End of the Year Thoughts

It is absolutely amazing how quickly each school year comes and goes.  I tell students the first day of school "Before you know it, it'll be May and you'll be finishing up your instruments".  I don't suspect that is believable at the time but each year someone brings it up in the final weeks as being true.

We are education for employment and the people hiring our students not only expect our graduates to have the technical skills that are required to work in this industry but also effective communication skills, the ability to get along well with others in the workplace and be able to manage their time.

Which brings to mind the final two weeks of the year.  During this time a lot still needs to happen and every year there are situations where the final day, just an hour or less until "show time" some students are caught by surprise their guitar won't be ready for our annual guitar show.  We try all year long to stress the importance of time management, have students track their time 1 day a week in the fall semester and also track all of the work they do in the repair class in spring.  Still, some seem content to wander or "drift" through their days thinking all is fine.  I want so much to help them because I know as a graduate from this program how intense things can get at the end but somehow I haven't found the way to get through to those few.

Even though it doesn't sink in for everyone, we'll never stop trying to emphasize the importance of managing ones time.  It is critical to student success and when a person is charging money for their repair work or instruments they build it's of the utmost importance in todays market.  Employers are equally stressing the importance of a person showing up on time, ready to work, working well with others as they are having the necessary technical skills.

Next week begins the application of finishes after many hours of careful sanding.  The guitar show is always a day bursting with pride and it is what makes it all worth it.  It's my favorite day of the year not because vacation is soon to arrive but because you see and feel how proud the students are of what they've accomplished.  We want everyone to have the feeling and take part hearing their instrument played by some outstanding professional musicians.

Sadly a few may end up wondering how things didn't get done or wishing they had some of the time missed throughout the semester back so they had a few more hours to get their guitar done and strung to pitch.....

Before we know it, I'll be giving the little speech again on the first day of school.

Guitar Development & Production - 2nd Year Program

For almost 2 years now we've been planning & developing a full second year of our guitar program here at Southeast Technical College in response to student feedback from over the years that it would be nice to expand our offerings & get more training in the subject of guitar repair, design & building. Also with new technology making its way into the guitar industry there is an increased demand in trained workers that understand the guitar making process and have used computer numerical controlled (CNC) machines and computer aided drafting (CAD). Currently industry has to find workers to run their CNC machines and know CAD then hope they pass along enough understanding of how a guitar is made to bridge the gap.

Above:  Our custom made CNC machine getting the final touches before being delivered to the college.

In the second year of guitar students will build their first archtop instrument choosing a guitar, mandolin or even a violin if they'd like to with the Archtop Construction class.  Some of the courses will work together as they design their own original instrument using Rhino 4.0 CAD software, a CNC class for making templates & molds culminating with the building of their instrument in Advanced Guitar Construction.  All of the planning stages will be done in a new Instrument Design course.  

High tech finishes have been more and more a part of guitar making today reducing the amount of time it takes a finish to cure and reducing VOC's (volatile organic compounds).  With the new Advanced Finishing class students will be able to learn popular guitar finishing techniques and use high teach coatings like 2k urethane, polyester and UV cured polyester.

There will also be another repair course covering more involved and/or complicated repair techniques not covered in the first year of the guitar program and an inlay course where students will expand their skills by incorporating a variety of materials and engraving techniques for inlay work on their instruments.

We'll be announcing here and on our facebook page when the information becomes available.  This program begins fall of 2010.

Keeping Up!

It's been a while since I've been able to get a post up here. So far this spring semester we have had 17 electric guitars made and 22 acoustic guitars made. This week we switched sections and have started all over again.

Currently we're working on a blog post for our second year diploma. I hope to be able to get time this week to complete that and get it posted. It begins Fall 2010 and we're very, very excited to offer classes new classes focusing on new and cutting edge technologies for guitar building.

Feel free to check us out on facebook too!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Wing-MN/Guitar-Repair-Building-Program-Southeast-Technical-College/34153234855

Sounds like the program is filling up for next fall too!

Warm weather is making it's return so I hear. Looking forward to it, as is everyone.

A Fall In Review

It is simply amazing how time flies when you're having fun. Make no mistake about it, this is challenging work and requires serious focus and discipline but it is fun. It seems like only a couple weeks ago we had an all new class full of aspiring luthiers coming from all over the country for as many different reasons as you can think of. Here we are just a week away from the holiday break!

I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the vacation to spend time with friends and family, catch up on some needed rest and perhaps put in some time working before we kick things off in January.

Everyone here is very excited to begin building their first instrument. Again the class will be divided into 2 sections with the classes running 7 weeks. What we call our "Section 1" classes will begin to build their first flat top acoustic guitar. They will have class 4 days a week and do nothing but work on their instrument. The other half of the class will be in "Section 2" and their classes will be Electric Guitar construction for 2 days, Finish Work for 2 days and then Guitar Repairs where we simulate a working guitar shop and students work on anything that needs fixing. After 7 weeks the students switch sections (rooms) and we do it all over again for 7 weeks.

