Blackwood Guitar Making School
Acoustic Guitar Making Course
Call for rates when you sign up.
Please send Interac deposits to tedbrown613@gmail.com
Blackwood Guitar Making School
Welcome to Blackwood Guitar Making School. We are located just 20 minutes Northwest of Brockville. Our goal is to teach every student how to make a fine instrument during a 5-week acoustic guitar making program.
We take up to 6 students per program, keeping the 1:1 time with the instructor to a maximum. This ensures your success while enhancing your enjoyment of the program. All materials are supplied, as are hand tools and required machinery. Safety is a priority, so you will be instructed in the safe use of all machines. I will assist you with machine processes should you be unsure. You are welcome to bring your own hand tools.
We start with literally a pile of raw wood and work our way through the process of building a fine acoustic steel-string guitar. Each process will be demonstrated by the instructor, and then the students will perform the same operations on their guitar with ongoing guidance. I will be building my own guitar during the course, so every process will be clearly demonstrated.
We offer accommodations for students to stay in during the course at $1,800 plus tax for the course. You get your own clean lockable room, kitchenette access, and access to a 3-piece bathroom. Inquire when you register for your course.
What is Blackwood Guitar Making School all about?
What you get for your effort is a good understanding of woodworking hand tools, machine tools, and processes specific to guitar making. We will show you how to use tools in a safe and efficient manner. Along the way, we work together and enjoy a journey of discovering the many facets of crafting a good looking and sounding guitar that you will be proud of and use for the rest of your life.
At times we will work in groups to do processes using machinery that require the same set ups for all students. This increases efficiency in the shop and allows students to work and learn together. So come with a friendly co-operative mind set and we will all enjoy the journey together
We want to see our students make very fine guitars, so we dissuade the idea of adding bells and whistles on first guitars. We have people return to Blackwood and do the course a second time, and at that time we introduce advanced features.
On the first day you will arrive to see stacks of wood laid out around the shop. Don’t be intimidated! We will guide you in your choice of wood that speaks to you in terms of colour, density, tap tone, and wood figure. We will answer your questions about how a given wood will affect the performance of your guitar, and what woodworking challenges you may experience with a given species. This is great fun; you are already defining the direction for your new guitar on the first morning of the course. We provide every student with a good set of guitar wood and materials for their guitar. Students have the option to upgrade materials at additional cost if they wish to choose alternate woods and hardware. Once you have chosen hardwood back and side panels, and softwood guitar tops, then, off we go!
I hope this short article helps you to better understand what it is to come to a facility aimed at developing fine woodworking skills with a goal of creating a lovely responsive guitar.
If you have questions, please write us at info@blackwoodguitar.ca, or call at 613-292-1985. We are accepting students now for the fall course, and courses in 2024. We do have accommodations if you are coming from beyond daily driving distance.
Sincerely, Ted Brown, Luthier.
Classes run from 9 to 5 daily, and the shop will remain open until 9 pm daily. Saturday is also an optional day, where students may work without instruction. We are closed on Sundays.
We offer rooms for rent for students to stay on site.
Our shop has a showroom at the front, a bright naturally lit bench room in the middle, and a well-equipped machine room in the rear, where wood dust is collected to keep the shop as dust-free as possible.
So, for $4,795 you get a wonderful experience and walk away with a hand-crafted responsive guitar. We look forward to working with you.
You may register at any time. Simply contact us at 613 292-1985 or by email at info@blackwoodguitar.ca. A deposit of $500 will hold your bench for you.
Sincerely,
Ted Brown
Luthier
Blackwood Guitar Company
Bench room.
Student benches with lots of natural light
Rob bending guitar sides
Jade is adding go bars to put downward clamping pressure on her braces as she glues them to her soundboard. The braces will be hand-carved later to make the top “responsive”.
Steve gluing on the top of his guitar.
