Eric Wimsatt and Guitar Repair Institute

[WrgHndPkr]

I have been thinking hard about taking up a course in guitar maintenance & repair. I've looked into a couple, including Eric Wimsatt's. He runs Wimsatt's Instruments in Nashville (http://www.wimsattinstruments.com/). I'd just like to know if anyone has gone through his course and what you thought of it. I've been told you learn a lot, and you can take separate courses at different times, but altogether the cost for going through the whole thing is like 6 grand. That's a LOT of bread for me and I'd like to know it would be worth it.

[7String Thing]

Your better off going to the Raritan Bay classes instead. One of my friends showed me some of his work and i think they both went to the Raritan classes together.

You are better off learning the whole shindig rather than just the repair. I have been taking the courses at MI, and it teaches you all about repair. Its not all that difficult. If you know how to make cauls and how to do finish work, you can make some pretty impressive repairs with the skills you learn from making guitars start to finish.

[WrgHndPkr]

Originally Posted by 7String Thing

Your better off going to the Raritan Bay classes instead. One of my friends showed me some of his work and i think they both went to the Raritan classes together.

You are better off learning the whole shindig rather than just the repair. I have been taking the courses at MI, and it teaches you all about repair. Its not all that difficult. If you know how to make cauls and how to do finish work, you can make some pretty impressive repairs with the skills you learn from making guitars start to finish.

Problem is I don't foresee myself moving out of Nashville to NJ so I wouldn't be able to take Raritan's classes. Besides, the curriculum at Wimsatt's Guitar Repair Institute looks like it's about the same as Raritan. http://www.wimsattinstruments.com/in...id=5&Itemid=59

But I agree that I'd be better off doing the whole thing. There is another guy here in Nashville offering less than a week in training, which obviously isn't going to cover everything an aspiring Luthier is going to need, but the cost is very high for the amount of time you'll spend in his course.