5-WEEK
ACOUSTIC GUITAR BUILDING
COURSE
BUILD YOUR VERY OWN ACOUSTIC GUITAR!
Thank you for your interest in our five-week Acoustic Guitar Building Course. If you have the desire to build your very own acoustic guitar from the ground-up, this five-week, on-site course will give you an amazing one-on-one, hands-on experience to build and enjoy a guitar that you’ve made by hand.
This course is a perfect introduction to guitar building for either the hobbyist or aspiring luthier.
For course details and answers to common questions, continue reading…
Michael Whitney | Luthier, Instructor
$5,500 CDN | Now Accepting Applications for 2024 - CLICK HERE TO APPLY!
We ask that you review our School Policies before registering.
WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM THE 5-WEEK ACOUSTIC GUITAR BUILDING COURSE?
Students taking this course will gain the required knowledge and skills to build their very own acoustic guitar from the ground up.
This course is an immersive ‘deep dive’ into acoustic guitar building and students will have the option of building a steel string guitar, classical guitar, or tenor ukulele.
During the time in my shop, students will use my existing templates and jigs as well as all of the required power and hand tools to complete their acoustic guitar.
Little-to-no experience with power tools? No problem. I take a ground-up approach with all of my students and build upon more basic tasks to foster the confidence and skills they will need in order to move forward with any shop task during both the course and moving forward in their own shop.
Upon completion of the course, students will have gained the required skills to continue building on their own or simply enjoy the guitar they have made (however, once the guitar building fire is lit, it’s a tough one to extinguish!).
COURSE SNAPSHOT
Below is a loose walk-thru of what to expect during the first of the five-week acoustic guitar building course.
WEEK 1
- Meet-and-greet; shop tour; shop safety & etiquette; parts & construction overview; milling and prepping stock; joining the soundboard; joining the back plate.
- Bending sides and binding; thicknessing plates and sides; rosette trench and rosette; neck and tail-block construction
- Assembly of the rim; installing kerfing pre-profiling the rim; final profiling the rim.
- Bracing the soundboard.
- Bracing the back plate
- Closing up the soundbox.
Note: The goal of the five-week acoustic guitar building course is to teach students how to build an acoustic guitar from scratch using our shop templates and tools. If you wish to take a deeper dive into guitar design theory, mold making, finishing and building more than one guitar, we encourage you to consider one of our other guitar building courses.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Harrison Vos, Oregon USA
The program was well-constructed and delivered!
Mike was an absolute pleasure to have as a teacher! His products are up to the highest standards, and his program was equally well-constructed and delivered. If woodworking [or] guitar building, interest you, you should seriously consider taking a course with Mike.
Miles Staley, Kelowna BC, CANADA
Project-based and focused…
The course was very project-based and focused on hands-on learning... I implore any aspiring (or experienced!) creatives interested in learning guitar making, to explore this wonderful opportunity!
5 WEEK
acoustic guitar building course- COURSE TYPE On-site; hands-on; one-on-one
- CERTIFICATE PROGRAM Yes
- STYLE Steel String, Classical or Tenor Ukulele
- BACK AND SIDES Mahogany or Black Walnut
- SOUNDBOARD Sitka Spruce, Engelmann Spruce, or Cedar
- FRETBOARD Ebony or Rocklite
- NUT & SADDLE Bone or Corian
- TUNERS Black, Silver, or Gold
- FINISH TYPE French Polish or (*Add-on - Emtech Water-based Lacquer)
- COURSE DURATION 1 Month
- HOURS 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
- DEPOSIT $600 (includes $100 registration fee)
- NEXT AVAILABLE COURSE DATE Aug. 01 - Aug 12, 2022
We ask that you review our School Policies before registering.
The next available course date will always be listed as the last item in the chart above. If you are interested in securing a date not listed, feel free to contact me and we can discuss availability. All courses require a $500, deposit as well as a registration fee. Please see our ‘Registration and Payment Policies‘ before registering.
If you have a specific start-date in mind, please contact me to discuss. It may mean that we double you up with another student, but class sizes will never exceed two students at any one time so that I can provide you with the dedicated attention required to make your building experience a great one. Please note that apart from the weekends or statutory holidays, I will not further break up a given course time-frame.
The button above will process your $500 deposit as well as your $100 registration fee via PayPal. If you do not have a PayPal account, you can send your deposit via eTransfer to mike [@] whitneyguitars [dot] com or as a bank draft made payable to ‘Michael Whitney’.
Once payment has been received, I will message you directly to welcome you to the course and answer any additional questions you may have.
NOTE: The remainder of the course fee is due on the first day of class for our 7-day and 14 day courses. Longer 3-month, 6-month and 1-year course fees may be made in monthly instalments or paid in full on the first day of class. Please see our ‘Registration and Payment Policies‘ for more information.
We do not offer accommodations on site. However, most of our students stay at local AirBnBs. The Okanagan valley is a tourist mecca boasting endless wine-tasting, stunning scenery and tons of outdoor activities. You’ll definitely love the quaint town of Summerland and the surrounding area.
While there are many AirBnB locations in Summerland and the surrounding area, one of our recommended AirBnB locations is:
Yes. All courses require a $500 deposit as well as a $100, non-refundable registration fee to secure your spot.
For our 2-week and 1-month courses, the balance of the course fees are due upon the first day of class. Four our longer 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year programs, a monthly payment schedule will be emailed to you upon registration, or you are welcome to pay your course fees in full on the first day of class. For more information, please review our ‘Registration and Payment Policies‘.
Your deposit can be submitted via PayPal by using the button above, via eTransfer to: mike [@] whitneyguitars [dot] com., or by way of a bank draft made payable to ‘Michael Whitney’. Upon receipt of your deposit, I will reach out to welcome you to the course and answer any additional questions you may have.
Yes. Students requesting a specific start date or those wanting to pre-register are encouraged to register as far in advance as possible.
If you have questions about coming course availability, feel free to contact me to discuss.
As you’ll be in a working shop, hearing protection, safety glasses, a dust-mask, and appropriate footwear is recommended. If you’d like a specific list of items, I can message that to you with links.
Notebooks, binders and pens / pencils are recommended as well.
Some students like to work with their own luthiery tools. If you have a small kit you’d like to bring, that is encouraged, although not necessary.
Yes. You have the choice of applying a French polish or water-based spray-lacquer finish. We use ultra-low VOC Emtech EM 6000 lacquer, which is comparable to nitrocellulose based finishes. If you would like me to finish your guitar for you and send it to you, I can do that at an additional cost.
As hardware costs and preferences can vary greatly, students are responsible for supplying their own hardware (tuning machines, pickups and so forth). If you have hardware you want to bring to the course you are welcome to do so. Alternately, we can choose hardware together during the initial days of your course so that they are ready come time for assembly. Turnaround time for parts is typically 2 days via FedEx to our shop.
If you want to build your own guitar or have a unique idea for a project, feel free to contact me and we can discuss your vision. However, in the interest of time and in producing the best result, we recommend that students ‘walk before they run’. You can experiment in your own time once you have the foundational skills. That is our goal in the program.
As an alternative, you may want to consider one of our other in-depth courses as each takes a deeper look into blueprinting, mold-making and conceptualizing your designs after gaining a foundation with more fundamental guitar projects. Read more about our Guitar Building Courses.
Please review our ‘Registration and Payment Policies’, here.
Of course. For all other inquiries, feel check our ‘General FAQs‘ or free to send me a note through the contact form.