Have you played guitar for years and want the ultimate reward for those many hours of practice? This is the course for you! Places for our 2019 course are now open. Contact us to register.
Imagine playing a guitar you have designed and built from raw materials, not a kit guitar. It’s a special feeling when you play the first chord on a guitar you’ve designed and built yourself.
Jens will guide you step by step, you don’t need to have wood working skills.
We offer a 4 hour session format, charged per hour as you go. We recommend you commit to one session a week. However we’re pretty flexible and have had several students come once a fortnight. We’re happy to fit you in with the available placement.
Jens will guide you to select your materials with sound and aesthetics in mind. He’ll help you choose a body style, incorporate scale length, neck thickness, a bracing system and finally a finish. Learn the technique of voicing your guitar and add a personal touch by selecting your own appointments including purfling, binding, inlays and designing your own rosette.
Our course not only covers the build of your acoustic guitar but also enables you to tap into the vast knowledge of wood working skills Jens has to offer. You will learn about timber machinery, hand tools used in wood working including sharpening and maintenance, and also finishing techniques such as oils, spraying and spray equipment. We will also cover basic shell inlay and cutting techniques so you can give your guitar that personal touch.
Materials
We offer a range of guitar body sizes including 00, 000/OM, grand auditorium, dreadnaught or classical/flamenco. We include the following standard materials for your guitar build:
- back and sides selection
- Tasmanian blackwood
- Tasmanian myrtle
- Camphor laurel
- Walnut
- top selection
- Sitka spruce
- Western red cedar
- neck selection
- New guinea rosewood
- Queensland maple
- Australian red cedar
- ebony or rosewood fretboard
- Gotoh tuners
- bone nut and saddle, and
- finish in hard wax oil or wipe-on polyeurothane.
For something extra special, you can challenge yourself and finish your guitar with a French polish. As an additional option, you can learn the French polishing techniques Jens uses to produce a stunning finish for your guitar.
Course times
We offer our pay as you go course as a 4 hour session; from 1pm to 5pm Wednesday’s, Thursday’s and Fridays. You select the day that suits you (subject to availability), we just ask you to commit to one session a week. The average time to build a guitar is between 80 to 100 hours, depending on how detailed your build is and your capabilities. There’s no time limit to complete your guitar, we’ll take it at your pace.
Cost
The pay as you go course requires a $660 payment to purchases all your materials and a hard case. The course is then charged at $35 per hour. A standard weekly session is 4 hours which will cost $140 per week.
Our French polishing course is offered as optional extra for $150. This includes materials.
Register your interest by contacting us.
Refunds
Should you request, we will refund your deposit if you are unable to confirm your booking.