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 or contact our admin department to discuss payment plan options.

Unfortunately, we do not currently offer accommodations. 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:

• The Petite Casa

Yes. All courses require a $500 deposit as well as a $100, non-refundable registration fee to secure your spot.

For our 1-week, 2-week and 1-month courses, the balance of the course fees are due upon the first day of class. For 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 ‘Register Now’ 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 spending your days 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 all supplied.

Some students like to work with their own guitar-making tools. If you have a small kit you’d like to bring, that is encouraged, although not necessary.

With this 1-week electric guitar building course, the focus is on guitar building and assembly. During this tight window, most students are able to apply one-three coats of a hand-rubbed finish to their instruments.

Additionally, students are free to apply finish to their guitar at their own shop or pay me a fee to finish the instrument (i.e. high-gloss lacquer) and ship it to them when complete.

As hardware costs and personal preferences vary greatly, students are responsible for supplying their own hardware (i.e. tuning machines, pickups, pick-guard, bridge, neck plate, jack plate etc.).

I encourage my students to communicate with me via email so that we can compile the necessary hardware list and get everything in place and delivered to the shop during the weeks leading up to the course start-date. Turnaround time for parts is typically 2-3 business days via FedEx to our shop.

All woods for the neck and body are included in the course fee.

If you already have appropriate hardware that you’d like to bring to the course, you are welcome to do so.

If you want to build your own guitar, have a unique idea for a project or would like to discuss a personalized guitar building program that better suits your schedule, feel free to contact me and we can discuss your vision.

PLEASE NOTE: 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 for you during this one-week electric guitar building 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.

The one-week electric guitar building course is a compact and focused week of guitar building with a set schedule. Customization to the program plan is possible but generally requires additional days of study (i.e. adding bindings, adding logos / inlays, etc.).

For students wishing to extend their stay at the school, fees will be pro-rated based on the corresponding course fee. Please note that extensions are subject to my availability and should be discussed prior to registering.

Of course. For all other inquiries, feel check our ‘General FAQs‘ or free to send me a note through the contact form.