It was my good friend Alan who convinced me to sign up for the guitar building course with Ted Brown of Blackwood Guitars. I’ve played guitar all my life and always wanted to purchase a quality, upper end, locally hand-made guitar from a reputable Canadian luthier. Blackwood Guitars has a strong reputation, so I signed up for Ted’s 5-week course with Alan and two other fine gentlemen.
I have a decent “general” woodworking knowledge, having built a number of pieces of simple furniture and conducted many home renovation projects over the years. Luckily, I was smart enough to know that guitar building required a whole different level of woodworking skill! The key to this at Blackwood is the teacher, Ted.
When the four of us arrived at Ted’s bright, new, extremely well-equipped workshop and sampled some of Ted’s guitars, we knew we were going to get a beautiful instrument if we applied ourselves to the process. Right from the beginning, we were in good hands. Ted is not only an expert craftsman but, more importantly, he is an exceptional teacher. His ability to explain complicated steps, show us what to do and then be there at every turn to assist us made a significantly daunting task do-able for everyone, even those who had zero woodworking experience. Not to mention his patience to repeatedly answer questions and his awesome sense of humour.
Ted gave equal time to all four students AND was there to help each one of us fix our inevitable mistakes, putting us back on track. As mentioned, the workshop is very well equipped with hundreds of critical hand and power tools for the guitar building process.
I can’t stress enough how supportive Ted was throughout the five weeks. He made sure we kept up – and – had fun. This was extremely important because we all experienced some anxiety at times about whether or not we could actually finish building an excellent guitar we could be proud of.
I am absolutely delighted to report that my finished guitar is not only more beautiful than I ever expected – but the sound is literally out of this world! I know all four students feel the same. We could never have accomplished this on our own. Ted deserves huge credit.
I highly recommend this course for anyone who loves guitars and wants to experience the incredible reward of building their own quality instrument. You do not need any prior wood-working experience. All you need to remember is that building anything of beauty requires hard work and dedication to the process. Ted will get you through it if you apply yourself.
Rob Crema
Retired Bank Executive
Barrie Ontario
Following an intensive five-week guitar making course at Blackwood Guitar Company, I am the proud owner of a Northlander model, fourteen fret Dreadnaught. Under the tutelage of Luthier, Ted Brown, I had an amazing and very rewarding experience building this fantastic instrument. The sound is full bodied and projects amazingly. I am very excited at the prospect of the Northlander joining me on stage in the very near future. I highly recommend Blackwood Guitar to those thinking of making an acoustic guitar. Thank you, Ted, for your patient instruction, support and guidance throughout this journey.
Cheers, Tim Burns
I was in the October 22 course with Alan and Gilles. We had a great group and got along very well. My woodworking “skills” were pretty basic. It was an excellent course and Ted is an excellent teacher, which reflects his many years of cabinetmaking experience and teaching as well as his experience as a luthier. I learned a lot and left with a very nice, high quality flattop. We put in full days and I worked late some evenings, and went in some Saturdays, so be prepared to dedicate time to it. I liked the course so much that I’ve been going back to Ted’s shop a couple of days a month to work on a second guitar. Highly recommended.
Greg from Guelph
Where is Blackwood Guitar Making School?
This is Blackwood Guitar Making School just north of Mallorytown, Ontario. We are in the country, surrounded by a beautiful maple forest. It is a purpose built shop, just for guitar making. We offer guitars for sale in our Blackwood guitar store at the front of the building.
Natural light is critical to fine guitar making, so we have installed large windows above each of the 5 student benches. In the rear of the building is a separate room with all our machines, and wood dust collection system.
Our school is located at 340 County Rd. 5, halfway between Mallorytown and Athens Ontario. We are 3 hours east of Toronto, 1.5 hours south of Ottawa, and 2 hours west of Montreal. Travel 10 minutes west of Brockville, then go north through Mallorytown and travel up County Rd. 5 for 8 minutes to reach us.
Have More Questions?
Visit our course FAQ page.
Blackwood Guitar Company | (613) 292-1985 | info@blackwoodguitar.ca