Guitar Tech Courses - Heathfield
Guitar Tech Courses (GTC) was established in late 2011 by James Collins. James runs 12th Fret Guitar Repair and builds custom electric and acoustic guitars under the name of James Collins Guitars. GTC has been developed and coordinated by good friend and webmaster Drew Sayer of Neptune Media.
James trained in America at the Galloup School of Lutherie, graduating in 2007. In January 2008 12th Fret was set up to offer the same quality, service and skilled repair/setup work that was studied and witnessed in the states. In recognition of this in June 2010 12th Fret became one of four Gibson Service Centres in the UK and has gone on to establish itself as a place for professional and quality guitar repair work and guitar setup. James’s own line of custom swamp Ash telecasters and custom Telecasters have all been sold on commission and featured in Wired magazine’s Object of Desire 2012. The acoustic guitars that James has made as prototypes have all been sold and the next one is due to be finished April 2014.
The GTC 3 day custom build course was created to offer students of all levels the experience of making a customised Strat or Tele under close guidance. Using the best quality components and tooling, following James’s structured approach to guitar building, and learning from his wealth of experience, they not only end up with a great playing and looking guitar but also gain a hands-on experience in the construction, assembly and setting up of a custom guitar. Combining comprehensive theory with practical skills, students learn about scale length, fitting a bridge/tremolo, loading all the electrics, cutting a bone nut, fret dressing and professionally setting up their own custom made guitar. Students completing the course will demonstrate all the skills needed to build and look after their own guitars, or the guitars of others.
The 1 day professional guitar setup course was added to the course programme so that more people could benefit from learning the skills needed to set up their own guitars and those of others. The course is both suited to the private individual as well as professional tech’s looking to brush up on skills or to broaden their skill-set. The course has proved very popular and covers all aspects of the professional setup for both electric and acoustic guitars.
Guitar Tech Courses can provide a highly enjoyable personal and professional learning experience. We hope the website can provide you with what you need to consider one of our courses, and if there are any questions at all then please feel free to email or call.The aim of all our guitar courses is to equip you with the both the skills and expertise to carry out your craft to the highest levels and our guitar building courses to give you a deeper understanding into guitar building with the bonus of building your own custom made guitar we know you'll love.
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Business Operation Hours
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Monday
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9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
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Tuesday
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9:00 AM to
5:00 PM
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Wednesday
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9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
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Thursday
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9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
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Friday
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9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
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Saturday
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Closed
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Sunday
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Closed
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Additional Information
The Pro Guitar Setup course is designed for 3-5 people and the aim is to teach the art of setting up both electric and acoustic guitars with confidence. The course is both theory and practical, we discuss all the setup points and how to adjust the guitar to get the best setup out of it, we mainly use a Gibson Les Paul and a Stratocaster to demonstrate all of these points. Not only do we discuss and show you how to adjust the finer points but we also discuss and show how to maintain your instrument, covering fretboard treatment and fret polishing.
The course is designed for all levels from the complete beginner looking to get the best setup out of their guitar to working tech’s who want to brush up or who are broadening their skills. We are confident that you will leave with the knowledge and awareness to setup your own guitars, as well as others, and having had the practical application of this new found knowledge, the confidence, which is often lacking with the majority of people to maintain their instruments.
Product and Services
We are more than happy to work with you in order to get the custom build you want, so please contact us if you have a specific body colour scheme or neck choice, which Bare Knuckle pickups you want as well as hardware and we will try help achieve exactly that. If you're unsure what works best, just get in touch and we will advise where we can.
All custom options are subject to availability and it is always best to have a 1st & 2nd choice, there are some colours/parts etc that may incur additional cost. Tweed hard cases are available for an additional £75. (Soft gig bag included)Upon completion of the build your own guitar course you will leave with a great Custom made Guitar! The end product will be a Custom Strat that You will have made and one that will give many standard models a run for their money in tone and feel.
Once you’ve learnt why and how a great guitar goes together as well as practically applying the previous topics, you now learn to install the best pickups and wiring.For these custom built guitars we will be using Bare Knuckle pickups: very high quality pickups designed to suit our specifications of wood choice and body style. These pickups are hand wound in the UK and are widely regarded as the best pickups on the market today. The pickups are modeled on a ’65 Stratocaster and have that great vintage warmth and tone and as with all Bare Knuckle pickups they have a very articulate nature..
The guitar will now be ready for final assembly. Today you will learn how to fully assemble and set up your electric guitar to a professional standard. The topics covered will be very useful for your regular maintenance of the guitar you have made as well as any others that you may have.
Languages Spoken
English
Payment Options
Visa,Master Card,Cash,Check
