Guitar Repair Training for the 21st Century

 Fret Works began hosting one-on-one, hands-on, guitar repair training sessions in this fully equipped guitar shop environment in 1998. Engaging in direct experience training can save you all kinds of valuable time which you might otherwise waste if working by trial and error. The classical training style brings you rapidly up to speed by getting you applying the safest, well- established, proven repair techniques as well using ones which are just as safe yet more up to date. Especially valuable is the opportunity to get the inside scoop on how you can begin exploiting the jaw dropping trade secrets of perfecting the feel and playability of any exisitng acoustic or electric guitar, and do so to the complete satisfaction of any end-user.

Fret Works has successfully presented this unique program to dozens of people from the following countries; Germany, Sweden, England, France, Italy, U.S.A. and of course, from across Canada. 

For an example, Geoff Luttrell's is an individual who has participated here and then gone on to forge ahead using this training program to launch a pro guitar repair service in San Fransisco, California. please visit www.sfguitarworks.com  and to go to Geoffs' page, click here. 

 

If you feel passionate about guitars, are curious about what it really takes to perfect the playability of a guitar, like to have fun while you work and enjoy the feeling of gaining momentum while you are studying and learning valuable new skills, you will  feel all that and more just as soon as you begin this training program. If you want to get a leg up and gain real world guitar repair and set up experience, then come here and let me show you how can fully exploit proven techniques and achieve great results, often the first time around and that's a promise!  

Please click Guitar Repair School on the header at the top of this page for more information or to read the syllabus.

Miles Jones is sole proprietor of Fret Works, located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Miles began working his way up, following the brilliant example set by Michael Heiden and Norm Clayton at the Keen Kraft Music Repairshop into the Old-World occupation of the luthier (French; lute-maker), beginning February, 1982.

 

 

This is now 2011 and acoustic and electric guitars have never been more popular, world-wide. Just as accomplished players build their musical chops by wood-shedding, Miles has worked hard to develop and refine his guitar repair and construction skill sets.

Miles has spent the past 28 years attending to the most needed and wanted  acoustic and electric guitar repair problems or  playability issues which universally bother players, gathering insights and practical wisdom along the way and he is eager to share this with you. Miles is all set to show you how you can also produce excellent results with the right tools and with some valuable, hands-on experimentation and practice, the very first time around!

In 1998, Miles realized the humble guitar was growing so much in popularity that  maybe there were some people out there who just might be searching for someone who might offer guitar set up and repair instruction. He got busy organizing his considerable body of experience and knowledge into what is now a definitively comprehensive and progressive fretted musical stringed instrument repair and construction hands-on training  format.

Classical training or training by verbal instruction is by nature, a potent and powerful time-saving method. This effective and efficient training style is one which brings propsective guitar technicains and luthiers rapidly up to speed as they practice and experiment using and applying the information and the tools they need to know about.

                             

The Fret Works Guitar Repair School Training Program offers the aspiring guitar repair enthusiast a unique opportunity to train one-on-one with a man who has a wealth of experience who is willing to share all his knowledge, insights and supposed trade secrets during your hands-on training sessions. 

Perhaps most importantly, Miles makes sure you really get to understand how to detect, assess and map out exactly what is at the root of any problem negatively affecting the way any guitar feels, responds and handles when being played. Because the entire program emphasizes understanding the whole guitar, it eventually leads a would-be tech/builder into deeper water.

You'll get plenty of opportunity to learn how the specialty tools and the techniques needed to effectively apply them work in concert together.

At all times, you'll be getting more easy to understand, common sense, time-saving, valuable tips and insights which can and will save you valuable time, while you cut your teeth training and in the future, when you are on your own turf.

Discover it's fun working on guitars as long as you are cautious but never afraid. You will be learning how to boldly and expertly implement potent, playability elevating in-demand, luthier skill sets.

