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Where do you learn all this???

splitcoilsenior

splitcoilsenior

Jan 18, 2009
1,124
13
#1
I'm currently 15. My schools starting to push the "What do you want to be when you grow up, what classes do you wana take related to your field". Well I think I'm going to do something with computer because I don't mind sitting down for a long time with a computer, and I can type up to 110 words a minute. I'm taking 2 computer classes for my electives next year, one advanced. (sorry for rambling)

Anyway, I'd like to learn about woodworking, and general Luthier related things.

Are there classes I can take outside of school, or website I can learn from. Did any of you guys (and girls) learn how to do your woodworking and electronics from a Luthier school, Or did you just kinda learn as you went.

Thanks, Matt
 
#4
take wood shop. you'll learn about wood working, and whether you like it or not.

i wouldn't worry too much about taking classes for your profession, other than trying different things to see how you like them. i took wood shop and auto shop in high school, and loved them and learned a bunch. i still wish i had taken welding instead of a class on microsoft office (while office is important, it's not all that hard...)
 
#7
splitcoilsenior said:
hmmmm.....maybe I will take woodshop, even though I'd be constatly picked on lol
Click to expand...

Yes, for sure, if you don't have wood tool experience, then take a woodshop class, and to see what you can do in a class with no support at all, search this forum for "Highschool Builds". Another student has for the last 3 years posted pictures of what he has done on a woodshop with little support from his teacher. and his basses are stunning. They should give you inspiration.

And from a guy who grew up being yelled at for being different, I say F-em if they can't take a joke.

The best book I have found for helping you think about guitar design, and construction basics find a copy of Melvyn Hiscocks "Make Your Own Electric Guitar"

And as Mikey said, always work towards your goal. It will shock you how you efforts will build up over time.
 
#9
Freshman year I had wood shop. Total output: one Doors logo sign and one birdhouse, lol. I'd spend weeks at the rotary sander making hockey pucks out of 2x4s. My buddy nearly got suspended for bringing in plans to build a coffin. One of the teachers had his big toe sewn on where he lopped off a thumb, no bs. Good times!
 
#10
15, that was a good year. The world's your oyster; learn wood, learn metal, learn old-school and new-school photography, learn drafting (I've used that one my whole life), keep your grades up in all your other classes and try to get a scholarship so you can keep learning that stuff in college. Don't get too hung up on what you 'want to be when you grow up,' statistically most people change careers dozens of times. I certainly have, I'm 35 and considering going back to college again. Life is a sampler platter, all-you-can-eat style, so pig out.
 
#12
Drafting has always been useful. Especially learning AutoCAD. Indispensable...

I'll go ahead and be the hippy and say Art class too... Learning to focus your creativity and understanding basic color theory goes a long way. Another skill that will come in handy in many things. Aesthetics!

Although, I do wish that I had taken wood whop back in high school. Looking back, it would have been an opportune time to learn those basic skills. The only wood working I got to do in drafting class was building little CO2 race cars. =/
 
#13
Cy_Miles said:
Yes, for sure, if you don't have wood tool experience, then take a woodshop class, and to see what you can do in a class with no support at all, search this forum for "Highschool Builds". Another student has for the last 3 years posted pictures of what he has done on a woodshop with little support from his teacher. and his basses are stunning. They should give you inspiration.

And from a guy who grew up being yelled at for being different, I say F-em if they can't take a joke.

The best book I have found for helping you think about guitar design, and construction basics find a copy of Melvyn Hiscocks "Make Your Own Electric Guitar"

And as Mikey said, always work towards your goal. It will shock you how you efforts will build up over time.
Click to expand...

i gotta buy that book just because of the author's name.
 
#14
I learned most of the things through the internet. Of course, I was a machinist before I ventured into building my own guitars... but I'd never had any experience with a router.

As corny as it may seem, the first priority is being safe. I always heard, a good machinist is one that has all of his fingers.

Google stuff, look at things that have no relevance to guitars. Having experience in any woodworking will help. Once again, google it.
 
#15
Dream Weaver said:
Drafting has always been useful. Especially learning AutoCAD. Indispensable...

I'll go ahead and be the hippy and say Art class too... Learning to focus your creativity and understanding basic color theory goes a long way. Another skill that will come in handy in many things. Aesthetics!

Although, I do wish that I had taken wood whop back in high school. Looking back, it would have been an opportune time to learn those basic skills. The only wood working I got to do in drafting class was building little CO2 race cars. =/
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Art class helps you develop the eye that will carry over into all those other disciplines.

I learned a lot of those disciplines in school, but never took woodshop... it was kind of a clique, the kids that took it every year started in middle school, and there were very limited seats. I learned basic woodworking from my dad, he was into building wooden boats when I was that age. Of course, being 15, I thought he was the un-coolest dude EVAR...glad I grew up and learned to know better. :)
 
#16
+1 to all of the above.

Take a drafting/AutoCAD class (if they aren't together, pick AutoCAD since you're good with computers), wood shop and metal shop - there, together with the Melvyn Hiscock book, you know about 80% of what you need to build a good guitar.

The rest is finishing, there are a couple of good StewMac books on finishing, but you really can't get it until you try it - lots of trial & error involved with finishing.

But also make sure you keep steering yourself toward a regular day-job sort of career - as anyone here can tell you, you need a source of income to start building basses.
 
#17
I was following the normal route: Graduate HS, go to college, my major would have me in Grad School, then get a job, etc.

I dropped out, I was a chemistry major, philosophy minor. It just wasn't going to make me happy. Do what you love, then you'll love what you do.

I went to Roberto-Venn and treated my time there ever so much more seriously than I took college. Don't get me wrong, Tempe/Phoenix has a great nightlife and lots to do outside, but I was at school every day, all day, and any extra time they allowed us to be there.

From there, I got a job at Modulus, where a guy who had only been in the states for a little over a decade and had the coolest broken english (he was vietnamese), showed me up for a few months. I could only idly sit by and learn. Then, I started to out do him. I then used free time to learn other things in the shop. The background I got at R-V was very helpful, but doing it day in and day out was critical. I got into every department other than paint and really gathered it, took it in. There were some things I enjoyed or understood (from a "why" standpoint) less than others, but I applied myself and worked hard.

If there is anything you should do to learn, apply yourself. Be true, be diligent. If you only want to know it as a hobby, that's cool too, but know that your apprehension about being picked on for taking woodshop will work against you. You can still have plenty of fun, satisfaction, and challenge without being committed. It all depends on what you actually want for yourself.

Then again, I'm no life coach, take all this with an open mind, please.
 
#19
Unless you plan on working for someone else the rest of your life, take as many business classes as you can. Many artists in sound or wood have great products and get eaten by bad business decisions. No matter what you end up doing, a business degree will make you more valuable.

I know it sounds dreadful, but it gives you the tools to deal with that aspect of life and keep it from ruling--and maybe ruining--everything else.
 

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