Acoustic Guitar Building Course

[Zandit75]

Hey everyone, long time me not contributing!!
So, what's been going on in my life recently?
Released a CD, which has gone pretty well so far. A duet sung by My Dad and Debbie went to number one on the local charts, and my version of Country Roads went as high as #7, so very happy with those results.
It's not locked in officially yet, but as a result of winning the Most Popular New Talent at last years TICMA Awards, I'm going to be playing live at this years awards in October. So I'm looking forward to that also!
I'm still playing with the Brass Band, and I have the Tasmanian Solo Competition coming up on the 27th of this month, hopefully I can take back my old crown of Bass Trombone Champion!!!

Later this year though is another major event for me. In September, I'll be attending the Gold Coast Guitar Building School in Miami, QLD.
Website - http://goldcoastguitarmakingschool.com.au/intensive/#2
I'm doing the 2 week intensive building course, and with all of the stars aligned, I'll come out of the course with a very high quality instrument!
I met Aaron Fenech last year when my wife and I holidayed in Byron Bay and took a quick trip to the Gold Coast for the day. I've been keen to attend a course to build my own acoustic for several years now, but nothing had lined up for me until now!
Out of the options available for the course, I've already opted for a cutaway, and I'll be bringing along a pick up for it to install while there. I'm also going to upgrade the guitar case to a Hiscox to ensure the best protection for the return trip to Tasmania.
One of Aaron's students has recently finished an all blackwood slimline acoustic, and I love everything about it. It certainly has me wanting to build something similar. Here are some photos. That's Aaron shown in the photos






Unfortunately for me, this guitar has used optional Master Grade Timbers, so to do something similar, I could be looking at an additional $3-400 for this upgrade! Aaron has assured me that his regular AAA graded timber is normally pretty damn good, but there is no guarantee that he will have that quality of wood available at the time of my course.
On top of all that, I have to have accommodation sorted and flights to the Gold Coast, so my outlay for this course is already quite hefty.
Some have asked why I haven't just gone and bought myself a high quality guitar for similar pricing, but everyone here already know the answer to that question!!
There is nothing quite like building a guitar just for you!

I'll keep updating this thread as things progress, and of course, I'll load up the place with photos when the course starts!

Thanks for watching!

[Zandit75]

I'll modify this post as a running tally for those interested.
Should be interesting to see how much this all adds up to!

Edit - Final costings listed below!!

Course - $3,850 - Includes standard hard case(I booked before this was changed to an optional extra) and Cutaway
Flight TAS to QLD - $140
Flight QLD to TAS - $325
Pickup - $466 - Fishman Matrix Infinity Mic Blend.
Case Upgrade to a Hiscox - $200
Tuning Machines Upgrade to Gotoh 510's - $80
Accommodation - $715 - Got a great place on AirBnB just around the corner from the course!
Food & General Expenses - Approx $900 - Includes some accessories I purchased including a Dehumidifying System for the case

Total Final Cost - $6,676.00

[Zandit75]

I'll modify this post as a running tally for those interested.
Should be interesting to see how much this all adds up to!

Course - $3,850 - Includes standard hard case(I booked before this was changed to an optional extra) and Cutaway
Flight TAS to QLD - $140
Flight QLD to TAS - $324.80
Pickup - $466 - Fishman Matrix Infinity Mic Blend.
Case Upgrade to a Hiscox - $200
Accommodation - $715 - Got a great place on AirBnB just around the corner from the course!
Food & General Expenses - TBA

Total Running Cost - $5695.80 and counting!

I've updated this post from the front page. Got the Hiscox case locked in, and it worked out to be a little dearer than first estimated.
Everything is rolling along on schedule. Final payments being made this week, so accommodation, flights, and the course will be fully paid for.

I spoke with Aaron the other day, and apparently he has some nice Blackwood sets on the way which will arrive in time for the course.
There's still a chance that I'll find something completely different that will totally confuse me at the last second, but that happens!

I also inquired about the black abalone shell that I posted a photo of earlier. He has more coming in, and if it arrives in time for the course, I'm welcome to use it in my build, but he did mention that he orders it in a specific diameter, which may not work with my rosette. From my research, the sound hole varies depending on the size of body used, which in turn, affects the rosette diameter. It may not look aesthetically pleasing.

Thanks for following!

[Zandit75]

I'll modify this post as a running tally for those interested.
Should be interesting to see how much this all adds up to!

