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:

• 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 7-day and 14 day 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.

As we are a fully operational custom guitar shop and reserve a portion of each year for commissions, restorations and repairs, our teaching schedule operates on a first-come-first-serve basis and is limited to select students. This said, we love to share the craft and will always do our best to accommodate serious students.

If you would like to apply for one of our courses, you can do so here.

With space being limited to 1-2 students, we do recommend that interested students apply, and if approved, submit their deposits in a timely manner. This secures a student’s spot in the coming calendar.

All courses require a $500, deposit as well as a registration fee. Please see our ‘Registration and Payment Policies‘ before registering.

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 a hand-rubbed oil finish 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.

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 ‘register now’ buttons above will bring you to a page where you can submit 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 1-week, 3-week and 5-week 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.

Currently, 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 tool experience is not necessary, it is certainly an asset.

The only academic requirement for the course is a minimum of grade ten math and a working knowledge. Specifically, proficiency working with decimals, fractions, multiplication and division is critical, as is being able to read ruler.

Yes. All courses require a $600 deposit which includes a $100, non-refundable registration fee to secure your spot.

For our 1-week, 3-week and 5-week 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 will be provided.

Some students like to work with their own lutherie tools. If you have a small kit you’d like to bring, that is encouraged, although not necessary. Key items to consider are: digital callipers; 6″ centre-finding rule.

Yes. You have the choice of a hand-rubbed oil finish, a water-based spray-lacquer finish or a French polish on (acoustic instruments). 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.

In the interest of time and in producing the best results, 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.