Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: ChrisB619 on January 24, 2006, 05:06:01 PM
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In sixth form recently, we're being made to sit down and actually think about our futures!
I'm really interested in becoming a luthier, and am looking into courses about how to actually start this, and was wondering if anybody could give me any info? I'm looking at the totnes school of guitar making, but it looks a tad expensive!!!!
Cheers folks!!!
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the London College of Furniture used to do a course many years ago. Don't know if it is still offered. I think that there is also something in Leeds.
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Johnathan aka felineguitars is on this forum and he has been making guitars for a very long time. He basically ressurected my Fender HM, his workmanship is superb hes in LA at the moment (the lucky bar-steward) but I'm sure he will reply when he is back :P
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I'd be interested too. I can't find any place overhere that can teach it. Only in the states and that costs a fortune.
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I'm due a good 6 months or so break before returning to the daily grind of corporate law, and was considering the Totness school to keep me entertained, I've certainly heard some good things about it. Would be good to hear about other courses too :)
*Rahnooo*
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London Metropolitan University offers a guitar making course. I enrolled for it, but i'm not sure if i'll actually go. It seems a hell of a lot of money which i'm very worried about paying back. Plus it's a self employed job (unless you work for someone) so it would be damn hard getting into the business.
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Hi - still in LA - so I will make a quick reply here
I studied for a year at the London college of Furniture and then learnt a lot more working in various guitar workshops -
The London College of Furniture is part of the Metropolitan University which is where Steve is enrolling and it was good but the real world is where you start learning for sure.
I also learnt stacks from reading books and watching stuff on video - then applying what I had learnt.
Try www.stewmac.com for some great books and stuff
Doing it full time:.....
The good side of the job - working with guitars and loving what you do
The bad side - hard to nake any money or keep a roof over your head
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www.totnesschoolofguitarmaking.co.uk
thats where Duncan of Organic Guitars studied - seems very good but VERY expensive for what it is. Check out organic guitars and maybe email him and ask? www.organicguitars.co.uk
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Craft Supplies (www.craft-supplies.co.uk) apparently do courses on making acoustic and electric guitars. I think they start you off with a partial kit, but might be enough to get you sufficient knowledge to start repairing your mates' guitars, maybe approach the local music shops to do some work for them, make your own guitar from scratch, and build up that way. Doing a course is only a start.
However, I don't want to piss on your parade, but if you're only thinking now about becoming a luthier in the sixth form, you need to ask yourself if it is something that you really, really want to do, or if it is something you think you want to do. Do you have any relevant experience so far, have you set up your own guitars even? As Johathan says, it's hard to make loadsamoney and you need to be committed or you'll soon loose interest. On the other hand, if you are committed, it's a very satisfying sort of job, even getting a fret job, or a set up spot on gives you a sense of achievement and, of course, a happy customer.
Good luck!
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I think being a full-time luthier would be a great job if you could manage it. But I think it'd be worth trying to build some backup into your studies, too. Getting some qualifications in electrical engineering, for example, would open career doors in many places and industries, but also be not totally useless to a luthier, and very handy to an amp builder and pedal designer/modder. Won't help you much with the wood carving, so I guess the furniture maker course is the way forward there; and I suppose there's always wooden stuff to carve that isn't a guitar ....
I just thought of this, too: Potentially, if one were a luthier based in Europe, living in some part of Europe that was cheaper than the UK might be a cunning option. You ought to still be able to import and export without violent pain most anywhere in the EU, but if you just need a workshop and a website, then why base them somewhere as expensive as (southern, at least) England)? Spain or Portugal might work as well, and bring your overheads down? Sunnier, too! :) Obviously, I know zip about the details of this sort of thing, but it's just a thought.