Course - $3,850 - Includes standard hard case(I booked before this was changed to an optional extra) and Cutaway
Flight TAS to QLD - $140
Flight QLD to TAS - $325
Pickup - $466 - Fishman Matrix Infinity Mic Blend.
Case Upgrade to a Hiscox - $200
Tuning Machines Upgrade to Gotoh 510's - $80
Accommodation - $715 - Got a great place on AirBnB just around the corner from the course!
Food & General Expenses - Approx $900 - Includes some accessories I purchased including a Dehumidifying System for the case

Total Final Cost - $6,676.00

Final update of the costs involved, all in Australian Dollars. Certainly not a cheap exercise, but one I would repeat without any hesitation at all if the funds were available again!
There are a couple of faults, some things I would have done differently after seeing how they turned out etc, take more time on some things, and less on others, which just makes me want to do the course again!!
I could never reach this level of quality just by myself without Aaron's help, and I can just imagine how much more additional money I would be looking at to gain access to his comprehensive list of workshop machinery and jigs in order to replicate this quality in my own shed!

So what's next? Hmmm, maybe it's time to hit the recording studio and get my debut solo album together??!! But first, save some money!!

[Zandit75]

Thought I might provide a bit of an update.
Last night was the Tasmanian Independent Country Music Awards night, and as a winner of the Most Popular New Talent award from last year, I was asked to perform at this years event.
This year, I was up for the Most Popular Male Vocalist, and was in the final three, just missing out on the gong. So, while I wasn't the winner, being nominated was a real honour.

The most emotional part of the night though was being asked to present my Father with his Induction as a Legend of Tasmanian Country Music. He has performed around the state for around 60yrs, and has done so mostly without any interest in gaining recognition for his efforts. We somehow kept it secret from him, and while I knew I would be emotional, we feared that he would also be too emotional if we presented him with the award before he performed.


While I was a blubbering mess, he was quite composed.
One little anecdote that I mentioned was a small event in the mid 70's where he was plucked out of the crowd to perform a couple of songs at. While waiting to go on stage, he was talking with the lead guitarist and he asked him if he knew the intro to a particular song. The guitarist assured him it would be no problem. Dad stepped up to the mic, and the then promptly forgot his words when Tommy Emmanuel opened up with a perfect intro!!

Later in the night, I had my second go on stage to perform my 2 songs, Eddie Rabbit's old classic, "I Love a Rainy Night", and Dan Seal's "Everything that Glitters". My new guitar performed beautifully, my voice thankfully didn't waver, and the band followed so closely, it was just as perfect as it could be!


I had so many people asking about my guitar, what brand it was, and also wondering how on earth I was able to build it myself!! I couldn't help but start beaming as soon as someone asked me about it.

I'll be doing a more in depth review of the guitar in the coming weeks, and thanks again for following along!

[cork sniffer]

One little anecdote that I mentioned was a small event in the mid 70's where he was plucked out of the crowd to perform a couple of songs at. While waiting to go on stage, he was talking with the lead guitarist and he asked him if he knew the intro to a particular song. The guitarist assured him it would be no problem. Dad stepped up to the mic, and the then promptly forgot his words when Tommy Emmanuel opened up with a perfect intro!!

Hope your dad made time to compose himself and get the words sorted by TELLING that Emmanuel bloke to do it again ... BUT properly this time :-)

Congratulations on your success, #1 song, new guitar and choosing a great dad to help you along.

[Zandit75]

Hope your dad made time to compose himself and get the words sorted by TELLING that Emmanuel bloke to do it again ... BUT properly this time :-)

Congratulations on your success, #1 song, new guitar and choosing a great dad to help you along.

Haha, that would have been awesome!! He's got this favorite little comment that he's picked up somewhere, "Yeah, that was good, but not how I would have done it!!" Can you just imagine how that would have gone down!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Adam Barnes]

Good luck zandit. It would be a great experience

[Simon Barden]

A friend of mine went on a one month classical guitar building course in Spain. Now he's got his own workshop and is making very high class classical guitars indeed. His French Polishing needs a bit of work still, but he's getting there.

He built this guitar (it's his 3rd independent build) for his nephew, who's playing it in this clip (sound could be better, looks like he's using a ribbon mic that's turned the wrong way).



So all the best with your course. Hope you enjoy it and come out of it with a really great guitar and the knowledge to build many more.

[Dedman]

I'd love to do that course, it's just down the road from me but I keep spending my monies elsewhere