Guitar / Bass building courses - any recommendations?

[Jolltax]

I am a bit of a have-a-go sort of person and like the idea with experimenting with making my own bass - I mean from actual wood as opposing to building from parts (which is also cool).  I have no intention of ever becoming a luthier or proper guitar builder, its just for fun.

 

I like the idea of doing a guitar bass building course, the kind when you show up with a bunch of bits of wood, materials and they provide workshop equipment and expertise to help you turn it into a bass guitar.

 

The one I am aware of is at Crimson Guitars but there may be others so I thought i would ask here ....

 

I was also thinking of finding carpentry workshops or woodworking places near me, ideally somewhere where they have the big machine tools necessary e.g. table saws, pedestal / belt / rotary sanders etc etc.  Presumably the wood working skills are the same  / similar to things like furniture making.

 

All I really got at home is hand tools and a router, I think the whole process would be massively better in a proper workshop, although I am toying with the idea of just finding a chunk of cheap pine and having a bodge at making a body from a template.  Even if its a disaster I can just transfer the hardware to the next disaster and evolve it into something.

 

If anyone had any experience of these kinds of courses or could recommend places that would be cool, I live in the Midlands in Tenbury Wells so nearer is better. There is a moderate likelihood I might be made redundant soon so could have some time on my hands and this would be fun...

 

Jolltax

[geoham]

I did a five day course with Jon Shuker last year. I can thoroughly recommend it.
The group size was small - limited to three people, with Jon leading things and assisted by Tim Lever (a very interesting character - great to chat to!)

It was an all-inclusive price of £1,000 each - I believe Crimson charge separately for the course and materials.
 

A possible down-side is that you are restricted to building a Precision or Jazz style bass - although you can basically do whatever you want as long as you stick to the basic design. There's also no time for any solid paint finishes - I had a clear lacquer. Sunbursts and similar were also possible.

 

I made a standard P bass. All good quality components - Gotoh bridge, Schaller tuners, Seymour Duncan pickup. And lots of attention to detail on things like fretwork left me feeling that I'd struggle to buy such a good quality bass for £1k.

Here's the finished item!

[Jolltax]

2 hours ago, geoham said:

I did a five day course with Jon Shuker last year. I can thoroughly recommend it.
The group size was small - limited to three people, with Jon leading things and assisted by Tim Lever (a very interesting character - great to chat to!)

It was an all-inclusive price of £1,000 each - I believe Crimson charge separately for the course and materials.
 

A possible down-side is that you are restricted to building a Precision or Jazz style bass - although you can basically do whatever you want as long as you stick to the basic design. There's also no time for any solid paint finishes - I had a clear lacquer. Sunbursts and similar were also possible.

 

I made a standard P bass. All good quality components - Gotoh bridge, Schaller tuners, Seymour Duncan pickup. And lots of attention to detail on things like fretwork left me feeling that I'd struggle to buy such a good quality bass for £1k.

Here's the finished item!

 

Wow, I'll look them up.  The shape doesn't really worry me too much, I actually like traditional looking basses although I prefer active electronics and humbuckers.  I actually just bought the components to knock together a copy of a 2 band stingray preamp, bit of soldering practice. 

 

J

[geoham]

12 minutes ago, Jolltax said:

 

Wow, I'll look them up.  The shape doesn't really worry me too much, I actually like traditional looking basses although I prefer active electronics and humbuckers.  I actually just bought the components to knock together a copy of a 2 band stingray preamp, bit of soldering practice. 

 

J

If you don't know of Jon, he's possibly the country's top independent bass builder. He's based in Derbyshire, and while I did a 5 day, Monday to Friday course - he can do other things too. He'd be worth chatting to at least.

 

Whatever you end up doing - good luck!

George

[Dood]

I absolutely 100% recommend the Shuker courses! One of my bass students has recently come back from the course too having made his own bass. I can honestly say (as a professional gear reviewer) his bass sounds amazing! It's been beautifully finished with Jon Shuker's help and it certainly is something to be proud of!

 

That aside, as Geoham says, I know from experience that other Luthiers hold Jon in high esteem, understandable given the quality of his workmanship. 

 

Tell him what you need and he'll have the best advice about how to get there!