(I have a strange pipedream that, if my wife managed to score a job back in South America, that I'd eventually figure out a way to organize an electric guitar making business. While I haven't ever learned the manual skills, I can organize people pretty well. There's plenty of skilled woodworkers and electricians around, perhaps perhaps I could bring a few people with the know-how together to make some decent guitars that would be a step up from the overpriced and cruddy imports I see there too often. There are, at least, worse dreams! :))
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Well, I always setup my own guitars and I've done a mate's guitar. I've done some minor customizing like pickup and hardware changes, paint job. I've also done some filing on guitar nuts with a simple nail file with good results. I always have lots of fun tinkering with guitars and I have plenty of ideas for guitars.
I should get my hands on some basic tools and instruction DVD's.
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Chris,
Have you seen the Bailey's course? Looks a lot shorter and cheaper (and less comprehensive) than the Totnes course. I think they use a lot of templates and other short cuts to keep it simple, but it still looks pretty interesting:
http://www.baileyguitars.co.uk/
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I read about Bailey in the Dutch Guitarist magazine. It looks like a lot of fun to do. Still, I will have to save up a bundle of cash for it. It seems like the ultimate guitarist's active vacation. :D
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Well, i have done some minor stuff, like a pick up change and filing a fret board and stuff, plus me and a mate managed to cut out a pretty awesome ibanez shape body before!!!
I've been thinking about the electrics thing, as it would be good for making guitars and fixing amps, but the wood carving seems much more better for me!!!
Thanks for your help guys!!!
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Chris, sounds like you've already started! My advice would be to do as much as you can, get what books you can (Hisc--ks "Make your own Electric Guitar" is a must, Stewart MacDonald in the US - www.stewmac.com - also sell a number of very good books on most aspects of guitar repair) and any little bits of money you get from doing it, put into a training fund so you can do that course eventually or invest in specialist tools. Join the Musical Instrument Makers Forum (it's free to join) - http://mimf2.qwk.net/cgi-bin/WebX - lots of good advice arnd techniques to be had there. Bear in mind too that as a luthier, your bread and butter comes from repair work, setups, refrets, sorting out electrics, and the like. This past week for example I've had three neck breaks, a couple of electrical jobs replacing switches, couple of setups, tuner replacement, fret level, two nut jobs, and so on. You do need to do these well and give a little extra if possible. For example, I usually clean and polish every guitar that has more than £30 labour on the bill. It only takes about ten minutes and people notice it and come back next time.
I made my first guitar when I was about 14 and it folded as I showed it to my Mum as I knew nothing about woods, truss rods, etc (info was difficult to come by back in the Dark Ages....) . My first truly successful guitar I made when I was around 16 and it was what I used for a professional and semi professional playing career. Making and repairing was then a hobby for many many years until a few years back I started making some money from it, getting trade accounts, and so on, so to keep the taxman happy, I made it official. I specialise more in restoration and repair than making guitars. I do it part time only as there is not enough money in it to pay my mortgage! I plough the profits back into tools and parts stock so eventually I can semi retire from my other part time day job as a programmer/consultant and become a full time luthier.
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My advice is to get some A levels and do a degree course that will open a lot of doors should you wish to do something more financilly rewarding than making guitars - electrical engineering or whatever.
Do the guitars as a sideline
If you pursue it you will probably end up self employed- so the certificate won't mean so much as the practical experience.
You can teach yourself with videos and books in your own time anyway.
I kind of learnt most of my stuff that way, and I still pick peoples brains for info even now. (Tim will vouch for that)
This forum amongst others is helpful too....
But you must practise what you learn to make it all real and develop your skills
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Some very cool advise there Jonathan. I'm thinking of withdrawing from the course i enrolled for and pursue something else that's going to pay well. A mate of mine is a sparky and he's doing quite well for himself and he's only doing an apprentiship. So that could be the way for me i guess.
by the way jonathan, you'll have a Pm in a few minutes about a rather interesting idea i have for a custom guitar that i would like to have made maybe sometime this year, so i would like to get a rough idea of how much it may be :wink: