Students' Comments |
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"Thank you Charles, the class was everything I hoped for and more. Your insights into methods of building and jigs really filled our and expanded my knowledge of guitar building. As a professional woodworker for 14 years, I had always toyed with the idea of building guitars. I did a lot of research into how best to learn about it, and one name came up again and again, Charles Fox. Much of what I read about Charles, his methods, and his ingenuity really impressed me and made me feel as though this was someone I would like to get to know. It was a great delight when I found the listing for his Contemporary Guitar Making course. The first thing I can say having attended is "Wow!" was it ever great! The time literally flew by. There wasn't an hour that went by that we didn't discuss something – the class is very interactive – that was not only interesting, but an efficient, quality-engineered way of approaching some process of guitar building. By the end of the week, my notebook was full of notes and sketches, and I had taken over 100 digital photos. This was truly the most valuable and informative week that I have had the pleasure in which to participate. Quite frankly, it has encouraged me to pursue guitar making as my new career direction. It was a true pleasure." Mike McGlynn Minneapolis, MN "After returning from your Contemporary Guitar Making seminar it took me two
days to wind down a bit from the heightened sense of excitement that it had
put me into. It was a very rich experience indeed! As someone of retirement
age who has never built a guitar before I had a strong need to be exposed to
the state of the art so I can get into it quickly. I could not have expected
more. With your 35 years of guitar making experience you have built up a
wealth of knowledge, and you have a great skill as a teacher to share it.
You did so with enthusiasm. The fact that the class included only 4 students
made the experience especially intense. What has impressed me the most was
the way you think about process steps and how they can be simplified and
made repeatable through simple jigs yielding consistently precise results. I
expect that this alone will shorten my learning curve by years. In short,
your seminar has given me access to a huge amount of knowledge which I will
be able to make use of as I learn the craft. I am deeply grateful for it.
My regards also to Denise for making sure everything ran smoothly." "25
years ago I set off to Vermont to build a guitar. It was the beginning of
the life I live today. Charles Fox is a teacher who's ability to fascinate
compels understanding. Every morning we would listen for several hours as
the day's lessons in craft would unfold. In the years since I took that
course I have learned a lot of techniques and developed many concepts of my
own, but I know that the fundamentals I now practice are rooted in those
days so many years ago, consuming knowledge at the Fox studio. I have been
able to think in more creative ways and build interesting instruments. I
learned that the process of creation was more important than just making a
guitar, and this allowed me to build whatever I wanted because I was given
the gift of flexibility through which to grow, design and create. "Hey, Hey! How are you sir? I'm
currently trying to get some tools together – it's slow going but it will
happen. You know, when I actually got that guitar home and had a chance to
just sit down and look at the thing, I suddenly realized what I had done,
and I could hardly believe it. I am in a state of disbelief, and that is a
nice feeling. That is what you gave me, and I truly appreciate that. Thank
you for welcoming me into your home and really making it all happen for me.
You are a good soul. Take care, and I'll talk to you soon." "I can't
tell you what a joy it was for me to attend your school and what great
satisfaction I've derived from this noble craft.....thanks a million!!
"In six
days, I learned more than the several months in the other program I’d attended.
The class began, as it should, with the most basic and fundamental
questions of what a guitar is and how to approach building it.
The entire week was informed from those initial questions, and consequently
the methodologies coalesced into a fully developed approach to guitar making.
Several years later, I can safely say that my building is forever
changed for the better, and that the depth of my inquiry and approach to
building is more enlightened, more efficient, and that my guitars are far
better than they would have been otherwise.
"Without
sounding overly dramatic, the Hands-On Steel String Guitar Making class has
definitely changed the course of my life as a guitar maker. Although the
class is very focused and task oriented, there's plenty of discussion about
the pros and cons of other construction techniques and methods. Unlike the
typical student/master teacher relationship, Charles invites his students to
challenge his theories and techniques. Spirited, lively interaction was the
order of the day.
"Hello Charles and Denise! I want to
reiterate what a wonderful experience the class was for me. It's very brave
of you both to offer such a course from your home, but the benefits of such
an intimate setting are much appreciated by the participants. Of course,
now I have tremendous "shop envy" (a theory that Freud would eventually have
come around to) every time I turn around in my small and horribly cluttered
shop. Where, I ask myself, am I going to put a table saw, jointer and edge
sander? The guest bedroom is starting to sing a (luckily undetectable to my
wife) seductive siren song, a song that sounds not unlike the high-pitched
whine of a table saw..... (It'll never happen.)" "I want
to let you know how much I enjoyed my time with you in your Contemporary
Guitar Making class. I found it to be extremely informative and just a lot
of fun! I have been building stringed instruments for 30+ years and have
always had trouble with some operations (binding and finishing in
particular). I came away from the class with answers, procedures and ideas
for tooling that will help me greatly in these areas in the future. The
class also instilled in me the desire to strive for more professional
quality in my product. Thank you!" "I wanted to again
express my deep appreciation for your ASL class. The abundance of your
knowledge, skill, candor, and warmth made the potentially exhausting
schedule totally rewarding for me. I expect it must take you quite a while
to recover from such a demanding period of "output." Even though I have yet
to build a guitar, as a woodworker I know that you have saved me from many
potential pitfalls and time losses. In addition, your combination of
production-style jigs and efficiency with the highest level of hand
craftsmanship was inspiring. As a side comment, I feel that you are totally
successful in your personal goal of using your luthier's craft and
fundamental harmony of design to make a definitive statement of elegant
simplicity and mouth-watering appeal in a custom guitar. (Wow, that was a
mouthful). "Hi! My
name is Rebecca and I was a student of your electric guitar making course in
1981. It changed my life and I loved it. I still enjoy woodworking and
guitars but I make my living in Los Angeles as a costume designer. I was
able to transfer all I learned at GRD (Charles Fox's Guitar Research &
Design center, based in Vermont) to help me construct crazy outfits for the
movies. I'm so glad you are still making beautiful instruments and sharing
your skills with people that like to make things from planks of wood. "I can't
begin to tell you how much I enjoyed your class and how much I am looking
forward to April (returning for the Hands-On course). I've already had my
photos developed, ordered several books, plans, and catalogs online, joined
GAL, and Mona and I have been cleaning out the garage so I can build a
workshop. I can't wait to get started!" "Hey
Charles, my guitar building is going great. I'm still amazed I can actually
do this. I can't thank you enough. I have millions of ideas going through
my head all the time about what new things I can do. Anyways, thanks for
all your advice and teachings, I'm having a lot of fun!"
"First and foremost, thanks
for the great class this past week. I'm sure you get that all the time, but
I really can't stress enough how much I learned and what it meant to me. I
can't even begin to fathom the tidbits of knowledge that I'll be putting to
new instruments soon!
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