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need a workshop?!?

davec

davec

Supporting Member
May 4, 2006
1,891
878
Fort Wayne Indiana
Disclosures
Owner; Cody Electric Basses ( Now Closed) sales @ Sweetwater
#1
I need a real workshop. I looked at the local C. colleges and looked for woodworker collectives and I can't find anything. Does anyone know of anything in the Chicagoland area?

I know there is a Luthier school in Chicago, but 2250.00 is more than I'm looking to spend and its not really what I'm looking for, Peg and Dowel use to rent time until someone sued them.

help
 
#3
welcome to the joys of routing in the kitchen to "increase you daily fiber intake"

I've talked with several Woodcraft stores here on the Left Coast, and all of them are amazed that stores back East rent shop time. They always have an amazed look of lawsuit in the works when I've asked


like yourself, I'm currently shopless since selling my house and shop early this summer. after months of looking, begging, sleuthing, and groveling I've still not found a place I can use for carving necks and routing pickup cavities :(

I did learn of one place, but they wanted $750/month - far far more than I profit from my part-time building activities


wishing you all the best in your hunt!

all the best,

R
 
#5
I've got the same problem. I built a bass and a couple of guitars around 20 years ago and got the bug to start another project. I bought the wood assuming that I would be able to get access to a local college doing evening classes - every year around September time they have a long list of evening courses available in the local paper with 16 week woodworking classes available. I've done them before and basically, you bring the wood and your own project to work on and get access to all the bandsaws, jointers, planers, thickness sanders, routers and handtools you need, with advice from the tutor.

Except this year...zip...nada...rien....nuttin
 
#7
I've got the reverse problem:
I just had a 12'x12' workshop built in my backyard. Power is going in Wednesday. It's small, but trying to fight for workbench space in the garage became unbearable. I'm really new to all this, but I've rebuilt/fixed/broken a couple of guitars & basses, and now I'm hooked. I'm slowly acquiring some tools/jigs/mounts to help out, but some of this equipment is expensive.

Any tips or advice before I power it up?
I put windows across from each other to improve air circ along with ridge vents and a skylight directly over the workbench (workbench is roughly 8' long by 3' wide).

I wish I had the $ to install a vacuum system in there to control sawdust...

The fact that my wife agreed to this workshop either means that she really loves me, or she wants me to spend more time out of the house.

Looking forward to starting the first project in there. My 15 year old son and I really enjoy acquiring old, beaten, broken instruments and trying to fix them up.
 
#10
Mikey R said:
Youre not making any friends here!
QUOTE]


Didn't mean to offend...I'm kinda embarrassed to have a workshop and very little knowledge on how to use it.

I've been reading the stickys and the posts on this and several other forums trying to gather some tips and stumbled upon this thread today.

I'm didn't build this workshop to make any money; it's is just a way to have some fun, bond with a teenager (which is pretty tough to do these days) and finally utilize the 25 spools of solder that I've accumulated over my lifetime.

If I happen to ruin a pawn shop guitar or 2...or 3, so be it. I've already turned a "bass accident" into a wall clock, which hangs proudly in our music room.

I love this stuff - Picking up the bass at 45 years old was the smartest thing I've done in...well, 45 years. My whole family's hooked. Bass, drums, guitars - I'm broke, but I'm smiling.

Cheers
Click to expand...
 
#11
Ack Mickey was joking. There is no problem about having little knowlegde about anything. If Id could have a shop Id ask the same things about power, air circulation, humidity, temperature and such.

ack said:
The fact that my wife agreed to this workshop either means that she really loves me, or she wants me to spend more time out of the house.
Click to expand...

About this Id be a bit more worried about she having something to ask me for like jewerly or shoes for the amount youll spent in your shop :D
 
#12
ack said:
Didn't mean to offend...I'm kinda embarrassed to have a workshop and very little knowledge on how to use it.
Click to expand...

Yep, I was joking - hence the :D

Dont be embarased - take what you have and run with it. Ive only been building for a short while, still on my first bass, but looking forward to making many more!

ack said:
I love this stuff - Picking up the bass at 45 years old was the smartest thing I've done in...well, 45 years. My whole family's hooked. Bass, drums, guitars - I'm broke, but I'm smiling.
Click to expand...

Its really cool that your whole family is into music! Keep at it, music is like good food, it brings people together :)
 
#13
I apologize for the way I wrote my response - I knew you were joking, and my response was tongue-in-cheek...

I hope that I didn't give the impression that I'm thin-skinned - quite the contrary, actually.

BTW, I'm very impressed with the knowledge base in this Forum - I've been reading through old posts pertaining to building guitars and basses, and there is a wealth of great information.

As for the workshop, I really want to make some good decisions when it comes to outfitting the space with the proper tools and necessities before I waste any $, so I'll be asking some more questions.

Peace.
 
#15
Well, I stumbled on to this thread a bit late. I too have been shopless for a while (since last May, actually). But my guitarists son decided to build a guitar for senior project, and wanted me to mentor him. And they have a good sized shop! We now have 4 guitars and 2 basses in the works. The only down side is that the shop is 40+ miles out of town up in the mountains. But beggers cant be choosers.........
 
#18
davec said:
I need a real workshop. I looked at the local C. colleges and looked for woodworker collectives and I can't find anything. Does anyone know of anything in the Chicagoland area?

I know there is a Luthier school in Chicago, but 2250.00 is more than I'm looking to spend and its not really what I'm looking for, Peg and Dowel use to rent time until someone sued them.

help
Click to expand...

I took some woodoworking classes at College of Dupage for a reasonable rate (maybe $200 for the semester). Usually they hold the class at a highschool woodshop in the suburbs, mine was in naperville. Check it out.
 
#20
The school in chicago is a very very good option if you're specifically looking to work on instrument projects. If you've taken one class with him (and there are some intro classes that are relatively inexpensive) you can then buy shop time -- I think he charges a couple hundred bucks, and you can go in any Saturday (the fee covers something like 4 or 5 sessions) and work while the shop is open (as long as there isn't a clinic or other special event going on) -- use his tools, get assistance from the tech, use his bada$$ custom workbenches...and Ian is a great guy to work with and learn from!

Really, I haven't seen anyone else offering classes like he does -- focused topics, short terms, pretty reasonable rates. I took his fretwork class, which was about twice the cost of a fret job, and I walked away with one guitar refretted...so all in all, pretty sweet deal.

And his "build a guitar" program is broken up so you can take it in chunks over whatever timespan works for you. Plus there's the clinic time, so really, lots of options there.

Obviously I'm a big fan of the place :-) If I was independently wealthy, I'd probably always be enrolled in classes there...

ltt

davec said:
I need a real workshop. I looked at the local C. colleges and looked for woodworker collectives and I can't find anything. Does anyone know of anything in the Chicagoland area?

I know there is a Luthier school in Chicago, but 2250.00 is more than I'm looking to spend and its not really what I'm looking for, Peg and Dowel use to rent time until someone sued them.

help
Click to expand...
 

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