The limited (2 students max) class size makes it easy to spend one-on one time with you as you get up to speed becoming introduced to the fascinating world of guitar repair work processes. While you do gain the crucial and valuable hands-on experience practicing on either the guitars you bring or on supplied guitars, you are also learning how to properly do the work using the best modern, up to date tools, shop supplies and guitar repaor materials. 

Fret Works also offers you unlimited access to all kinds of heavy duty, industrial woodworking and metal working equipment which you can make use of to safely manufacture, modify or otherwise build many of your very own guitarshop jig, fixtures, or specialty tools and especially save money doing so.

A Happy Client of Fret Works trying out his re-fretted  Fender Strat, which now has a compound radius on the fingerboard and which is set up to play KILLER!

Are you struggling to nail those tasty licks you can hear in your head because the overall feel, response and playability of your guitar won't let you play what you know you want to play? Fret Works has a lengthy track record of consistently delivering a needed and wanted high grade professional guitar repair or Luthier Service aimed at meeting and wherever possible, exceeding any particular individual artists'/players' personal preferences. 

Over the past twenty eight years, Miles Jones at Fret Works has  worked diligently to master proven, established acoustic and electric instrument repair and set up techniques and plus keep up with all the latest modern, up to date advances in guitarshop tools, materials and techniques. Always dedicated to finding ways to refine the playability of the instruments he is charged with "fixing", Miles has always kept an eye on raising the quality standard of his work and thereby to fine tune his ability to actually perfect the overall feel and playability of any make or model of fretted musical string instrument, many of which belong to some of Canada's most outstanding amatuer as well as professional guitarists, if not  the world's, pickiest and fussiest guitar players.  

Who wouldn't want an instrument to:

• Feel truly natural, easy,effortless, like butter when you fret your strings?
•  Play clean and clear with no persistent fret rattle throughout the decay of any vibrating string? 
•  Play effortlessly in tune at the first, twelfth, nineteenth and twenty-fourth fret, if there is one?

 

Consider the possibilities for strengthening and building your musical chops if your instrument offered no perceptible physical resistance to being played the way you want to play.

At Fret Works, I work with you, the valued customer, to help me locate and then carefully remove any and all unnecessary resistance which may blocking you from having an experience of real fun when you are playing guitar.

 

Can you imagine having such a responsive instrument with a forgiving, easy string action and without any of the dreaded and annoying buzzing, allowing you to enjoy a completely natural and fun playing experience?

I promise you if you give me the opportunity to iron out all of the kinks affecting the way your guitar plays for you, you will find that it actually made far more sense to rework the playability characteristics or dial-in the instrument you have right now instead of throwing it away, trading it in or worst of all, upgrading to a more expensive model.  

 

Why do I say this? Simply because mass produced guitars still in general exhibit the same critical flaws today that they were hitting the shelves with, in times gone by, which made them almost impossible to easily play on. 

 

If you are struggling at all with your instrument, it's not your fault.  Most of the time,

it has everything to do with the fact that your guitar was probably never completely prepared for the intended use by a well informed and equipped caring person who had the knowledge, the tools and the eagerness to make the guitar eveything it was intended to be.....truly playable!

 

 

Wouldn't you like a guitar that feels like it is coming alive in your hands because the  action is so low and slinky that all you have to do is touch the string and then pluck it to hear the note you want?  

 

 

 

The Legendary "Johnny V"

 

 

I feel privileged to play a role in resolving key playability issues and making permanent improvements on instruments belonging to all kinds of professional and amateur players from not only all over Alberta, but across Canada, the United States and even for touring players whose homes are in the far corners of the globe.

Please drop in, call or write and we can make arrangements to assess your instrument together, if practical. During the assessment, we can determine what the facts suggest and I will  identify the root causes and the solutions to those issues which are causing you problems. 

 

You can help me tailor my service to your individual requirements by showing me how you like to play, the action you'd like and I can get a sense of your picking attack. I can offer to explain all the corrective measures and the steps required to transform your instrument into one which literally comes alive in your hands.

miles@fretwork.com

 

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