

He continued building in his home workshop, preferring to make guitars out of nonstandard and often reclaimed materials.

With the key principles learned from using minimal specialist tooling (often prohibitively expensive for the majority of home builders) he has put together a course in conjunction with The Shed Horsforth that will make Luthiery accessible to anyone.

Costs

The basic cost is £650, up front for guitar parts. However if you want more of the guitar parts ready made then the cost would increase to a maximum of £850.

There is also a charge per 2 hour session of £10 to be paid each week you attend.

*These options will cost a little extra as certain parts are pre-made for you to order.

Host or Publisher Horsforth Shed