Four Months (640 Total Hours)
My Journeyman Program is a two session program designed to allow flexibility for the student to best lay out the path of their training. Term One lays the foundation. Term Two sets the course of your training.
If acoustics are your passion, you can move from the Monarch to the Advanced Fingerstyle. If electrics are your interest, making our set neck electric, and then moving on to Level Three Electric Guitar Making would be the path for you.
Either way my Journeyman Program is an ideal four-month session that will solidify the direction of your career.
Guitar Repair Classes
As most new luthiers will tell you, repairs are the backbone of their business. To ensure your success and your cash flow, you have to know how to tackle the most requested repairs. With our twenty-plus years of experience doing business with music stores, players and collectors, we’ll teach you how to serve these customers.
CLASS: REPAIRS 1 – Fretting and Fret Dressing – 8 hrs
First we’ll focus on fretting techniques. You’ll be introduced to the fret jig, which simulates string tension on an unstrung guitar to allow for faster, more accurate fretwork.
Topics covered:
- Truss rod designs
- Flattening fretboards
- Re-fretting bound fretboards
- Compression fretting
- Hammer-in fretting
- Gluing in frets
- Routing fret slots
- Dressing frets
- Adjusting truss rods
- Repairing loose frets
- Selecting fret wire
CLASS: REPAIRS 2 – Finishing Techniques – 2 hrs
In repair work, it’s important to be able to refinish both electrics and acoustics. You’ll learn the finishing techniques used by the manufacturers, plus the necessary woodworking skills to restore damaged guitars.
Topics covered:
- Repairing dents
- Finish sanding
- Applying wood fillers
- Spraying custom colors
- Spraying a sunburst
- Spraying metalflake finishes
- Wet sanding
- Buffing finishes
CLASS: REPAIRS 3 – Acoustic Repairs – 10 hrs
Many repair people today acquired their skills on electrics, but unfortunately have neglected the acoustic market because acoustic repairs are usually more advanced. Here we will focus in-depth on acoustic guitars and their unique problems.
Topics covered:
- Neck resets
- Bridge re-glues
- Repairing cracks
- Humidity problems
- Re-gluing loose braces
- Repairing bridge plates
CLASS: REPAIRS 4 – Guitar Setup and Maintenance – 10 hrs
One of the most useful and challenging subjects of the program. Every repair job requires some amount of setup to enhance or maintain top performance.
Topics covered:
- Electrics
- Troubleshooting before setup
- Neck evaluation
- Truss rod designs
- Making bone nuts
- Back-filing nuts and bridges
- Fitting and replacing intonation saddles
- Identifying fretboard radius
- Setting up tremolos and locking nuts
- Choosing proper string gauge
- Acoustics
- Troubleshooting before setup
- Fitting bridge pins
- Replacing and refitting bridge saddles
- Making compensated saddles
- Making bone nuts
- Identifying fretboard radius
- Choosing proper string gauge
CLASS: REPAIRS 5 – Guitar Electronics – 4 hrs
A basic knowledge of guitar electronics is essential. You’ll learn how to rewire, repair and modify the most popular guitars.
Topics covered:
- Troubleshooting
- Soldering techniques
- Replacement pickups
- Wiring out of phase
- Tapping pickups
- Splitting coils
- Eliminating humming problems
- Installing acoustics Piezo traducers style pickups
CLASS: VOICING, LEVEL 1 – The physics of sound as applied to acoustic guitars.
Advanced Principles of Instrument Design and Construction – 6 hrs
What separates my guitar making school from the rest of the pack is our ability to teach instrument voicing and design unlike any other Guitar Making School in the world. The methods taught in my voicing classes were developed by the Galloup Team that are being adapted by leading major manufactures and some of the most influential boutique builder in today market.
My voicing classes have been separated into three classes; Level one, Level Two and Level Three to accompany each term of my Technician Class, Journeyman Class and Master Class to assure each student ability to comprehend the topics progress as their skill level advance as a Luthier. My teams system for teaching our voicing classes makes it easy to understand and easy to apply to put you on the path to developing you own tone.
Topics covered:
- What is sound, and how does it function?
- Compressions and rarefactions (the slinky model)
- Human hearing range
- How the guitar body works to create sound
- The physics of a vibrating string
- Fundamentals and harmonics
- What is resonance
- The Helmholtz Resonator, complex oscillator
- Understanding and using tap tones
- Selecting materials: density and strength-to-weight
- Bracing: its function and various approaches
- Voicing the braces
- The effects of body geometry
- How volume and porting alter air resonance
- How changes in plate size affect plate resonance
Business Plan: Level One – 5 Hours
Many students are great with their hands and good in a shop but handling the basics of everyday business is not on their radar. For this reason Bryan developed three classes to parallel the Technician, Journeyman and Master Programs to assist students make the transition.
Business Plan Level One is designed to teach students that the basics are just not that difficult. For many, getting started is the hardest part in running a business and even if you intend to work for someone else, basic business will be most helpful.
Guitar Making: Level One
I designed our HD30 electric guitar and S22 electric bass specifically for teaching my Electric Guitar Making Level One training session. The lessons covered are some of the most important everyday topics that will come across your workbench. Along with basic electronics, assembly and set-up skills, you will get your first introduction to spraying, wet sanding and buffing guitars style finishes.
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