Have you ever wanted to build your own electric guitar? NOW YOU CAN

"Do you love to make music? Rock out on an electric guitar you designed and built yourself with a new class at Danville Community College.

The electric guitar-building class is being offered for the first time in Danville, Va., just over the North Carolina border and about 45 miles northeast of the Triad. North Carolina residents can take the non-credit section of the class without paying out of state tuition. Students will learn about basic woodworking, acoustics, electronics, and more, then have a chance to customize their instruments with paint or laser engravings. No experience is necessary.

"We had some really creative projects come out of our class in South Boston last semester," said Kimberly Buck, the college's public relations director. "One student used the laser to engrave the handprints of his three daughters on the guitar body, and another personalized it as a gift for his son."

Buck said to her knowledge, DCC's program is the only one currently offered in the area, and the college hopes to offer more such classes if this one is a success. The idea for the class came about thanks to college President Bruce Scism, himself a musician. Instructors Sam Knapp, who teaches product design, and Daniel Wolfe, who has a woodworking background, both play music on the side as well. A National Science Foundation grant sent them to a guitar-building workshop in Pennsylvania last summer, providing the curriculum.

Electric Guitar-Building class

Mondays and Thursdays, March 21-April 25

6-9 p.m.

Danville Community College, EIT building room 28, 1008 South Main St., Danville, VA

Call Patricia White at 434.797.8430 or email info@dcc.vccs.edu to sign up.

$490 for tuition and all materials"

- A Press Release