Before we know it....this -10 degree weather will be gone, green grass will be back, students will be back in one group for the final 2 weeks of the semester when their finishing skills are put to the test on a real instrument. Then...they'll be stringing it up & playing their handmade acoustic or electric guitar filled with pride. Those of course that come to class every day, focus, don't talk excessively and do what is expected of them.

The others will scratch their head and not understand why their instrument isn't done. That however brings me full circle to some advice I give out the first week of school, and just about every week after which is...Come to class every day, on time, focus at your bench and do what's expected of you not just by your instructors, but by the professionals in the field making their living doing what they love and most importantly the people who hire our graduates. If you don't focus, work hard and always try to do your best this line of work will get the better of you.

I talk about that the very first week of school in late August, which of course, will be here before I know it.

So! We all hope the holidays find you and yours happy, healthy and looking forward to an amazing 2010.

Breather...

We have a couple days off school for the MEA days. It's been a great start to the year and a very focused, hard working group of students. They've earned a long weekend and we'll be back to it Monday.

End of Week 3

Wow, week three is just about done. To the rest of you reading this, you may just think that its not a big deal, but to us guitar students, its a HUGE deal! That means that the last week of tools is just around the corner. That is some exciting stuff!! But, at the same time, its also hectic because that also means that we must finish prepping our hand tools with Lisbeth and finish our power tool projects with Brian.

In hand tools, I am finished with the majority of my tools. Its a great feeling being in class and accomplishing tasks. It makes me feel...well, accomplished. I just finished flattening and polishing all my chisels yesterday in class. I thought it would take a real long time to finish, but to my surprise, I finished them all in the one class period with some time left over to work on my stinkin' burnisher. Which reminds me, my goal this weekend is to finish the burnisher at home.

And then, in power tools, I am learning a load of things. It's good stuff. I enjoy using all the quality tools in the shop. I'm starting to get more and more comfortable using them. I can't really wait until we actually start building guitars! Just thinking about it is exciting. Funny story though, not really but...here goes. I was working on my nut and sattle holder project which we take a block "blank" and sand it down to be flat and square to each and every face. And then we drill a hole down the middle, first with a forstner bit only about 3/16th of an inch deep, then second with just a regular twist bit down the center of the block. So I finished all my sanding, meaning I got my block square and flat on all sides. Brian had already set the forstner bit to stop at the required depth...or so I thought. I went to go drill my first hole and waited for the stop. Turned out that someone probably had set it to a different setting maybe the night before. So I obviously drilled too far. I went and asked Brian what I should do. He told me that I could either plug the hole with wood and glue it in, or I could start over. Gluing it in would take longer, so I felt like I wasted half of a day. Great story. And it's true. But I suppose its all part of the learning process right?

Instructor note: Making mistakes is part of learning and perhaps more importantly, how a person responds to that mistake. He did a great job!

Thinking of Enrolling? - What you NEED to know!

Thank you to everyone at the college responsible for welcoming new students from the very first phone call to the college, questions about the program, visiting the college, etc...We have made every effort to be sure students coming into the program have what they need, the information gets to them with plenty of lead time and they're ready to hit the ground running the first day of school.

No matter how hard we try there are situations that pop up and present a very serious challenge to new students so I'd like to talk about potential pitfalls for anyone thinking of coming to our program.

Your success in the program is the most important thing to us and we will do everything we can do to help you get to where you're going. That's why I've written this particular blog. The sooner you begin planning your future the greater success you'll have.

Here is critical information for anyone thinking of coming to the Guitar Repair & Building program:

#1 - Don't wait to apply to the college and get the wheels in motion. We have completely filled the program for the 2009-2010 school year. If someone procrastinates they could very well not be able to get in. This will allow you time to fill out the necessary paperwork, apply for financial aid etc.

#2 - You generally receive the first two tool lists at orientation. The hand tools ARE YOUR ASSIGNMENTS for the Intro to Tools class. There is no way the college can loan you tools to prepare in class (flatten, grind and sharpen). If you wait until the last registration day you only have a few days to order your tools. By then the vendors may be out of stock on those tools because so many other people have ordered theirs. If you don't have the necessary tools on the first day your ability to pass that class is severely reduced.

#3 - Don't wait to register!!! You begin the registration with an orientation session required for every student at the college. (see#2) There are 4 registrations for incoming guitar students. Get to the first registration you possibly can and DON'T ARRIVE LATE. The program is nearly full by the end of July.

#4 - The Intro to Tools class is a prerequisite for nearly every class in the guitar program. If you don't pass that you can't continue in the program. (see #2) This class runs the first 4 weeks of the semester. Basically 1 day = 1 week of a normal 16 week, semester long course. If you start 2 days late without your tools YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PASS the class. Or should we say, no one has ever done it in the past.

#5 - Each class is a stepping stone to the next. Intro to Tools is required for the repair courses offered in the fall. The fall courses are required for the spring semester courses, so if a student for some reason doesn't make it through the other fall courses they are unable to come back to build a guitar in the spring semester.

#6 - Our program is a full-time commitment for 9 months. We don't have a way to offer part-time enrollment or picking and choosing only certain courses.

Contact the college with any questions you have, we're here to help!