The best way to learn guitar building is back!
Whether you’re a total beginner or looking to level up your current skills - you can join Sully in his workshop one-on-one or with a small group of fellow students for a weeklong course where you walk out with the completed guitar of your dreams ready to shred! We are so excited to bring Sully Guitars Building Classes back after an extended break - it’s always a fantastic experience meeting and hanging out with guitar pals in person. You’ll learn everything from the very basics to final setup to make sure your guitars always play their best, with Sully there to answer specific questions in detail; all while hanging out with like-minded students and guitarists.
Note: the photos on this page are from classes taken between 2014-2019. Present classes will be held at our workshop and will have a little CNC (and maybe laser) work added in. You’ll still have plenty of routing, shaping, and sanding to do, though!
Guitar Building Classes
Wanna learn how to build a guitar? Of course you do; guitars are awesome! Never built one before, or you don't have much woodworking experience? No problem! Classes are tailored to your level of experience. You can still build something that you'll be proud of, even if you've never powered up a router before.
Located in the North Dallas (near Frisco) area, with plenty of hotels and AirBnBs around.
Scheduling Your Class
Some classes are one-on-one and some are in a small group! You can use the form below to get in touch about scheduling a class just for you, or sign up for our email list to make sure you don’t miss out on a scheduled group class. Either way - you’ll have a fantastic time at Sullyvillle, and I’m happy to accommodate your schedule!
So, what can I build?
In a nutshell, you'll build a guitar or bass with bolt on construction, your choice of 4, 6, or 7 strings and your choice of scale (24.75, 25.5, 27, 32, 34, etc). We'll go through the woodworking, fretwork, assembly, and basic wiring (vol/tone/selector switch). The only thing we don't do is paint work due to time constraints. If you want your build painted afterwards, I am happy to point you to a quality painter.
Most students build a (super)strat or (super)tele style, but other body shapes can be built as well, with a few exceptions. No Sully-specific body shapes, for example. You can upgrade to mahogany, swamp ash, or limba (korina) as well as a figured top, and I'll be nice enough to glue it up to your blank so that it's ready for you when class starts. To keep things moving along, the fretboard will be slotted and radiused before class, and you have the option of dot inlays (in whatever configuration you like) or no inlays.
Additional upgrades like extra body contours, binding, stainless steel frets, and more can be added under certain circumstances.
What’s the deal with Advanced Classes?
The beginner class is designed so anyone can build a great guitar and have a great time with no problem. If you have a little more experience, we can add an extra day and more in-depth specifications so you can be involved in more of the process and further fine-tune your skills! Set necks are available in the advanced class, for example.
Kate designed her own guitar, built it, and kicked ass during the process.. be like kate.
Class photos
Classes:
Beginner/novice
Build a body? Yep. Build a neck? Yep. Wire it, assemble it and set it up? Yep! Sixteen words to describe what you'll be doing with ol' Sully for six glorious days. You'll be provided an alder body blank, a maple neck blank, your choice of a maple or rosewood fretboard, a dual action truss rod, and nickel fretwire of your size preference. Be sure to ask about upgraded wood options and hardware packages!
Tuition: $2400 + cost of hardware/electronics (20% deposit, remaining balance due one week before class. Scheduled by appointment)
ADVANCED
This seven day class covers everything we do in the beginner/novice class, but adds an extra day, which allows you to be more involved in the early stages. Options such as set neck construction, binding, gluing up your own tops, and more! Be sure to ask about upgraded wood options and hardware packages! Prerequisites apply.
Tuition: $3000 + cost of hardware and electronics (20% deposit, remaining balance due one week before class. Scheduled by appointment)
READY? LET'S GO. Get in touch to reserve your spot!
See what the cool kids are saying:
“Hi Sully,
Just wanted to drop you a quick line to express my sincere thanks for the opportunity to attend your complete build class! Your approach—knowing the specific issues guitar builders deal with, providing detailed explanations, and of course your awesome sense of humor—was exactly what I needed. Having minimal woodworking experience I was especially pleased with your patience and willingness to go above and beyond in explaining things in an easy to understand concise manner.
It would be a pleasure to recommend Sully’s Guitar Building classes to anyone interested in learning to build guitars and would be confident that they too will gain the same invaluable experience that I did.
Thank you!”
“Sully,
I can’t thank you enough for the experience of your build class. I learned a ton of useful information and gained a lot of confidence to start building on my own. That alone was worth the cost of the trip, but I’m also truly impressed with the instrument I made in the process!
I really appreciate what you do, both as a teacher and a luthier. I invested a lot into making that trip, and it was totally worth it. My experience was a dream come true, and I couldn’t be happier that I took the leap. So thank you a million times over!”
“In addition to countless valuable lessons in guitar-building, I can confirm tacos were plentiful and enjoyed by all. Mmmmmmm...tacos.”
“It’s such a blast - everyone go sign up with Sully and do this. I did it last week and I want to go back and do it again.”
