Neil Harrell and Daniel Ross are offering guitar building courses and seminars in response to the many requests that we have had from musicians and woodworkers. Classes will be held in Dan Ross’ shop in Sardinia, Ohio. This shop is a complete woodworking shop set up for guitar building.
Unlike other guitar building courses around the country, where your only option is to take two weeks to a year off and spend additional funds for travel and housing, we also have courses and seminars that are designed to fit into the busy schedules of Cincinnati area students. These courses will be offered on Saturdays. We are flexible, however. If an individual can’t make Saturday classes, just ask us if we can arrange for the course on another day. All students will be expected to take work home to complete between classes. Additional shop time can be arranged as needed.


Complete acoustic guitar building course
In this course the student learns to build a guitar basically from scratch. The student will learn all aspects of acoustic guitar construction. Some tasks will be completed for the student to save time. These tasks will be demonstrated to teach the student how they are accomplished. The student will end up with a high quality acoustic guitar, ready for finish, which he or she has built.
Complete acoustic build details: 12 eight hour days; one day a week for three months. Cost: $3,600 individual course. Material cost: approximately $600.

Dann Ross (right) helps student glue top to sides

Kit acoustic guitar building course
In this course, about half of the work is already done for the student: sides are bent; the neck, bridge, neck block and tail block are shaped, etc. This course gives the student with fewer resources of time, money and/or woodworking experience the opportunity to learn how a guitar goes together under the tutelage of two experienced luthiers. The kits used are made of quality materials which the student will assemble and have the opportunity to customize. Again, the student will end up with a high quality acoustic guitar, ready for finish, which he or she has built.
Kit acoustic build details: 6 eight hour days; one day per week for six weeks. Cost: $1,800 individual course. Kit cost: approximately $400-$550 depending on type woods and parts chosen.

Typical acoustic guitar kit


Student routing binding channel with Harry Fleischman designed jig built by Dan Ross

Electric Guitar/Electric Bass Guitar Courses
In addition to the acoustic building courses, we offer electric guitar and electric bass guitar building. If you are interested in these courses please ask for more details. The cost of these courses will vary depending on the type guitar being built.

Finish Course
Once your guitar is built it needs a finish to protect it. For those students who wish additional instruction in finishes, we offer separate wood finishing courses. The cost of these courses will vary depending on the instrument and the type of finish the student chooses.

Student’s mandolin in spray booth


Guitar building seminars/Individual Instruction
Along with our complete building courses, we will be offering guitar building seminars that cover a variety of guitar building subjects. Individual instruction will also be available. This will allow the student access to experienced luthiers who can help fill in the blanks in any area of guitar building such as: fret work, necks sets, setups, bending sides, etc. Contact us if you are interested in seminars or individual instruction. The cost of seminars will vary depending on the number of students.

About the Instructors



Daniel F. Ross started Tanner Creek Guitars over 12 years ago. His Big Creek mini-jumbo acoustic guitars have received rave reviews from guitarists from Cincinnati to Nashville, Tennessee. He has also trained numerous students to build acoustic guitars. His shop would fit the picture of a dream shop for most guitar builders. It is fully equipped for building guitars.

For more information or to arrange a visit to the Sardinia School of Luthiery, contact Daniel Ross (Dan) at 513-532-9742 or Dan@sardinialuthiery.com.





Neil Harrell started the String Hospital in 1994. Since then it has grown to become one of the busiest stringed instrument repair shops in the Cincinnati area. Neil is personally authorized as a warranty repair center for Martin, Fender, Taylor, Guild, Takamine, Tacoma, Jackson/Charvel, Gretsch and Ovation guitar companies. Neil created and ran the Midwest Luthiers Guild from 1998 to 2003 to promote the art of lutherie in the Cincinnati area. He is the Technical Editor of Guitarmaker the journal of the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans.

For more information or to arrange a visit to the Sardinia School of Luthery, contact Neil Harrell at stringhospital@cinci.rr.com or at 513-385-7535.