Guitar Making Courses

We offer multiple course types over multiple locations.

Weekly guitar making courses are offered at: Sydney, Erina, Newcastle, and Townsville.

Our intensive courses are offered at Lake Macquarie and Hobart. See below for more information.

Weekly Guitar Making Course

This is our most popular course. The student attends a 4 hour workshop class each week until their guitar is finished. Students attend weekly classes in a specialized guitar building workshop and are taught and supervised by a Certified Guitar Making Instructor. Class duration is 4 hours and the maximum class size is 6 students. The time taken to complete a guitar depends on a number of factors including the existing woodworking skills of the student, their preferred pace of working and the complexity of the guitar that they choose to build. 22 to 30 weekly sessions is typical.

Weekly Course Tuition Fee

$100 – $130 per 4hour session. Varies depending on location.

Students pay a weekly tuition fee that covers the use of the workshop (each student has his/her own bench to work at), the use of all the specialized guitar making tools, and instruction and supervision from a Certified Guitar Making Instructor.

This is a pay-as-you-go course so you don’t need the full course fees up front but instead you get to spread the cost of your course over approximately 6 – 8 months.

Also this course gives you the opportunity to work totally at your own pace. Of course you are supervised all the way by one of our expert instructors so you can be confident that you will produce an excellent guitar.

Our weekly Guitar Making Course is offered at Sydney, Newcastle, Erina, & Townsville.

Click below for your closest school and their class times.

Sydney | Newcastle | Newcastle City | Central Coast NSW | Townsville

Intensive Guitar Making course

Sydney Intensive Guitar Making:

For the Sydney intensive guitar making courses please see Steve Toscano’s website here:

https://toscanoguitars.com.au/guitar-making-course-and-luthier-school/

Sydney Guitar Making Courses

The Newcastle School runs a 10 day intensive guitar making course:

Build Your Own Guitar @ the Australian Guitar Making School – Newcastle

Under the guidance of Matt Semmens from Semmens Guitars, head luthier at the Australian Guitar Making School Newcastle.

This course is for designed for every skill level. Many people come to the guitar making course without any prior woodworking experience, and some don’t play the guitar and just come to be creative with timber. You will be guided to create an amazing instrument in sound and beauty.

The course will be held at the workshop in Wallsend – Newcastle
The guitar making course consists of 10 days of classes, Monday to Friday over 2 weeks
The sessions will go for 7-8 hours with breaks for tea and lunch.
You will select from local Australian timbers for the back and sides of your guitar
You can select between Spruce and Western Red Cedar for the tops
Some of the processes will be carried out before the course begins . Your timber will be prepped and ready to go when you start.
Given the short duration of the course your guitars will not be varnished. The tops will be sealed with shellac while the back and sides will be either oiled or detailed instructions will be given for other finishing options to be carried out at home.
Designs offered in this course are based on popular models Dreadnought, OM, Parlour, Classical. However, they are all original shapes designed by Matt from Semmens Guitars
Total Cost for the 10 Day Guitar Making Course is $5900 and includes a Hard case to take your guitar home in.
$500 deposit is required for securing your place in the course

Upcoming dates:

2022 Courses
20th June – 1st July

Nov 14th -25th

2023 Courses
Jan 16-23

April 17-28

July 17-28

Oct 30-Nov 10

Contact the Newcastle School

Intensive 1:1 or Small group courses

1:1 or small group courses intensive courses are available on an ad-hoc basis throughout the year.
Build options include:

Classical/Flamenco
Acoustic Steel String
Solid Body Electric

No prior skills required.

Typical length is 15 days and is priced from $2250 for an electric guitar or from $4250 for acoustic guitars.

Not all locations have intensive options available, so contact your nearest location to inquire.

Sydney | Newcastle | Central Coast NSW | Townsville

Ukulele Intensive Course – Newcastle

Build your own Ukulele

What to expect from the Intensive Course

The ‘intensive’ ukulele course is intended for people with basic or no woodworking skills. Some of the processes have been streamlined to ensure the instrument is finished within the course time frame. You will still be building the ukulele from raw materials and will gain valuable experience with many hand tools. You will end up with a very high quality instrument in both appearance and tone.

Course Dates

2022 dates to be advised

Types of ukulele

You will build a Tenor Ukulele. Other sizes upon request.

Timber and Materials Used in the course