Purdue University actually does more than making RIAA unhappy

Apr 10, 2007 13:46 GMT  ·  By

We've written about Purdue University here on some other occasions. They were second on the "sinister minister" list issued by RIAA in one of their past attempts to bully the universities to handle in the students RIAA wanted to bash a bit for some file-sharing. Well, nice thing that the subject for this piece of news is a music-related thing as well. See, RIAA, Purdue isn't just covering up those pesky students, they're also teaching people how to make guitars so they'll be able to play independent music and not pay you a dime! Drats, isn't it?

Skipping the smiles after my evil paragraph, here's what, when and how. Purdue University is organizing a very cool (damn, I'd like to attend!) one week-long (16-20 July) workshop on how to craft your own electric guitar. Now, don't your think they'll make master luthiers out of you in one week or you'll be coming home with an awesome guitar started from crap.

According to Purdue official info on the workshop, "Each participant will make a solid body electric guitar to take home at the end of the week. It will have two Seymour Duncan '59 humbucker pickups with gold covers and a 24 fret neck. You will be able to add your own custom touches like neck contour, body carving and your initials engraved on the neck plate."

In simpler words, you'll actually be involved in directly crafting an electric guitar as the workshop's intended goal is to introduce the attendants in the practical and technological aspects involved in crafting a guitar. Purdue officials claim that no previous experience is needed; this may be cool and prevent access restrictions to the willing but I just ask myself: if you know crap about building guitars then how are you going to actually be actively involved in crafting one, apart from ruining a kit?

And since we spoke about kits... each attendant will get a complete kit containing all elements needed for an unpersonalized guitar, from pickups to other hardware and stuff. The personal-touch finish can consist of the attendants initials engraved on the backplate, the final shape of the body and neck and so on, technically allowing for truly unique guitars to be built.

Instructors in this workshop will be as following: Tim Shaw - senior designer at Fender, Don MacCrostie - head of product design at Stewart-MacDonald and Brian Swerdfeger - product developer at Taylor Guitars and master clinician for the same brand.

Additionally, Purdue University will also provide with other personnel so the attendants will also get in-depth information about the technical intricacies of guitar-making. Quoting Purdue officially release data, additional training will be provided as following:

"-Kevin Beller - Kevin is a Vice-President at Seymour Duncan and an expert on pickup design. Kevin will talk about the basic principles of electromagnetic pickups and how design parameters affect tone. He'll also do a special talk on one of their advanced designs for which they've just received a patent.

Brad Harriger - Brad is a full professor of manufacturing engineering technology and has extensive experience in advanced manufacturing processes. He holds degrees in Manufacturing Technology and Industrial Engineering with a Manufacturing Systems specialization and has worked with Delphi Electronics and Rockwell Automation.

Dr. Mark French - Mark has been making guitars for about 15 years, including archtops, classical and electric guitars. He has worked with several guitar manufacturers, the most recent of which is Taylor Guitars. He has published numerous articles on the technical aspects of instrument design and manufacturing and is producing a book on the subject for Springer-Verlag. He also teaches a course on instrument manufacturing and test in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology.

Richard Couch - Purdue University - Rich is the Director of Engagement at Purdue's Center for Advanced Manufacturing. In addition to having extensive experience in large scale manufacturing, Rich is a skilled guitarist, having played for 30 years and with a local band for the last 15 years.

Dr. Mike Kane - Purdue University - Mike is acting as an advisor as we develop the class and the prototype instrument. When not playing in local bands, he works on computational genomics, biotechnology and related projects. Mike has a Ph.D in Molecular Pharmacology from Purdue and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Illinois State University in Normal, IL."

The corporate sponsors of this workshop are Seymour Duncan, Fender Guitars, IRWIN Industrial Tools and Cole Hardwood Inc. So, if you feel creative, prepare the $1,259 fee and apply here.

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The Director of Engagement at Purdue's Center for Advanced Manufacturing: 30-years guitaristThe Purdue prototype.
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