Guitar tech courses

cruxiform · July 2015

Now I have my new found freedom I'm looking to do a guitar setup course in the future. A one day course would be ideal for me. I've been looking at this website: http://www.guitartechcourses.com

Does anybody have any experience with these guys or have any recommendations for other courses?

cruxiform · December 2015

Bumping this thread as I am still looking to do a guitar tech course in the spring. Any recommendations from the Fretboard?

nutbox · December 2015

i think if i remember i read some good reviews about them and have thought about doing the setup course to but never got around to it.

Also crimson guitars do day course which you can choose what you would like to do,like setting up ,fret work etc.

cheers dazz

p.s if you do do a course keep us informed

cruxiform · December 2015

Will do. Thanks for the info about Crimson guitars

TTony · December 2015

Location is fairly important - depends where you are (or want to travel to) to do the course.

IIRC, @Jalapeno did a course that focused on set-ups?

Jalapeno · December 2015

xyz-caster assembly & setup - http://www.guitartechcourses.com/guitar-courses/guitar-building-course/

cruxiform · December 2015

Cool. That's the one I was looking at. Was it worth the cost?

Pablo · December 2015

I did this course back in May and really enjoyed it. This one's mine:

http://i.imgur.com/ryamZ4V.jpg

As for whether it's worth the cost, once I added on accommodation, food and transport I was into new Fender American Standard money, but it's the experience you're buying as much as the guitar, and that mattered more to me.

That and the fact that I just play at home for fun and take lessons - I felt I couldn't justify spending that much on a guitar alone.

AustrianJohn · December 2015

I did the course in November. You not only build a great guitar, but also learn loads about building, maintaining and setting up guitars. There were lots of guitar build/maintenance things that I knew how to do before I did this course - now I know how to do them properly! Great value - great guitar and great fun.

Jalapeno · December 2015

cruxiform said:

Cool. That's the one I was looking at. Was it worth the cost?

Excellent, you can bring your own bits and he'll adjust the price accordingly.

Nice guy, good location, great teacher. You can stay in the pub across the road or a Travelodge roughly 3-5 miles away (handy for the tea/coffee & lunchtime butties, plus there's a Starbucks on the way in to the workshop).

This was my relic'd Tele

cruxiform · December 2015

Thanks guys, that's all the recommendation I need. On my wish list for 2016

ChrisRG · February 2016

Just booked up on the March 3-day course. So far James has been superb to deal with. On the website it says you can spec out the type of guitar you want to build so I gave James a couple of options. We discussed the spec over email and he ordered the bits he didn't already have.

So, great service so far and I'm now really looking forward to the course.

ChrisRG · March 2016

Just thought I'd update this thread as I did the 3 day guitar build course run by James Collins at the weekend (http://guitartechcourses.com/)

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it and learnt a load of new skills along the way. The most work I'd ever done on a guitar before was changing the strings and giving it a bit of a clean so although I'd read the theory of things like fret dressing and neck relief etc, I'd never done them in practice. James took us though each stage of putting the guitar together and explained each section clearly and kept an eye on us to make sure we weren't doing anything stupid.

All in all, it was a very well run course which was expertly delivered at the right pace for the attendees. I came away with some confidence to do more work on my guitars, some skills to build on when I tackle my squire project and a custom, hand built (albeit by me!) Strat. (I also may have bought his Marshall fridge off him, doh!).

Also, check out his own guitars (http://www.jamescollinsguitars.com/), they look amazing and the amount of work that's gone into them is incredible

Here's some pics of the guitar I built.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ve8mxegnpjk3o04/IMG_4140.JPG?raw=1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sj2pz1wr308ond5/IMG_4142.JPG?raw=1

ArchtopDave · March 2016

Any comments on the accommodation offered?

Jalapeno · March 2016

ArchtopDave said:

Any comments on the accommodation offered?

He doesn't offer any.

The pub across the road is fine, as is the Travelodge+Chef&Brewer pub 10 mins drive away

ChrisRG · March 2016

I can't comment I'm afraid as I live about an hours drive from the course. The May Garland Inn (http://www.maygarlandinn.co.uk/) is opposite the entrance to the farm where the offices are and it looks nice from the outside. One of the guys on the course had come down from Newcastle and stayed in the Travelodge (Hellingly Eastbourne) which seemed to be as expected and is about 10 mins drive away.

James is a really friendly and helpful guy so if you rang him up, I'm sure he'll give you more info.

ArchtopDave · March 2016

My question was maybe a bit too succinct - I know he does not personally provide accommodation, but I was wondering what experience peeps had of the accommodation that they'd used whilst on the Course. I'm thinking of going sometime as I haven't made a bolt on neck style of guitar.

meltedbuzzbox · March 2016

+1 for James Collins aka the 12th fret

I did his course at his old workshop and it was great. He is a very good teacher.

mtodd · November 2022

I hope you all don’t mind me bringing this thread back from the dead as it’s been about 6 years since the last post. I hope to do either the 1 day GTC or Crimson 1 or 2 day course very soon. The Crimson 2 day course is a touch on the pricy side and the 1 day courses of both Crimson and GTC look fairly similar. The main difference I can see is that Crimson go into cutting nut slots in their 1 day programme. I’ve not long finished an 18 month classical guitar build and would like to focus on electric guitar setup this time. I am looking forward to hearing your more recent comments about the GTC or Crimson courses.

cheers,
mtodd

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