Electric Guitar Making Course
12 - Week - 60 hours
That's right, you read that correctly. The Shed Melbourne is now offering an Electric Guitar Making Course. Make your very own Tele-style electric guitar with the guidance of our tutor and guitar-making gun, Tom King. Tom is fresh off a stint building and teaching at De Haan Guitars, the Dutch School of Guitar Making. Before that, he worked at Australia’s own Cole Clark Guitars where he developed an appreciation for the versatility and sustainability of Australian tonewoods. He’s a perfect fit for us and you'll be in very capable hands. Check out Tom’s bio and some of the amazing guitars he’s made through our Get To Know Us page.
We’ve expanded our course to 60 hours so we can cover every step in the build from scratch, with no prior experience necessary. Students will learn to make the guitar body and neck, practice their fretwork and get familiar with wiring and finishing. Lefties welcome!
What the course involves:
Introduction to the tools and machines used in guitar making and general woodwork
Timber selection and body glue-up
Shaping components on the bandsaw
Template and cavity routing
Profiling the neck
Fretboard slotting, inlaying and radiusing
Installing and dressing the frets
Setting the neck and bridge placement
Making and slotting the nut
Set-up and intonation
Wiring and soldering the pickups
What you get:
Quality tonewoods (Fijian Mahogany body, American Maple neck, Indian Rosewood fretboard, or equivalent)
Gig bag
Gotoh modern-style tuners
Gotoh modern-style Tele bridge
Gotoh single-coil neck and bridge pick-ups
2-way welded truss rod
Mother of pearl fret markers
Bone nut
Gotoh control plate, string retainers, string ferrules and neck attachment plate
Switchcraft 3-way switch and output jack
Chrome volume and tone knobs
CTS pots
Quality ceramic capacitor
Allparts pickguard in black or white
Allparts jack plate
End pins
Is this course for you?
People who play the guitar and want to learn what goes into making one
Anyone who wants to make a guitar but doesn’t have the tools to get started
Those who simply want to get into making and using their hands to create
If you know someone who loves guitars and want to give them a fun and unique experience
Frequently Asked Questions
I can’t make the course, can I get a refund?
Unfortunately due to the nature of our business, and the infrastructure behind each course issuing refunds at present is a difficult task, we ask that you are able to commit to the enrolled class before purchasing and that you do not purchase on a whim. We work tirelessly to give each student a pleasant experience and so every penny made is put straight back into the business. We are happy for any student who cannot attend a class to on-sell their ticket to an able and willing participant. Just pass on their details and we will add them to the enrolled class and remove the initial student.
Do you provide the timber and materials?
YES! For our Guitar Building course we do provide all that is needed to complete the course. The Timber will be either a locally sourced timber or a sustainable international hardwood best suited to guitar bodies. Every piece of timber will be hand selected by our tutor Tom King.
Do you provide the tools?
All woodworking tools are provided – power tools, hand tools, and equipment is provided.
How many people will be in the class?
Each session time slot is maxed out at five people. This is to ensure that we have as much individualised time with the students as possible. Be prepared to make 4 new friends!
What do I need to bring?
Apart from your own hand tools (if you want), you will need to be prepared with appropriate clothing, closed-in shoes (preferably steel cap boots), tight fitting clothes, a hair tie if you have long hair and a sense of humour! We do provide our own PPE (Personal protection equipment) which are sanitised daily, however as the times are a changing we do recommend grabbing your own earmuffs and safety glasses to help eliminate cross contamination, these can be purchased at your local hardware store at a low cost.
I don’t want to make a Tele style guitar.
Thats ok, however this course is designed only to make that style. If you’d like to make a custom guitar please reach out to us and we can organise setting up a bespoke course for you.
I want to sign up but I cannot commit to all classes.
In this class we build a beautiful guitar, each week we have standard learning outcomes that will help you on your way to building your very own piece of furniture. We strongly recommend you are able to commit to every class. We do not run catch up classes outside of the times allocated to your set class.
I already have some parts for a guitar that id like to use in my build is that ok?
Certainly, however it will not change the cost of the course and you will still be given the standard parts that we supply.