| Banjo Building Course |
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Tuition: $3000  2010 Schedule
Note: We are offering a 2 day course in wood inlay beginning November 20. This is an excellent opportunity to learn how to decorate that banjo you just built. Learn more here. This year we are offering a two-week banjo course taught by master-builder Will Fielding. George and Adam will assist Will in teaching students how to build banjos. Students will design and build their own instruments from standard stock and hardware, not a kit. Necks and fretboards will be handmade of raw materials and fitted to tone ring and rim with simple tools, and then finished and properly set-up for the best playability and intonation. The tuition of $3000 includes all materials, and living and cooking accommodations. Please contact the school or Will Fielding for more information. This promises to be a very popular course so sign up early. Contact Will: (802)464-3260 or
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A Note from Will: |
Will's Bio: In 1973 I began my professional woodworking career learning the art of guitar building from Augie LoPrinzi. While I worked at LoPrinzi Guitars I began repairing old banjos, then building new ones. I taught woodworking at Solebury School, a private high school in Pennsylvania, before moving to Vermont to study furniture building with Gib Taylor at Marlboro College. In 1979 I graduated with honors. Since then I have been doing custom cabinetry, building custom furniture, stringed instruments and drums, and doing custom-designed home renovations.
George and Adam have asked me to add my thoughts to their description of the Banjo Course I intend to teach. I am happy to say that the way the Vermont Instruments School teaches is completely in line with my own thinking on building and teaching. Each student goes home with a finished instrument and enough knowledge to build another if he or she desires to do so. In the tradition of The Vermont Instrument School I plan to teach a low-tech and hands-on course that relies on basic hand tools, small-scale power-tools, and a few simple jigs. Each student will build a banjo that will be easy to play, sound great, and be beautiful as well. There will be opportunity for individual expression on each instrument. Students will leave with a clear understanding of how and why all the parts fit together to make a whole banjo. Hope to see you there.
