Galloup School Master Program

Our Master Program expands your training to an advanced level. It’s 24 weeks of full-time training and guitarmaking here in our school, plus the chance to observe the workings of our active guitar repair, building and restoration business. Your hands-on education includes creating four quality guitars yourself, plus more: we'll introduce you to the real world of making a living in lutherie. Establishing a business plan, choosing tools, and working with suppliers are all part of this curriculum.

In addition, you'll choose instrument building projects that are tailored to your business plan and personal interests. You might want to focus on archtops (guitar or mandolin), or maybe electrics are your main focus. With Bryan's guidance, you can tailor your courses to a perfect fit. Bryan offers outstanding specialty seminars that you can opt for as well, to further customize your training.

The final stage of your Masters training includes our new Instrument Acoustics and Voicing classes. These lessons sync with your building project, teaching you to the adjustments needed to create a better sounding instrument. These classes guide you through wood selection, dynamic testing, record keeping and computerized analysis.

Term 1: WEEKS 1-8: Repairs, Electronics, Finishing, Setups

• Building, Level 1: electric guitar, steel string guitar building
• Voicing, Level 1: advanced principles of design and construction

Term 2: WEEKS 9-16: Tooling, Jigs and Fixtures

• Building, Level 2: your choice of building electives (see below)
• Voicing, Level 2: materials measurement and data collection

Term 3: WEEKS 17-24: Business Plan, Guitar Design

• Building, Level 3: your choice of building electives (see below)
• Voicing, Level 3: applying voicing knowledge in building

Building options In Term 2 and Term 3, you have your choice of which of these instruments you prefer to build:

• Archtop Guitar
• Set-neck Electric Guitar (includes pickup winding)
• Set-neck Electric Bass (includes pickup winding)
• Archtop Mandolin
• Classical Guitar

The Master Program is an intense 24 weeks
The three 8-week terms are challenging and hard work, but your skills will really grow. Some techniques will come naturally for you, while others are harder. For the difficult processes we'll stop and take extra time, repeating and reworking a step until you're comfortable with that procedure before moving on to the next step. We encourage you to criticize your own work and set your goals high. You'll be amazed at what you can do!