Guitar Repair Lutherie, but taught by a real Guitar Repair Shop...Â
A Course Designed for You
Whether you're just starting your guitar repair journey or you've been in the lutherie world for years, Southeast Guitar Repair Academy has a course to meet you where you are - and take you where you want to go.
Does any of this sound familiar?
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You're craving a more fulfilling, hands-on career.
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You're retired, but looking for a hobby that can also generate income.
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You’re stuck in a job you don’t love and want to transition into something you're passionate about.
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You want to maintain your own gear and perform your own setups.
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Your current setup work is getting complaints from clients - and you're ready to change that.
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Your guitar builds look great, but they just don't play well enough to sell confidently.
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You're a working guitar tech, but you want a trusted library of professional repair techniques & support.
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You're a DIY’er eager to invest in a new, high-value skill.
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You own a music store and want to train your staff to unlock steady repair revenue.
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You’re already in the repair world, but want to gain more confidence in your abilities.
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You're looking for an affordable alternative to traditional $8,000 - $10,000 luthier schools.
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You’ve got a large personal collection - learning to do your own setups would save you thousands.
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You’ve attended a luthier building school, but realized the two weeks of repair training wasn’t nearly enough.
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You're a luthier school graduate who now sees that repair and maintenance is where the money really is.
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You’re at a crossroads in life and want to master a new, profitable trade.
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You're about to graduate high school and want a more practical path than a four-year college.
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You're working full-time and need a flexible training option that works around your job.
If you nodded your head to any of those, you're exactly who this program was built for.
Our students come from every walk of life - but they all share the same desire: to turn their passion for guitars into a skillset that pays off.
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Get a Free Guitar Repair Lesson
Curious about what it’s like to learn with us? Sign up below and we’ll email you a free sample lesson from Guitar Repair Academy.
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What to Expect from Southeast Guitar Repair Academy
Southeast Guitar Repair Academy is an online luthier school focused on the repair side of Lutherie -Â the side that actually earns you a living.
We teach the exact expert techniques we’ve used every day for the past 30 years at Southeast Guitar Repair, a world-renowned shop and one of C.F. Martin’s busiest Authorized Warranty Service Centers (and the only one in the Atlanta area). Whether it’s a fret job or our signature Southeast Setup, we don’t hold anything back - we share all of our trade secrets with you.
Real-World Skills. Proven Systems.
At our repair shop, we created a repeatable system to train new guitar techs. That same system is now available to you as a student. We’ve carefully designed a curriculum that equips you with the skills needed to work on guitars professionally - and start generating income.
Our training is based on real repair shop experience, not theory. You’ll learn the same methods we use for warranty work on Martin, Fender, and Gibson guitars. Don’t just take our word for it - call any of those manufacturers and ask about our reputation. Our repair methods are manufacturer-approved and industry standard.
We’ve completed thousands of repairs over the past 29+ years. Now we’re handing that experience to you.
Your Online Guitar Repair Curriculum
Our course is broken down into three powerful modules that give you a complete education in guitar repair - from hands-on techniques to launching your own repair business.
🧰 Module 1: Core Curriculum
Master the most essential, in-demand guitar repair skills:
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Professional Restrings
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Complete Guitar Setups
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Hand-Carved Bone Nuts & Saddles
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Fret Dressing & Fret Softening
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Intro to Wiring & Soldering
These are the bread-and-butter repairs that bring in regular income. You’ll learn how to perform them across a wide variety of instruments, including:
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Acoustic Guitars
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Electric Guitars (including Floyd Rose systems)
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Classical Guitars
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Bass Guitars
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Ukuleles
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Banjos
đź’Ľ Module 2: Business Course
Most luthier schools skip this -Â we don't. Learn everything you need to run a profitable, professional repair business:
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How to legally start your business (LLC, licenses, insurance, etc.)
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How to get resale licenses and wholesale accounts
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Advertising strategies that bring in customers right away
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How to work from home or open a storefront
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Real-world tips for growth, professionalism, and profitability
We’ve successfully operated a busy shop for decades. This module teaches what actually works - not guesswork.
🔧 Module 3: Weekly Repair Lessons (Included in the Master’s Course)
This is where the advanced stuff lives. And it keeps growing.
You’ll get weekly lessons covering real, complex repairs, including:          Â
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Refrets
Brace Repairs
Bridge Resets
Heat Treatments
Headstock Breaks
Finish Repairs
Electronics Diagnostics
Advanced Wiring & Soldering
Neck Resets
Structural Repairs
And much more...
New lessons are added all the time. These are filmed live and unedited, so you see the full repair process in real time - including unexpected issues, problem solving, and timing. It’s the closest thing to working in our shop.
Learn in a Real Shop - From Anywhere
With lifetime access, your classroom becomes our repair bench. You’ll witness hundreds of real repairs, see unpredictable challenges as they happen, and learn how pros handle every step. Unlike a classroom environment, we don’t clean up mistakes for the camera - you see it all.
