Official Luthiers Forum!

Thanks for your patience!



We finally have the dates for the first two days of classes, Fretting and Set-Up for Builders scheduled for March 30 and 31st 2017. This is a Thursday and Friday which is a little different from what we have done in the past.

I know that some of you have expressed interest and I will be PMing you to get your attention for these dates.

Complete class descriptions are available here: http://www.annarborguitars.com/styled-6/index.html

Going forward we are only offering the two days of classes and won't be splitting the classes out unless we can schedule something for just one day.

Price for two days of classes is $600 with $300 due upon booking your seat(s) and the deposit is non-refundable since these seats are in high demand and perishable.

You will leave the classes with a completely fretted and perfectly set-up instrument. Interestingly for the builders that we ghost fret and set-up for we charge more than this....

Our classes also make excellent gifts and it is the Holiday Season.

To book your seat(s) please call me at Ann Arbor Guitars, 734 332-6142 or PM me here.

Ann Arbor Guitars proactively donates 10% of the proceeds of our classes to the OLF as well.

Thanks!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

You don't have to be goofy to take the classes but it doesn't hurt

The best two luthiery days I spent last year for sure!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks Steve!!!

One seat has been booked, three seats left AND tuition to our Fretting and Set-Up classes makes an excellent Holiday gift (hint, hint ).

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Anyone wanting to up their game on guitar fretting and set up? This has been strung up a week today, did the final tweak on the trussrod, nut & saddle, plays like butta 4/64" bass under 3/64" treble not a buzz anywhere. Ann Arbor Guitars thanks again Hesh and Dave

Nice going Greg! I see some really nice work there my friend. Congratulations!!!

BTW as you know that's pretty low action and even lower than the Martin Specs for low action. For this to be possible your fret plane has to be darn near perfect!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Wow that's impressive! Is that a perfectly level fret plane or is relief put into the frets somehow? Was any of the fret work done with thr strings on?

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Pat

Yep, Greg was paying close attention while we were up there. Nice work indeed!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

If I might add to what Clinchriver said, if you take the fretting class, you're going to learn a whole bunch of other stuff, aside from fretting. When I took the class with Greg and Steve, there were too many holy cr@p moments to count! This isn't like a YouTube video - you're in close, and get to see the nuance of what David and Hesh's hands are doing, and why. Oh, and the lunch is great, too!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Just a hint of relief on the bass side of things, strings off. One of David Collings first statements was "metal is jello and wood is butter". How you hold the neck and where you support it while leveling is the difference between out of the park and grounding out. Plus attention to detail, no detail is too small or insignificant to not address. Great class/experiance and is it ever paying off.

BTW these frets are the vile Jescar 47/90 SS, with 5 degree bevel on the fret ends

Thanks, must be a great class. Again, very impressive!

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Pat

Great to see you guys really "getting it" and putting it to very good use!

It's very gratifying when you can completely solve someone's issues as well with a highly skilled fret dress. I did two of them Friday and both clients are thrilled.

UPDATE: I took the class schedule off our web site and Dave and I decided to hold off on future classes.

These are VERY long days for us and our friends who take the classes AND it's not worth our while unless we have 3 - 4 students in so much as we bear opportunity costs not being able to do billable hours with our repair work. I personally don't like getting stuck in elevators either especially when I didn't bring any scotch....

We will do future classes when a group of you of 3 or 4 can get together and commit. We also offer and have offered and held private, custom classes for 2 or more. Contact me if you have any interest.

Many thanks and I am proud as punch to hear about the results that you guys are getting!!!!!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

I definitely need this class.

Sending you a private message Hesh.

Don't forget the donuts. Never met a donut I didn't like but those were top shelf.


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Quick question, Greg. Are you measuring to the top of the string or the bottom? I've always measured to the bottom of the string, but it looks like your measuring to the top?

Not sure but I think Greg is using 32nds. We like 64th" better and often pass info to each other, Dave and I as 2.3 and 5.8/64th" which of course is a guess but as you can see we are even specific beyond 1/64th".

It's getting harder for me to see this too.... these days..... Blind Mellon Luthier here.....

Bit more, this measurement has meaning only after the rod is adjusted and the nut slots have been properly cut. Measuring at the 12th in 64th" tells us what we want to do with the saddle.

One reason why 64th" is useful over 32nds" is say with Martin specs for 13's on a Dr*ad of 5 and 7 64th". You can't represent that with 32nds unless you make up your own notation as I do.... or use thousands of an inch and I can see that......

And it's measured from the fret crown (12th) to the bottom.... of the string.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Ahhh. Got it, got it. Thanks, Hesh

Bottom of the string, My rule read in1/32" on the end I had it oriented for the photos, the 64's would have been upside down. I'm ok with 64's but really prefer 1/1000's but talk the talk.

Also we had our monthly "Luthiers" haha meeting at the local Woodcraft yesterday. My road warrior buddy Steve Smith got to play the new D-28 and approved. Several comments about it played better than quite a few electrics. One member who wants to go full time into building and repair is very interested in a trip to Ann Arbor, you can blame me

That D28 sounded and played great. I was trying to figure a way to sneak it out and take it home with me

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

For those of you thinking of this class, put me on your contact list as I am interested... I have most all the materials to start my 2nd/3rd builds and hope to start this week, but time is scarce so I am not sure when i'll be ready for the class. Hoping for early summer...

Rob

Follow up, my lovely wife is an RN at one of the local hospitals. One of her favorite Docs is a gigging musician, and he's been wanting to check out some of my guitars. She hauled the D-28 in to work this morning. She sent me a text quoting doc "Truly impressed I did not expect it to be this good" and I've never played an acoustic with an action this low that did not buzz anywhere

Pre fretting and set up class last May, I was a typical hobby builder pretty good wood working chops, frets kicked my butt, I still have a lot to learn, and definitely practice makes perfect, but......having a clear idea of where to go, and what to do to execute my vision is really sweet. I cannot recommend these classes enough.

I know I've already posted about the quality of the tutelage from Dave Collins and Hesh's class. But I felt like I had to gush a bit more if you feel like you're on the fence as to whether to sign up or not. I took what they taught me back to my shop. I ended up re fretting and going back over the setup on all my builds. The method Dave teaches will get you where you need to go for string height. Heck I'm gonna sign up again just for the doughnuts.


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"It is easier to fool a man, than it is to convince him that he has been fooled"
Mark Twain