Roberto-Venn School
Encyclopedia
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.
, 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.
In addition to guitar construction, sessions are given in: milling and wood selection, guitar design, tool use and maintenance, scale and template derivation, guitar repair, finishing (lacquer, oil, stain, sunburst, and re-finishing), guitar electronics, pickup design and construction, tremolo installation, care and preservation of stringed instruments, and related subjects.
The first five weeks of the course are devoted to specialized training in guitar repair and the 'start-up' aspects of establishing a lutherie business. The course includes special guest lectures from industry professionals, graduates and faculty. Students have an opportunity to do extensive work on instruments provided by local music stores, for the purpose of refining repair techniques and skills. Sessions in small business management are also given, to prepare graduates for operating their own lutherie shops or for work in existing music stores. Road touring "tech" work is also covered.
For students with little or no previous woodworking experience, or for those whose skills may have "rusted" from disuse, they offer a three-day Tool Use and Maintenance Seminar. This meets just prior to the beginning of the semester.
A class on amplification is also offered in which students can build a tube amplifier and speaker cabinet taught by Jim Kramer, an adjunct Roberto-Venn faculty member with more than twenty years experience in the electronics industry.
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
. 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 NicaraguaNicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, 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
Phil Baugh
Phil Baugh was an American guitarist. He was known as one of the leading hot country guitarists whose "playing exuded joy and humor." He was active from the 1960s through the 1980s, performing as a highly sought-after session musician as well as a recording artist in his own right.-Biography:Phil...
, Maurice Anderson, Tom Morrell, Bud Isaacs, Norm Hamlet
Norm Hamlet
Norm Hamlet is an American steel guitarist best known as a member of Merle Haggard's Stranger's group. In 2005 Hamlet had quadruple heart bypass surgery and recovered well at his home in Bakersfield, California. In April 2006 while on tour with Merle Haggard Hamlet's Dobro was stolen and a reward...
, and Tiny Moore
Tiny Moore
Billie "Tiny" Moore was a Western swing musician who played the electric mandolin and fiddle with Western swing legend Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in the 1940s....
.
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
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
. 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 course runs for five months, 880 hours of class time. Students attend lectures and demonstrations on every phase of building, as they construct one acoustic and one electric guitar or bass.The finest air-dried woods are made available for the students' instruments. They may choose from mahogany, rosewood, ebony, maple, walnut, spruce, cedar, redwood, koa, and other woods.In addition to guitar construction, sessions are given in: milling and wood selection, guitar design, tool use and maintenance, scale and template derivation, guitar repair, finishing (lacquer, oil, stain, sunburst, and re-finishing), guitar electronics, pickup design and construction, tremolo installation, care and preservation of stringed instruments, and related subjects.
The first five weeks of the course are devoted to specialized training in guitar repair and the 'start-up' aspects of establishing a lutherie business. The course includes special guest lectures from industry professionals, graduates and faculty. Students have an opportunity to do extensive work on instruments provided by local music stores, for the purpose of refining repair techniques and skills. Sessions in small business management are also given, to prepare graduates for operating their own lutherie shops or for work in existing music stores. Road touring "tech" work is also covered.
For students with little or no previous woodworking experience, or for those whose skills may have "rusted" from disuse, they offer a three-day Tool Use and Maintenance Seminar. This meets just prior to the beginning of the semester.
A class on amplification is also offered in which students can build a tube amplifier and speaker cabinet taught by Jim Kramer, an adjunct Roberto-Venn faculty member with more than twenty years experience in the electronics industry.
Guest lecturers
- Muriel AndersonMuriel AndersonMuriel Anderson is a composer and award-winning guitarist and harp-guitarist.-Biography:Muriel Anderson was born in Downers Grove, Illinois. Her grandfather was a saxophone player in John Phillip Sousa’s band, and her mother was a piano teacher. Her musical heritage showed early when an inspired...
, Guitarist - Steve Andersen, Andersen Stringed Instruments
- Michael Baranik, Baranik Guitars
- Bob BenedettoRobert BenedettoRobert Benedetto is an American luthier. He is best known for founding Benedetto Guitars, Inc. which makes hand-carved archtop guitars. Before the company became a division of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Benedetto made each guitar himself...
, Benedetto Guitars - Stephen Bennet, Guitarist
- Kelly Butler, First Act Entertainment
- Seymour DuncanSeymour W. DuncanSeymour W. Duncan is a guitarist and guitar repairman, but is best known as the man behind Seymour Duncan Company, the manufacturer of guitar pickups, bass pickups, and effects pedals located in Santa Barbara, California. Born in New Jersey, Seymour grew up in the fifties and sixties, during a time...
, Seymour Duncan Pickups - Jon Eaton, Woodsong Lutherie
- Frank Ford, Gryphon Stringed Instruments & Frets.com
- Kat Fox, Luthier
- Gerry Kowalski, Taylor GuitarsTaylor GuitarsTaylor Guitars is an El Cajon, California‐based luthier, specializing in acoustic guitars, as well as semi-hollow and solidbody electric guitars. It was established in 1974 by Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug.- History :...
- Nils LofgrenNils LofgrenNils Hilmer Lofgren is an American rock music recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...
, Guitarist - Anthony Mazzella, Guitarist
- Terrance McShane, String Shop of Arizona
- The Phenomenoughts, Musicians
- Tom Ribbecke, [Ribbecke Guitars]
- Jack Schwarz, Fender Guitars
- Bhai Baldeep Singh, Builder and Performer
- Rick Turner, Renaissance Guitars & D-TAR (Duncan-Turner Audio Research)