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SE Tech Instructor David Vincent checks the acoustic quality of a section of a guitar. Vincent has been involved in the lutherie field since the mid-1970s before coming to Southeast Tech to teach in 1984. (Photo by Ryan Pasket/Winona360)

At first glance, it’s a regular woodworking class.

The Red Wing classroom is filled with men from a range of ages hunched over work stations, sanding and hammering, occasionally lifting heads to get new opinions on their work. Clouds of wood dust settle around their desks and on each other as the smell of glue and other chemicals rise into the air.

Then, as the products begin to take shape—modified and half-finished guitar bodies set against the walls, a half-cut block of wood soon to be a fretted neck—the vision of this shop class becomes clear.

The men working are called luthiers. They build, repair and modify guitars and other stringed instruments. It’s a profession that's largely unrecognized, at least in name, by the larger guitar-playing community. And it's fairly rare: The luthier program at Southeast Technical College's Red Wing campus is one of about 10 across the country that offers a lutherie degree.

But the craft of guitar-building has been growing steadily over the past few decades, and for many of these students, it's a viable career option. The guitar-building and repair program at SE Tech teaches students how to turn a hobby into something they can make a living doing.

Student Grady O’Gorman, in a spare moment spent between designing his newest guitar on a computer and joking with other students, said his love of guitar-making, combined with  his knowledge of electronics, was why he chose lutherie. And because something else has yet to catch and keep his attention like music does. His reason for choosing the field is one many other students in the program can identify with, he said.

Lutherie—defined as the craft of making string instruments—is an ancient craft. It's been around since stringed instruments, which date back to the first musical bows, harps and lyres built over 5,000 years ago. The word guitar was introduced sometime in the 13th century, and the instruments' predecessors date back much further.

Through the centuries, guitar-building wasn't exactly an experimental trade. Then came the dawn of the electric guitar in the 1930s. Luthiers tinkered with new sounds and new electronics, driven by guitarists consistently pushing for new sounds. Hollow-bodied guitars (like a traditional acoustic guitar) gave way to solid bodies. Pickups—the magnetic coils that amplify guitar strings—went from low-gain to high in a quest for more distortion. In the ensuing 70-some years, countless new designs and features have been implemented.

And all that experimentation means more opportunities for professional work.

The field can be challenging to be successful in. David Vincent, a Southeast Tech instructor who has been repairing and building guitars in some form since the mid-70s, said those who build or repair guitars need to have not only skill, but strong creative problem-solving skills to meet the increasing demands of customers.

Luckily, lack of experience isn’t a problem. SE Tech's nine-month program takes students through courses that teaches them everything they need to design and build their final product: A guitar made from scratch.

Vincent said students have gone on to work for large guitar-making companies like Gibson and Fender, but many gravitate toward smaller shops where most work is still done by hand.

Many students in the program are musicians who want a career that involves working with the instrument they love, Vincent said, as well as work that's a little more stable than the life of a working musician.

Vincent is optimistic about the future of lutherie. The cost of basic tools and supplies makes it possible for almost anybody to break into the field, he said, creating competition for larger guitar-building companies, particularly newer ones.

Graduates of the SE Tech program are able to make a comfortable living doing this, he said.

“Like many service professions, you don’t necessarily get wealthy, but you can make a living,” Vincent said. “It’s very possible to raise a family doing this.”

Which is good news for students like O’Gorman, who said he wouldn’t be truly happy doing anything else.