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I/ve been seriously thinking of upgrading my luthiery skills by spending 1 week with a professional builder who has built a lot of instruments over their career. I/m mainly interested in classicals flamenco and steel strings and ukes.I/ve already built about 25 or more instruments and want to learn more about fancy jigs , shortcuts, high tech finishing and doing production runs .I would basically like to upgrade my skills. I am not interested in tradional spanish heel gtr construction. I lean more to the gore/gilet approach, laminated sides, arched backs, double tops/backs , carbon fiber bracing etc. and bolton/bolt off construction. Does anyone know of anyone out there teaching these methods aside from trev who/s in OZ thanks

I don't know anyone Ernie, but I'd like to attend the class with you if I could.


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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Charles Fox has a course in small shop production that looks interesting. I took his contemporary guitar making course in 2003 and it was excellent. If you are interested in jigging up he's your man.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I once looked for an then selected and attended a one week course that was only to cover set-up. Three years later I felt satisfied....

My point is Ernie that a week is a very short time for instruction and unless someone has a tried and true program in exactly the subject matter that you desire a week seems to be a very short period of time in my view for some let alone all of these topics.

Beware of scope creep too... it will get ya every time....

Good pt hesh. as always food for thought. I will contact charles fox and see what he has to offer thanks everyone for your input.

Ernie, I'm in Independence, and I'd love to get together and see what each of us has learned that might benefit "the collective." I'm afraid you might well be serving more in the "donor" capacity, but I might know something useful.

I attended a two hour seminar by Charles Fox a few years ago and learned a lot. He was the first one I thought of when reading the opening question.

I do a week class and we work from scratch not kits. This is a traditional class in Martin style building . We cover bending , binding dovetail neck sets and simple inlay.
I do not take more than 2 students at a time references are available

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Thanks john Will pass on the martin guitar course . Drew I will PM you with my fone number. Still waiting to hear from C.fox. Thanks everyone

If you guys are pushy enough maybe you could persuade Charles to run a joint course with me at his place....

(...and no, I haven't run this idea past Charles, so I have no idea whether he'd be open to this or not. He is very approachable though. And, hopefully, Charles will excuse my brash Australian way of introducing the concept...)

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

If you are going to pick a course be sure it's one where you will build an entire instrument. I have seen some reviewed where many of the harder things are done by the instructor or they use many pre fab parts. These course are okay for the guy going through a mid life crisis who only wants to build that one guitar only for himself. But for the person wanting to maybe get into it as a career they are of no help....Mike

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Another day, another dollar.

No worries Trev,thanks for chiming in , I sent charles an e- mail, but have yet to hear from him. Perhaps you can run it by him and see what he thinks.. I know for sure I will attend , I live about 2000 mi from portland . And chuck h told me he was interested, he/s in houston an interested as well. See how many wannabes on the forum are interested in a possible class with the 2 of you .I think it would be a vy vy cool/ interesting . Let us know cheers ernie. PS shaw , I have attended quite a number of vln/bowmaking classes in the past , so I know of what you speak .Sad but true

I had a great experience being one of those mid, well late mid life guys (I never thought it was a crisis) who attended a Jeff Elliott top voicing class where I never touched a guitar ... Well worth the two days, The two days included a hands on French Polish class with Cyndy Burton

I did take a scratch build class with Rick Davis of Running Dog guitars is Seattle. That was very valuable. I built my forth instrument with him. I believe that class took between 12 and 15 days. There were only two of us and we did it Friday, Saturday and Sunday for about a month. The three of us worked out the schedule. I picked up so much in the use of hand tools, shop tools and jigs in his class that it made a huge difference in my still limited skills. But I do have a base to build on.

I would go to Portland if their was a Trevor Gore Charles Fox class ...

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Fo sho count me in on the foxy trevor guitar course.


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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Would depend on the timing, but Portland would be of great interest to me.

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George :-)

I'd come to a Fox/gore class!!!!

Unfortunately Charles stopped running this small shop production course due to lack of interest. I left my name with them in case they had more inquiries. Sounds like there may be some interest out there.

I'd also travel to Portland for a Fox/Gore course. Despite being an Aussie living in New Zealand I find myself in Portland a lot more than Australia!

Shane

Keep it going , all those who are interested, should just post here.Perhaps it will get some attention! Thanks everyone I/m impressed.

I never am really interested in mass production. I figure if I mass produce them (30+ guitars a year) then what's the difference between that and factory made guitars?

I'm going with Lincoln College based on the recommendation of a luthier in Berlin. I think luthiery is a craft and should be approached as one. While I think there's merit to mass production I think guitarists tend to be traditionalist (just look at the type of electronics generally seen on electric guitars: passive pickup, standard wirings with modification). Plus I think building guitars with hand tools generates more respect, and in my market in Taiwan it makes very little sense to mass produce because the market isn't there.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I just attended Charles Fox's course in January on "Contemporary Guitar Making". There was actually quite a bit of material in there on small production, jigs and fixtures. I've only built two guitars so I got a ton out of it. Also take a look at his "Advanced Design Features" class. That may fit the bill for you. In my class he briefly touched on many of the features of his "Argo" guitar. That guitar has a lot more stuff like laminated sides, double top etc..

I definitely recommend his class. Count me in for a Foxy/Gore class.

It's been four years for me and I'm ready for another Fox class. Very interested in the Advanced Design Features.

Definitely interested.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Hi everyone I have sent c. fox 2 e- mails and left a voice mail.Still no response.Perhaps he is away. Stan bye and wait. Does anyone out there know of his wherabouts or speaks to him occassionaly.? thanks

Hi everyone I finally spoke to charles fox and he is still going to be offering the class on small scale production .You can contact denise or charles via his website and send them an e- mail stating your interest in small scale guitar production.Charles and denise will be pleased to accept up to 6 people for this class. Charles cannot accomadate trev at this time .Sorry trev. I will post a link soon to the website. As I have to ask my wife to do it for me sorry. regards ernie

Here is the link to Charles Fox's website with his contact information.

http://www.charlesfoxguitars.com/ergo_opening.htm

If you're interested in attending a class with Charles, please contact him directly by phone or email to let him know.

Thanks,
Ernie