Get to Work
We are building a season of workshops from nothing. Three are certain: setup clinics with Jim Grandon, songwriting clinics with Conrad Fisher, and looping days. Everything past that is still an open question, and we would rather you answered it than we guessed.
Two kinds of people walk into Ragamuffin Hall
Both of them already own a guitar. That is where we pick things up.
You have been at this a while
Working players, serious hobbyists, tinkerers and full-time luthiers. Action and intonation, nut slots and fret dressing, wiring, pots and pickup swaps. Bring the questions that are too specific to ask anywhere else and we will spend the day on them.
You have tried, and stalled
You taught yourself a few chords, or learned by ear, or got as far as the internet takes you and then flattened out. You are not a beginner and nobody is going to treat you like one. These days are about getting past whatever you have been stuck behind.
Days are grouped by where you are, so you spend yours alongside people at roughly your own stage.
What we are weighing up
Three of these are certain. The rest are ideas on the board, and some of them will not happen unless enough of you say so. Which ones would actually get you in the door?
Setup & Maintenance
Certain to run, with Jim Grandon and the Workshop staff. Action, neck relief, intonation, nut slots and a clean restring. The difference between a guitar you fight and one you play.
Songwriting
Certain to run, with Conrad Fisher. Where a song starts, how to finish one, and what to do with the ones that stall halfway.
Looping
Certain to run. One player, one pedal, a whole arrangement. Building parts, staying in time, and knowing when to stop stacking.
Getting Unstuck
Still an idea. You know four chords and you have known them for three years. A day on the things that actually move you off that spot.
Playing & Technique
Still an idea. Strumming, fingerpicking, timing, and how to practice so you actually get better.
Build a Guitar
Still an idea, and the biggest one. A day or a full weekend at the bench, ending with something you carry out the door.
Pickups & Electronics
Still an idea. Soldering that holds, reading a wiring diagram, pots, caps, switches and pickup swaps.
Repair Clinic
Still an idea. Bring the one that has never been right and we work out what it needs, with you holding the tools.
Something Else
The list is deliberately unfinished. If the thing you want is not on it, the form below is where to put it.
Looping
It comes up more than anything else, so it gets its own day — and most likely two of them. A looper lets one person sound like several: lay down a rhythm, put a bass line under it, sing or play over the top.
We do not only teach it. We build our own looping pedals here, and we use them three ways: to play, to teach, and as a metronome to write against. That last one is why the looping days and the songwriting days keep running into each other.
We would run it twice, at two levels. One for players building full arrangements, one for people still finding their footing who want a reason to keep at it.
How a day at the Hall runs
Small groups
Ragamuffin Hall, McCoysville
Every workshop runs at Ragamuffin Hall in McCoysville. Bring your guitar if you have one. If you do not, we will put one in your hands at the door.
A day, or a weekend
Most would run from morning to late afternoon with lunch at the Hall. Build workshops take two days, because they have to.
One level per day
Every session is pitched at a single level and stays there. Nobody sits waiting for the room to catch up, and nobody nods along to something that went past them an hour ago.
All of this is still a sketch. What it turns into depends almost entirely on what comes back through the form below.
Who is teaching
Setup clinics are led by Jim Grandon with the Workshop staff. Songwriting clinics are led by Conrad Fisher. The rest of the crew builds, repairs, sets up and plays for a living — and they are the same people who pick up the phone when you call about a set of tuners, which tells you most of what you need to know about how a day will go.
Tell us what you would come for
This is the actual point of the page. There is nothing to book and nothing to sign up to — we are trying to work out what to build, and you are the ones who know.
Would rather not fill in a form? Call 301-325-1312 or write to info@ragamuffinstudios.com. Workshops are held at Ragamuffin Hall, McCoysville, PA; post reaches us at our office, 249 Clark Road, Hershey, PA 17033.