guitar making courses

For those who want to dive into the world of luthiery and create their own instrument I offer guitar making courses. Within one week (electric) or two weeks (acoustic) your ideas become reality. Starting out with raw woods I will guide you through the process of building a guitar, bass or ukulele. Every course is as individual as your instrument.

electric

Building of an electric guitar or bass by your design ideas.

You have the choice how you want your instrument and course to be. The design and equipment can be chosen to your liking. Starting out with raw woods, drawings and handmade templates your instrument will be built. In my workshop many steps still include your hands work. Some work can be done with basic machinery. And of course you can bring prefabricated parts.

As the course is always individual you can decide which work to do yourself. For the crucial parts I'll take care that your instrument will be perfectly functioning before you take it home.

shedule

in depth planning of your model and selection of hardware and woods via mail or at my workshop (at least 4 weeks prior to the course)
one weeks course* (5 - 6 days; Monday to Saturday)
painting/finishing (outside the course)
separate day to assemble your instrument (after painting)

Prices

base price: 1800 € (one week)
each additional day: 300 €
lacquer/finish: 0 € ... 300 € ... 600 €
materials: 300 € ... 700 € ... ???? €

* some designs cannot be completed during this limited time. For the following Ideas you should consider booking additional working days or having the parts premade:

- models with violin carved tops (+1 day)

- neck-thru guitars (+3 days)

- handmade inlays or excessive pearl bindings

- multiscale fretboards

- and others

If your design includes on of the above contact me an we'll find a way to make it happen.

acoustic

Building of an acoustic guitar by an existing model.

Due to the complexity of an acoustic guitar it is recommended to stick to known acoustic guitars.

Focus of this guitar making course is to build a functioning an well sounding instrument.

For this I can offer some "standard" models. Depending on the desired duration of your course and your handcrafting skills some adaptions and changes can be applied.**

Most of the steps have to be completed with traditional handcrafting techniques. For this reason I'll take part in every step of the building process taking over repetitive work and steps which require refined skills in luthiery.

shedule

in depth planning of your model and selection of hardware and woods via mail or at my workshop (at least 6 weeks prior to the course)
at least two weeks course*** (10 - 12 days, Monday - Saturday)
painting/finishing (outside the course)
separate day to assemble your instrument (after painting)

Prices

base price: 3400 € (two weeks incl. saturdays)
each additional day: 300 €
lacquer/finish: 0 € ... 500 € ... 1500 €
materials: 200 € ... 500 € ... ???? €

** The outline of the Body always has to be selected out of one of my templates but can be adapted for any type of guitar. Cutaways can also be added.
Available outlines are: small concert, grand concert, flamenco, acoustic bass AB1, super jumbo SJ200

*** During this short time basic models without inlays and only basic purflings can be made.
For more complex models such as Kasha guitars, archtop guitars or new adaptions to traditional bracing additional working days are necessary.

Details such as Inlays, bevels, mother of pearl bindings, cutaways, additional soundports and other unusual features also take more time to work on.

If your design includes one of the above contact me an we'll find a way to make it happen.

short courses

If you are interested in learning more specific parts of luthiery feel free to contact me directly. Every step in making or repairing your instruments can be fit into your guitar making course.

So far these topics have been requested:

Setup for electric guitars and basses
Recrowning worn off frets and all the work that comes with it
Complete refretting and reshaping of the fretboard
Exchanging and soldering electronic parts
Crash course in finishing/painting with nitro lacquer
Crash course in finishing with shellac

Prices

currently most short courses are calculated with:

single courses: 60 € per hour
group courses: 50 € per hour per person

group courses

Currently my workshop is only equipped for one person working properly. However depending on the subject group corses for two people can be done.

Guitar making course "Setup electric guitar or bass"

1/2 day (2-3 hours)

Single course: 180 €

Group course: 110 € / per person

bring your own instrument with need for a setup

Guitar making course "Fret leveling"

1 day (5-6 Hours)

Single course: 360 €

Mehrere Teilnehmer: 270 € / per person

bring your own instrument with need for fret leveling

Guitar making course "Refretting"

1 day (8-11 hours)

Single course: 480 € (with stainless steel 540 €/)

Group course: 320 € / per person (with stainless steel 380 €)

bring your own instrument with need for new frets

Guitar making course "finishing with nitro laquer"

1 day (5-6 hours)

Single course: 360 €

Group course: 270 € / per person

bring your own instrument or suitable test surface for finishing

All prices including Tax.

Es gelten die AGB für Workshops.