I know this may sound a little nooby-ish (my made up word for the day lol)
but i was just wondering is there some sort of special school that teaches guitar repair?

Or do you have to be some sort of apprentice at a custom shop?

I was curious if people learn from how to books and then get hired or if there is some sort of certificate school that can teach you the fundamentals of guitar repair and customization.

Does anyone here do their own work? Just curious...

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My lot:
2003 white/white Fender Strat mim
2007 natural ibanez af 105 hollow body
1991 ibanez 12 string acoustic
roland micro cube amp

There are schools for it.

Yes there are schools but that doesn't mean u can't start learning on your own. There are many books and DVD sets you can get. Some examples can be found here: http://www.stewmac.com/
They have some great "tools of the trade" there (which for a tech you might want to start collecting now). But I have also heard some very good techs say they have as many important tools from Sears as they do from there. So that it is not the only place to get what is useful.
The question is where do the lines between player, tech, and builder blur for you?
At this time in my life I am still just trying to be a guitar player (not a tech or builder). Although the more you know the more you may be able to get out of your instruments as a player.

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explorationx

The best way to learn (without going to school) is to play lots, read lots, and most importantly, tinker a lot. The more you fiddle around with instruments, the greater your understanding of their intricacies, tendencies and abilities will be.

Thx! I don't think ill ever be interested in customing creating guitars from scratch but being able to put on my own necks, pickups, knobs etc does appeal to me.

Guitar repair looks a little scary..i would be worried id screw up so maybe if i got some videos i can get a cheap bullet for 100 bucks and start taking it apart and modifying that to get my feet wet.

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My lot:
2003 white/white Fender Strat mim
2007 natural ibanez af 105 hollow body
1991 ibanez 12 string acoustic
roland micro cube amp

Ive been immersing myself in this message board lately and i try and ask as many questions as possible. I figure theres no shame in asking and the more you learn the easier it is to know what you want.

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My lot:
2003 white/white Fender Strat mim
2007 natural ibanez af 105 hollow body
1991 ibanez 12 string acoustic
roland micro cube amp

Additionally, if you can strike up friendships with masters of each segment of the art (or just the ones that interest you) and they perceive you to mentally have all the right stuff, they might take you under their wing. Some will outright take you on as an apprentice while others will from time to time examine and critique your work and then proceed to explain/demonstrate a 'better' way to accomplish the task(s) you are showing them.

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You dig?

Here ya go :

http://education-portal.com/how_to_beco ... ician.html

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

A good question radiohead and you received some great answers. I would also say that once you start knowing stuff well enough go apply to be someones tech who is a better player by far than you as you can learn so much and just about every tech for a major band is a killer player. Sometimes the tech is better than the player he is playing for.lol K.I.S.S es guitar tech was the guy who took Aces place in the band and also retaught him a lot of his own solos when he came back before he left again.

Expanding on your point, a successful tech usually is a killer player because in part, he or she is exposed to so many killer players on a one to one basis in the course of their work. By the tech's observation and/or outright asking of such players to show them certain things, portions of their stylings are absorbed by the tech and added to his or her 'bag'.

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You dig?

The way I got into guitar tech-ing was thru hands on and self-education thru intense study.
Pawn shop specials, or $50-100 guitars are excellent "classrooms" for study. They are widely available at your local shops. They usually need repairs, and it is a challenge to get them to play well, sound good, and look nice. And if you screw one up, you have not lost a lot of money.
Invest in some good books, buy some tools, get some cheap guitars and get to work!!!
Oh yeah, and there are quite a few very good schools of lutherie around the country, if you have the time and money for that.
The way I got into tech-ing was, in the late 1980s-early 1990s, my band was playing a lot of gigs. I would bring 5-6 guitar on stage with me for different songs and tunings. Other guitar players from other bands that I befriended would ask to play my guitars, which I allowed. They would always tell me that my guitars played great, and had nice low action, and sounded great. I would tell them that I did all my own work, and they would ask me to work on their guitars. Word got around, and next thing you know, I had a good reputation as a solid tech, as well as a pretty good player(LOL).
Go for it!!!

Or, you can gain total on the job experience.

Simply walk into a local RIPOFF store, announce you are a tech and that you'll work for strings, picks and the 'prestige' of being their, "In-house Dude". Make CERTAIN that the bogus credentials you cite are TOTALLY untraceable. Claiming you apprenticed in a foreign country, 3rd hand under someone who has a website in a foreign language is always an EXCELLENT safety chute. Collaterally, be signed up on as many guitar websites as possible, hammering away in every post you make that you are a tech but DO NOT tip your ignorance by offering any remedial action to a posting and above all, NEVER post first. Simply latch onto someone else's and, "ice the cake" after the OP's issue is for all intents and purposes, resolved. Make sure you continue to do this ad-nausium, it is important!!

Next, mention to your prospective employer that you are well known as a tech at all these sites. Show the employer upon clever manipulation through selected posts of your choice, the praise being heaped on 'you' but do not let him or her see that these selected posts in reality, have nothing to do with you, per se. Surely, it is at this point that (s)he will jump at the chance to hire you!

YOU'RE IN!!!

Now, once on the inside, start experimenting with every customer's guitar which comes in. Hint: DO NOT mess with the store's stuff or you'll only place it in worse condition than it already is. Remember, you are responsible for their playability so hope and pray the factory setup is acceptable and if it is, especially if someone really likes it, dive on taking all the credit for it.

Some tasks you'll have a modicum of success while others, well, let's just not go there at all. Don't worry if something ever comes in where you have absolutely no clue for its course of remedy. Simply proclaim, "Oh, THAT has to go back to the factory!" and you'll always have your back covered.

From this point on, the rest is up to you!!!

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You dig?

Start working on your own guitars doing set-ups, strip them down and put them back together, etc so you know how everything works. Go to a pawn shop and buy so cheap necks to practice refretting and changing nuts. Learn how to solder. Offer to do set-ups for your friends. When you get comfortable enough go to the local shop and offer to help doing set-ups, giving them your friends names and numbers will help. The better you get the bigger the jobs will be.

Go to Stew-mac and get on their email distribution, they send out articles on how to fix specific problems. Read books and learn by doing.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!