Being a college student, it’s expected to finish a class with a grain of knowledge gained. After finishing this class, students leave with a self-built electric guitar, too.
Its official title is Manufacturing and Production Management-guitar design. The objective of the course is to walk away with a sense of production and manufacturing skills, according to Mechanical Engineering professor Tom Singer.
“The concept of the class came from Purdue University,” Singer said. “What we did was we took the concepts off of the senior class and brought them down to a production and development class.”
Singer serves as the instructor for the guitar design course (Engineering Technology Design 297). The class was made available due to a National Science Foundation grant.
“Basically, the students get to do some design, they learn about production and manufacturing,” Singer said. “Each of the steps on how to manufacture a product is what this class is ultimately about.”
Students buy their own kit that includes everything needed to build a guitar. The kit runs for $170, which Singer said equal out to two books.
“Everything they need to build a guitar is in the kit,” Singer said. “There is nothing they had to spend out of pocket to build, unless they wanted something special or unique.”
ETD 297 is offered as a technical elective for most majors. The three-credit hour course debuted during winter quarter and will be available again in the fall, according to Singer.
“I thought it was something fun to do,” said Automation and Control major Angela Profitt. “It’s been a pretty cool class.”
Each student is able to personalize his or her guitar’s design. Profitt decided to give her guitar a personal touch by engraving the lyrics to “King of Pain” by “The Police” into the body with a laser.