Roberto-Venn School

Coordinates: 33°27′18″N 112°05′11″W / 33.454876°N 112.086291°W / 33.454876; -112.086291

Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
United States
Information
Type Private
Established 1975
Website http://www.roberto-venn.com

The Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery is an Arizona accredited school in Phoenix, Arizona. It has graduated over 1200 students in its over 35 years of operation. Graduates can be found all across the music industry from guitar repairmen to upper management and owners of large musical instrument manufacturers. Roberto-Venn is considered one of the top schools of its kind in the United States.

History

The idea for a guitar making school grew out of an apprenticeship program that John Roberts started back in 1969 called the Juan Roberto Guitar Works. Before this, Roberts found himself in the jungles of Nicaragua, flying airplanes for a wood import company. Much of the rosewood and mahogany used at the school was collected with the help of the Miskito Indians and shipped to Phoenix where Roberts began his guitar making endeavor. John Roberts died in the summer of 1999.

Robert Venn (1926–1991) joined with Roberts in 1973, and brought custom electric guitar making expertise to the guitar partnership. Venn was one a handful of guitar makers in the 1950s and 60's to wind his own pickups and use wooden pickup covers aesthetically matched with the highly figured hardwoods he used in the body and neck of his instruments. Venn built or repaired for fine guitarists such as Phil Baugh, Maurice Anderson, Tom Morrell, Bud Isaacs, Norm Hamlet, and Tiny Moore.

William Eaton apprenticed with John Roberts in 1971. He wrote a business plan for a guitar making school in 1974, while acquiring an MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The plan became the blueprint for the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery, which Roberts, Venn, Eaton, and Bruce Scotten incorporated and founded in 1975. Eaton added new elements of stringed instrument design and innovations, creating multi-stringed, one-of-a-kind instruments at the school since 1976. Eaton is the director of Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery.

Curriculum

The Guitar Making and Repair Course consists of practical and theoretical training in acoustic and electric guitar construction and repair. The school offers two five-month (880 clock hour) courses each year, beginning in February and late August. Classes are held Monday through Friday, except holidays, from 8 AM to 6 PM, with one hour lunch, and mid-morning and mid-afternoon study breaks.


The curriculum revolves around each student building a minimum of two ‘project’ guitars, including an acoustic steel string and an electric guitar or 4 or 5 string electric bass. Throughout the course lectures and demonstrations are given for each phase of the construction process. Following the lecture and ‘demo’ students proceed with that part of their guitar making project. Printed handouts and the student’s notes provide instructional aid, along with the Roberto-Venn instructor team who provide group and one-on-one hands-on training. By course end the printed handouts comprise a comprehensive guitar-making manual for future reference.

The five-month Guitar Making and Repair Course is the school’s ‘flagship’ program and has been offered continuously since 1975. Additional electives and workshops offer expanded areas of training and can be taken in conjunction with the core five-month course or as individual courses for specialized expertise and include:

Amp & Effects Pedal Construction, Pickup Winding, Advanced Guitar Electronics, Metallic & Patina Finishing and French Polishing

Guest lecturers

External links

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