Official Luthiers Forum!

Ann Arbor Guitars just posted two new/additional two day classes, Fretting and Set-Up for Builders on our site. The dates of these classes will be:

Aug 19 - 20th
Oct 7 - 8th

Please note from our site that some seats are already taken and there is a possibility that one additional seat will be taken by this time tomorrow. Regardless please let me know if you are interested and if these dates work for you?

Please also note a change that we are making. No longer for our scheduled classes will folks be able to select one class or the other and not both back to back classes. That created problems for folks wanting both classes in the past however we do have a solution for folks wanting one day, either or... classes and that is we will schedule a custom class for two students or more and this can be a one day class.

OLFers Steve W. and Jon R. we did not forget about you and had you in mind when we decided to do custom classes for two or more that could be only one day. As such when you guys are ready to come on back to Ann Arbor let me know and we can schedule a special class just for you.

Our site details this and has pricing listed too: http://annarborguitars.com/index.html

Feel free to PM me with any questions and I am happy to help.

Hope he doesn't mind but I really liked the pic of OLFer Greg G. below showing some real concentration from our last class!

Nahhh, he was just thinking it was time for

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I'm still looking for the right file to do that job......

Great class and classroom. Hats off to Dave and Hesh for the opportunity.

Yeah, for some reason I have this strange desire to pick up and closely inspect every used file I come across - I'm still looking too.

Awesome class and great company too, if you're serious about this stuff then I recommend it highly.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

UPDATE: The "hold" period for a couple of folks on our waiting list has expired so here is what we have available in terms of open seats in upcoming classes:

June 17 & 18th
SOLD OUT/fully booked

August 19 & 20
Two seats reserved, two seats available

October 7 & 8
Four seats available

Feel free to call me, 734 332-6142 during our business hours (M - Th 10 - 6, F 10 - 5:30) if you have any interest in our classes.

Thanks!

What's it like finding lodging near the shop?

Hey Michael - Easy there are lots of hotels downtown depending on if there are any local games (UofM football has the world's largest outside US football style stadium holding over 111,000 people on game days...). Ann Arbor is a very cool place to visit. These dates should be wide open if reservations are made in advance.

Book early if you happen to take a class during graduation day! The streets were filled with students wearing cloaks and mortar boards! I ended up staying in Livonia.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

We used to have an annual event called the naked mile.... Obviously it was not sanctioned or approved but it did draw hundreds of folks who ran through the streets either completely naked or in various stages of undress. Then the city cracked down, pardon the unintended pun... and some of the runners wrapped themselves in Saran Wrap to comply....

Every March Ann Arbor has the world famous Hash Bash too. Tens of thousands of folks who have CRS (can't remember......stuff) in the streets. Many of them come up here thinking that we are a music store and looking for candy bars and munchies...

It's an interesting place to live and on our street alone it's not unlike an Arno Guthrie tune where you can get anything that you want... anything...

But the place is safe, very little crime, just lots of stoned folks looking for a snack....

Michael you are all set for the Oct. classes and we thank you kindly as well!

Hesh,

What will we be using for fret wire (ss, evo, nickel), and would you prefer I left the bridge off the guitar I'm gonna be shipping your way?

Thanks

It's your choice as to what fret wire type and size you want to use and we supply it. We have all the choices, stainless, NS, EVO and in all sizes too.

You will need a bridge installed for the second day when we take your fret jobs and make bone nuts, saddles, do the compensation and set-up all the guitars after learning what a great set-up is.

So yes you need a bridge installed.

Got a call from an OLFer today and was asked if I am going to post a listing of what folks need to have for class. Our June class coming up is fully booked but the other two have openings still.

Day one, the Fretting Class: We recommend that you have a guitar that's ready to be fretted. It's important that the ax meets the following criteria so that we don't delay the rest of the class.

1) Fully assembled, neck on with the correct neck angle and the bridge glued in place, preferably the right place... and slotted for the saddle.

2) The truss rod should be functional.

3) Fret slots appropriately clean and slotted to the correct width for today's commercially available fret wire. If you are using an eBay mule the slots should be clean of old glue and crud and depth should be checked to be sure that the slots are deep enough to have new fret wire installed.

Tools:

Day one: Fretting:

1) Leveling beams, one long beam and one short beam. Stew-Mac sells them, Olfer Murray sells them from his eBay store under the name Technofret, or you can make your own out of 1 X 2 aluminum tube... stock. What ever beam you use should be super flat and preferably either checked for flatness or claimed to be flat by the seller/maker if you don't have a surface plate.

2) Jaws II tool with the six caul set that comes with it.

3) Optional: Andy Birko's Jaws II expanded caul set is excellent and recommended. If you decide to purchase the caul set Andy left two with us for our students and we sell them for what ever Andy sells them for with all proceeds going to Andy.

4) The Stew-Mac smallest sized three corner file.

5) The Stew-Mac fret end file.

Day two - Set-Up class:

1) Six gauged nut files. Stew-Mac has them, LMI as well. We recommend getting gauges that as closely as possible match the string sizes that you prefer. If you are a medium person get files appropriate for acoustic mediums and the same holds true for lights.

The classes are a very good and productive time. Since we started offering these classes a number of our students are now actively doing repair work including refrets and making money doing so. We've also received comments that students who are builders who feel WAY better about their fret work and set-ups now after taking our classes. FYI we charge more for our commercially available refrets with our busy repair business then we charge to take the class.....

Lunch is provided both days as well as we supply bone blanks, several sets of strings for each student, fret wire, and some pretty bad jokes from me too...

We are located in the epicenter of Ann Arbor which is a very cool place to visit if you want to bring someone with you.

We also have openings available and you can check our web site for dates that we have openings and/or give me a call.

http://www.annarborguitars.com/styled-6/index.html

Thanks!

Great opportunity to take advantage of..... two very long intense working days. I took my #3 a somewhat 1937 spec D-18. I knew it was a good guitar. But now with a great fret job and set up, its a great guitar Fixed the very crappy Dremal saddle route, perfectly fit nut. Its louder, more sustain, better response, really fun to play. Once again thanks to Dave and Hesh