At Minnesota State College Southeast’s Guitar Repair and Building program, our students learn guitar repair and building as a career. Our program is designed to teach not only the skills involved, but also understanding of the instruments, their components, materials and acoustics.
The very best people in our field are not only highly skilled at the craft, but also creative problem solvers. Repair work and instrument building constantly offer new opportunities to improve the way something is done or how well an instrument plays and sounds.
Successful students have the qualities of dependability, self-motivation, and the ability to sit down at a workbench and stay focused on their work, all day. Upon graduating from the program, our students have a strong foundation in the art of guitar repair and building.
First year guitar students build a flat-top steel string guitar in Guitar Repair & Building and also have the option to build an electric guitar.
Second year students can choose to build a mandolin or archtop guitar and will also design and build their own acoustic guitar, electric guitar, or mandolin as part of the Guitar Development & Production diploma.
Jerry Kosak and Bobby Stanton, instructors at the McNally Smith College of Music, joined musicians Phil Heywood, Bill Cagley, and Bob Douglas in playing the guitars and mandolins built by students in MSC Southeast's guitar programs.