Guitar repair training online, covering the core jobs of a guitar technician: maintenance, setups, fret work, and nuts and saddles.
The Guitar Repair Technician programme from Skill Up Break Free is built as a set of separate courses. Each one teaches a single job that technicians are paid for, so skills can be learned one at a time and put to use straight away. This page brings the full guitar repair training programme together in one place.
Guitar Maintenance
Keeping a guitar clean, stable and playable between setups: caring for the fretboard and finish, checking hardware, restringing, and storing a guitar so the neck stays where it should.
Status: course coming soon.
Guitar Setups
Truss rod and neck relief, nut and bridge action, intonation, Floyd Rose floating bridges and pickup balancing, on electric, acoustic, classical and bass guitars. The foundation for everything else in the guitar repair training programme.
Status: available now.
Read more: Truss rod adjustment · Guitar intonation · Guitar action adjustment
Fret Stone, Profile, Repair
Levelling uneven frets with a fret stone, then re-profiling, crowning and polishing them so every note plays cleanly, without buzz.
Finding and fixing loose or lifting frets – one of the most common causes of fret buzz and dead notes.
Status: course coming soon.
New Guitar Nuts and Saddles
Shaping, slotting and fitting a replacement nut, and making or adjusting a saddle, so string height and spacing are right from the start.
Status: course coming soon.
Real technician skills, taught step by step.
Why learn guitar repair at technician level
Setting up and repairing guitars to a technician’s standard is a practical, paid-for skill. Most guitars need setting up regularly, and a single professional setup typically costs £50–130, so the skill can save money on your own instruments or become a source of income – from occasional work to self-employment.
For jobseekers, this is recognised, employment-relevant training. It can form part of the work-related activity agreed with a Jobcentre Plus work coach, and a discount is available for DWP jobseekers and PIP claimants.
It is also work that holds attention. Each job is a problem to think through, measure and solve, with a finished result you can hear and feel: a guitar that plays better than when it came in. Time spent on something already loved can bring focus, purpose and a real sense of achievement.
Who it’s for
- Players who want to set up and maintain their own guitars
- Anyone looking at guitar repair as a source of income
- People retraining after redundancy, unemployment or a change in circumstances
No previous experience is needed.
How the training works
- Online, at your own pace, around work and family commitments
- Video lessons, practical tasks and knowledge checks in every section
- Certificate of Achievement on completion of each course
- Running since 2012 – ESF National Award 2017, previously Careers Wales / ReAct approved for redundancy retraining
Start your guitar repair training
Guitar Setup is the first course in the programme and the best place to start.