A Guitar Is Born: Attending Charles Fox’s Hands-On Guitar Making Course

by Mark French

Originally published in American Lutherie #136, 2019

See also,
The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part One by Mark French
The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Two by Mark French
The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Three by Mark French
The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Four by Mark French
The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Five by Mark French
The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Six by Mark French


Charles Fox started making guitars when I was four. Recently, at age fifty-four, I found myself a student in his acoustic guitar making class at the American School of Lutherie.

I’ve been building guitars for a while, but am mostly self-taught, with no formal training before now. I eventually came to realize that I was stuck. I was building using skills I mostly acquired the hard way or from videos and books. My guitars were adequate, but to get better I needed to spend time building with an accomplished luthier. I talked with Charles to determine the class schedule and content which would fit my needs, and signed up for the two-week acoustic guitar class.