join the makers...
Have you ever considered getting your hands dirty and joining the growing number of guitar makers in the UK? Like Lewes, Somerset is becoming a haven for electric, acoustic, and traditional luthiers, and we would love you to join us.
You will be spending the time in the Godney workshop, benefitting from individual (one-on-one) instruction with Matt. There is a lot to cover in each half or full day, and although you will be provided with any useful documentation and diagrams, you will greatly benefit from having a fresh notebook and a reliable camera to ensure you capture the technical and complex topics covered.
Half day - 09:30 AM to 14:00
Full day - 09:30 AM to18:30
Join the makers - Areas of study
Full Setup (full day) - £130
Fret level and crown
Truss rod adjustment and maintenance
The use of neck relief
Individual fret reseating
Pickup height adjustment and its effect on performance and tone
Nut adjustment and cutting - Theory and practice
Bridge height
Intonation options for different string gauges
Action adjustment - Theory and practice
Board maintenance
The use of shims in extreme cases
Electronic component testing and solder joint reflows
Ground circuit verification
String installation techniques
Order of operations
Strap button fidelity
Repairing and resetting screw holes
Fretting (full day) - £130
Fret wire selection and its effect on performance, action, feel, and tone
Fretting tools and the alternative options
Fret wire bending to radius
Cutting fret slots (both manual and mechanised)
Setting (installing) frets (both manual and mechanised)
The use of glues while fretting (and its pros and cons)
Fret crowning and dressing
Calculating fret positions for custom scale lengths
Cutting a bone nut (half day) £75
Natural material selection - Source, skeletal choices, cleaning and preparation
The 90° cut
The falling (rear) curve
String spacing - Theory and practice
Guiding the strings - The helical curve
Slot height - Cutting to the fret level and cutting to the first fret
Slot profile and width
Nut lubrication options
Tooling options (both manual and mechanised)
Passive electronics - Theory and practice (full day) - £130
Voltage, current, and resistance
Ohm's Law
Transducers - Magnets and coils
Pickups - magnet flux density and Gauss, wire selection, winding patterns, magnet materials
The ground circuit
Potentiometer theory
Capacitor theory
Resistor theory
Switching, splitting, and signal routing
Series and parallel circuits
Soldering - Theory and practice
Mechanical connections (solder is not glue)
Wire flow
Shielding to ground
Bridge grounding
Common sources of interference (noise)
Frequency - Phase cancellation and summation
Cutting and preparing tonewoods (full day) £130
Tropical hardwoods - Why we use them
Native (British) hardwoods - Why we can use them
Alpine woods - How and why they are useful
Does the wood matter? And why?
Grain structure and grain frequency
Grain tearing
Timber faults - Spalting, knotting, flaming, burl, and shakes
Waxing to impede shaking
Aesthetics vs. mechanical fidelity
Timber orientation on the instrument - Why it matters
Bending and correcting
Marking tools - Pencil maintenance, tailor's chalk, using marking pens with caution
Measuring and alignment tools - The width of both the line and the blade
Blade maintenance and sharpening
Cutting technique (both manual and mechanised) - Saws, files, rasps, surforms and chisels
Planing technique (both manual and mechanised) - The importance of planing direction
Glueing technique - Clamping, historical and contemporary
The use of abrasives
Internal timber pressures - Resting the material after major cuts
The use of lamination
Stacking and storing
Humidity - Storage and workshop
Luthier Tools (half day) £75
Routers
Jigs and templates
Fretting tools
Bandsaws
Table saws
Hand saws
The router table
The drill press
Hand drills
The "Luthiers' Dowel"
Chisels
Sharpening
Measuring and marking
Glues and lubricants
Clamps
Fret slotting tools (both manual and mechanised)
Fret pressing tools (both manual and mechanised)