Official Luthiers Forum!

Guys I just wanted to check in with you to see if you are all set for your class in Ann Arbor on the 20th.

You should have the gauged nut files in the string gauges that you prefer and a guitar that is fully fretted, dressed, and the bridge is on to set-up. Please let me know if you don't.

Bob buddy you are all set and this week we will likely convert your guitar's bridge to lose the chassis and plug and reslot for a conventional, bone saddle for you to work with while here.

It should be a good time for all if I don't get stuck in an outside elevator in a blizzard again....

For everyone else we put on classes for builders and the two current offerings are "Fretting For Builders" and "Set-up for Builders." In the future because of popular demand and the fact that I was stupid to do it any other way originally the two classes will be back to back, Friday and Saturday to save folks on travel expenses. Each class is a one, very long day.... class and they are specifically engineered to take you to new and professional levels with the fret work and set-up of your creations. There is more to do after the woodworking my friends.... Some of our students have interest in doing repair work as well and use these classes to learn fret work and set-up skills.

I believe the class on the 20th is all OLF members and other classes on the schedule have folks who are not forum members and combinations of both.

All of our current and future classes are fully booked but we will be listing around four more classes likely in the summer and fall so stay tuned if you missed out.

We donate a percentage of the proceeds of our classes to help support the OLF and this was a proactive idea on our part that we are happy to do. Thanks Lance!

Thanks

Dang wish this was closer to me.

I'm sure it will be a great class. I did contact Cat Fox and she is "thinking about it"

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I'll see you there. Counting sleeps

Steve

Hesh,
Perhaps you could put the camera to use and record / edit these classes for those who cannot attend and later offer them up here in a tutorials section. There would then be a permanent video reference for users to access and with continued effort a comprehensive library.
Generate more money by offering them up as a subscription service like the classifieds.

This is latenight thinking me and apparently one who cannot attend. ; )
Gregor

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Wake up and smell the rosewood!

Thanks for the idea Gregor my friend and I hope you got some quality sleep too.

We considered a video subscription service but the idea did not and does not work for us for a number of important reasons.

First we are trying to maintain a very high instructor to student ratio that is currently one instructor for two students. We believe that there is great value in having as close to a direct one-on-one apprentice experience as possible. Videos can't do this....

Next there is the issue of there is the information and then there is how YOU do with the information and what the student is doing with it as well. When we are present with our students we can see exactly what they are doing and they can see what we want them to do and that's important. As such two way feed back is key to how we teach. By the way Dave has taught professionally before and has a lot of experience with the teaching as well. Heck he taught me, no easy task.....

Lastly we enjoy this a great deal with specifically me really enjoying seeing OLFers who I often know anyway. It's a good time and a video just can't do that either.

And really, really lastly how much our students progress is super important to us and once someone has attended any of our classes we pledge to be there for them for any questions, concerns, issues with anything related to the material going forward. So far two of our fretting students have called us a month or so after the class with questions as they were actively fretting an instrument. We answered the questions and everyone was happy.

The personal relationship developed during a traditional class can help us know how to communicate best for each student that we with work with and again that can't happen with a video either.

Videos although we are all tooled-up to make professional videos and our shop looks like a studio at times including even a teleprompter now... videos are not the best way forward for all things. Just as our work is 100% guaranteed which is pretty rare in this business we give a darn about our students success both in the learning process AND from then on too. We just were never able to reconcile self-serve video with the belief that we have that Lutherie education needs to be hands on, real time, and interactive. We did consider FaceTime but again it limits everyones ability to interact with the physical work at both ends.

Then there is Ann Arbor which is a tourist destination (when the weather is better usually) and this attracts folks too. You can get anything that you want here..... Many of our repair clients travel hundreds of miles and bring wives too for the shopping, etc.

Maybe someday we will have a transporter from Star Trek.. and we will beam you to our shop!

I hear ya Hesh and certainly wouldn't argue how you should spend your time.
Firsthand, I understand how important a classroom setting is because I enrolled in one and it showed me that it was possible for me to build a guitar. John Ressler, who is a forum member here, was the instructor of the course and he was a GREAT person.
Hands on is always the best way in my opinion, but in the end I would guess an extremely small percentage of us inexperienced/wannabe builders have access to such a valuable resource.

AAG sounds like a great place to visit (and stay!) and I always appreciate reading and listening to the knowledge that comes from within its walls.

_________________
Wake up and smell the rosewood!

I can relate completely Gregor and I greatly benefitted from not only the hands on but the repetition as well.

Our classes are very much designed around my own personal experiences as a builder who at some point realized that when the wood working is complete this stinkin thing is supposed to be a musical instrument and as such a tool for a musician. That's when the fretwork and set-up became the focus and although none of this stuff is difficult and is in my experience easier than the carpentry it's every bit as important because it's the human interface to the instrument.

No one wants to purchase a guitar that plays like crap. How can we bond with something that you have to struggle to play well...

In addition most folks have some tired ole instrument at home that they tend to love and play often. These guitars over time get the nut slots worn down nice and low and other issues worked out just from time, use, and maybe the intervention of a repair Luthier.

When they pick up one of ours for consideration as a purchase if the set-up is not similar to that tired old friend at home it's hard for them to get past that.

We designed the classes to be intensive and all inclusive of enough of the very same methods that we use every day that one can go home and hang out a shingle and do repair work. Some of our students plan on doing that too.

We also designed the classes to be inexpensive beyond the travel costs knowing as I do that we Luthiers tend to be not only innovative and creative but at times price sensitive as well..... Some even get into this thinking that they can build a D-28 for less than it costs to purchase one..... I'm trying not to laugh too hard here because my own experience was that with that $400 kit guitar no one told me that I would also have to bring in $2,000 of tools to build my very first guitar... How much is a D-28 these days...

As for videos we will be adding them as often as we can and if you have any ideas for videos that are more educational in nature please let me know?

Thanks again my friend!

Hi Hesh, Can't wait. Thanks a million for fixing up that bridge for me! --Bob