Official Luthiers Forum!

Does anyone have any information they can share about this course by Joe Kovacic? It costs $12,500.00! I’m just curious.

Never heard of the guy. If he's good than I'd say that's pretty reasonable (it's in Canadian $$). Brian Galloup's master program is $17,500 (includes housing), the Summit school (Sigmund Johannessen) in Qualicum, BC (awesome location) has a 6 month class that only focuses on building which costs $19,400 Can$$. Also a 1 year 'masters' course that focuses on both building and repair and that costs $36,200 Can$$. Of course there are other's too, but these are just a few "comparables" for you.

Reading the testimonials on Lado guitar building site shows some very satisfied customers.

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sounds reasonable to me for an extended program. I question what they are calling " master" guitar building skills though. I am sure they can teach you how to proffessionaly assemble a guitar in a few semesters , but mastering voicing will still take a few more years and many many builds . I took Frank Finnocchios class, at the time it was about $3,ooo.00 with room and two meals a day. it was an intensive one week course. Frank basicly walked us through the building process while overseeing our work to avoid any disasters. at the end of the week I had a world class instrument in the " white". strung up and playing.
we didnt realy get into voicing ,however, Frank knew I liked the vintage sound, and at the end of the week i had a thumpy bass, sweet sounding guitar (in a small body ). my co-student ( if thats a word) liked the blues, and his guitar has a bluesy "flavored" sound coming from it . although we thought we were building identical guitars . That is a master !
It took a year and a half to acquire all the tools and finish one on my own. I studied everything I could about how a guitar actualy works , and learned tons from the experienced builders on this site, and even the not so experienced builders on this site.My trip to the GAL convention last june was also a huge learning curve .now I can build a guitar that at least, sounds better , and plays better than most store bought, factory made instruments. I think its a nice place to start . Jody

I'm a big fan of the classes. The Fox course was a huge leap froward for me. I do think it's good to have built several instruments before you take a course. Even kits. You'll get a lot more out of it.
Terry

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Ervin Somogyi said when I asked about his courese is that the people who get the most out of it are the ones who have built the most guitars, he recommends a minimum of 5 but prefers 20, but will take your money even if you've only built 1 he suggested I buy his book and come back in a couple of years really if I wanted the most from his classes.

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