Lessons in Lutherie with Brian Burns

Individual, hands-on instruction for beginning to advanced guitar builders

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I make classical and flamenco guitars in a large shop here in the small town of Fort Bragg, on California's beautiful north coast.   I'm offering hands-on instruction in all aspects of lutherie work for everyone from absolute beginners to advanced luthiers.  I charge $25 per hour, or $150 per day, and can arrange times to suit your schedule, whether it's during the week or on weekends.  Since it's individual instruction, we can work on the specific things that you are interested in. I have been self employed as a full time woodworker for 34 years, with 14 years in guitar making, and 3 years as a woodworking teacher.  Over the years I've developed many unique solutions to the problems we all encounter in our craft. I also teach Flamenco guitar playing.

A few of the things we might work on

~ Double bevel sharpening

~ Joining tops and backs

~ Tonewood testing

~ Laminating sides

~ Vacuum clamping and work holding

~ Thin kerf resawing

~ Woodworking machinery setup

~ Hand plane tuning

~ Fingerboard slotting on the table saw

~ Surfacing veneers

~ Neck construction

~ Jig and fixture design and construction

~ Drill press thicknessing

~ Voicing, using the computer for acoustic analysis

~ Scraper sharpening (really well!)

~ French polishing

~ Hide glue techniques

~ Spanish rosette making

~ Conical section fingerboard crowning

~ Making and bending purfling & binding

~ Spanish heel assembly

~ Router-Mill construction and use

And anything else you might think of

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