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Hi James, Ervin's books are the foundation of the course, but there's an awful lot of extra info delivered, if only in fully understanding the principles he espouses. Then there's just the stray stuff that comes out of discussions with someone who's been doing this for 40 years. That can be pretty amazing all on its own

One example. We were talking about backs. What do you thin them to? We know that some people work to a fairly specific frequency, but is there an equivalent to the tapping and deflection testing we do on tops for the back? Ervin gave us one measure that he freely admits he got from Romanillos. You thin the back till it will bend into an even arch longitudinally. No kinks at the anchor points, just a nice smooth bend. Not something I'd ever heard before, but something I'm looking forward to trying.

But the real upgrade is the hands-on experience. I think I know what he's talking about when he refers to something like "even gradation of response." But to take turns tapping and shaving a top, all the while discussing what's happening, leads to much greater understanding. To my mind, at any rate.

To be fair, it's not for everyone. It's certainly a looser and more intuitive approach than, say, Gore or Carruth would take. But it certainly fit my style of learning, and I think the overall level of satisfaction within the class was pretty high.

Hope that helps

Steve

It definitely helps. That method of thinning the back remind me of the way I thin my tops, which I got from Kent Everett's DVD. You thin it until it sounds like a warbling sawblade when you wiggle it out in front of you.

I'm going to sock a little money away until I can grab both sets of books.

Why does that work? The method of thinning the Back or the Top for that matter. I guess what I'm asking: is there any science behind that or is it one of those it works for me approach?

If money's tight and you want to prioritize. I have a suggestion. Unless you have some fluency with math, I would recommend Somogyi's The Responsive Guitar for theory. I admit it, I'm a liberal arts kinda guy, but much of Gore's first volume flew right over my head. And I'd recommend Gore's "Build" volume for the how-to stuff. I found Trevor's second volume more detailed and comprehensive than Somogyi's.

Whatever you choose, there's a wealth of info from both sources, enough to keep you busy for a long time.

Steve

Interesting....I was in the same Somogyi class as Barry, Kent & David and I agree with all of them, that must confuse things. First off, I think the class was well worth the price, which for us was much less than $6,000. For me I understood where Ervin was coming from relative to hiding some details, but I also think it was pretty easy to figure things out if you paid attention to everything that was available to you in the shop/class . There is no way you could leave that class and not be a better builder, at least you shouldn't leave without having learned a great deal about how to build a better sounding guitar. That doesn't mean that you will necessarily build a guitar that sounds like Ervin's(though you should be able to if you choose to), but you should be able to incorporate what you learned into making your own instruments more pleasing to the ear. Hey, the guitar I brought was one of the one's picked as the best sounding instruments in the blind listening test, but I don't even build close to that way now and I believe my current guitars are much better than that one. Not sure I would have ventured as far from that guitar as I have without the class experience. I'd suggest that you keep your eyes/ears/mind open when you are there and you will come away with more than enough to keep you busy for a long time.

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Gwaltney Guitars

I agree with you. There was so much to see and explore. The aprentice work room was the only place that was off limits to students. They needed to get their work done. We got to see all of his jigs, tools, and he was willing to take the time to explain what something was for if asked. He must have had 25 colt routers set up for different operations. I've only got 6..

My guitar also made the podium.. My current guitars are definitely superior to what I brought to class.

M

+1

Well said filippo. I just want to see how many people have taken his class and what their thoughts were of it.

+1 fillipo