This level of training is unmatched by any other luthier school or repair course. You’ll walk away not only with the skills - but also with the confidence to handle anything that comes through your door.
Join us, and turn your passion for guitars into a career you love.
Learn Anytime, Anywhere
Our Guitar Repair Course is 100% online, giving you the freedom to learn at your own pace, on your own schedule, and from the comfort of your home - no matter where you live.
Whether you're in the U.S., Canada, Europe, or beyond, you can access the same expert instruction and hands-on repair training without ever stepping into a classroom.
No deadlines. No travel. Just real skills, on your time.
Built for Every Stage of Your Journey
Whether you're a seasoned luthier looking to sharpen your repair techniques, completely new to guitar repair, or a guitarist wanting to maintain your own instruments -Â this course is designed for you.
No matter your experience level, you'll find the guidance, techniques, and support to help you grow.
Endless Career Possibilities
As a trained Guitar Repair Technician, your career path is wide open. You can:
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Tour with professional musicians as a trusted tech
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Launch your own guitar repair business or shop
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Work from your home workshop on your own terms
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Join a local music store’s repair team and build a loyal clientele
Whether you want freedom, flexibility, or full-time work in the industry, this skill set creates real opportunities.
 3 Ways
To Pay Tuition
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We offer three flexible options to make paying for your tuition simple:
1. One-Time Payment
Make a single payment for lifetime access to the course -Â no recurring fees, ever. (See checkout below)
2. Afterpay, Klarna & PayPal Credit
Choose one of these convenient options at checkout to break your tuition into manageable payments over time.
3. In-House Payment Plan
No credit? No problem. Our in-house plan lets you pay a deposit and make easy monthly payments - with no interest and instant course access.
Visit the Store page to choose your payment option at checkout.
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Master's Guitar Repair Luthier Course
$5200
One Time Payment Checkout Here (For additional payment options see the "Store" Page or "The Finance You Tuition" Page)
Enroll in Master's Course HereWhat Makes Us Different?
Wondering why you should invest in our course instead of watching free YouTube videos or grabbing a $20 setup tutorial? Here’s the truth:
YouTube is full of bad advice. We cringe at 90% of the guitar repair content out there. Half the time it’s flashy edits, camera tricks, and surface-level explanations - not real-world repairs. That’s why we built this course. If quality, detailed repair training already existed online for free, we wouldn’t have spent hundreds of hours creating this program.
What you get here is real.
No cuts, no rehearsed fixes, no guitars we’re already familiar with. You watch us repair guitars that come into our shop every day - real-time repairs on instruments we’ve never seen before. That’s where the magic happens: you see the true problem-solving process of a professional luthier in action.
And that’s just the beginning...
Our Weekly Repair Lessons are where the course truly shines. They’re packed with value, real shop challenges, support, and the kind of detailed guidance you simply won’t get on YouTube.
Now, ask yourself:
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Is that YouTube “guitar tech” actually doing repairs for paying clients - or just creating content for ad revenue?
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Does he have custom Shop Specs and nearly 30 years of tested processes - or is he winging it on a personal guitar?
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Will he answer when the technique he taught you fails and leaves you lost?
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Are you adding value to a guitar with what you're learning - or devaluing it with shortcuts and guesswork?
We do this for real, every single day.
Our clients bring us their guitars - and they keep coming back. Just search our name. We have hundreds of glowing reviews across the internet because our work speaks for itself.
Our shop follows a unified process - the “Southeast Setup” - a set of precise specs that deliver consistent, professional results. Now you can learn those same methods, right inside our working repair shop, alongside the same team trusted by customers and brands across the country.
You don’t need to waste time piecing together guesswork from random videos. You need one trusted library - a true masterclass with time-tested, efficient repair techniques that have kept us at the top of this industry for nearly 30 years.
This isn’t just another course. This is a proven path to becoming a professional.
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Meet Your Instructor
Barrett Culpepper is the owner and Master Luthier at Southeast Guitar Repair in Buford, Georgia, with over 20 years of hands-on experience. Throughout his career, he has trained dozens of aspiring luthiers, passing on the skills and knowledge that have made his shop one of the most respected in the industry.
Guitar Repair Academy was originally created as an in-house training tool for new apprentices at Southeast Guitar Repair. When we saw how quickly and effectively they were learning through this specialized program, we knew it had the potential to help others too.
Unlike many other luthier schools, our program was designed to fill the gaps - offering a more complete, practical, and real-world education in guitar repair and lutherie.
Wondering What It’s Like to Work in a Guitar Repair Shop?
Imagine spending your days surrounded by guitars — fixing, tuning, and bringing them back to life. Every day is different, and you never know who’s going to walk through the door. We get to meet incredible people from all walks of life, and work on just about every model of guitar out there.
It’s a pretty amazing gig — way better than being stuck in a cubicle! And once people find out you're a Luthier? Get ready for a lot of interesting conversations. This career definitely comes with its share of cool moments.
