Students don't 'fret' BC3 class
BUTLER TWP — A year after two Butler County Community College professors started a class project to build electric guitars, students have turned out a dozen working, playing guitars.
Mike Aikens and Mike Robinson are just as excited now as they were a year ago.
"Kids will voluntarily develop algebraic formulas for frets," Aikens said, adding he's been astounded by the enthusiasm of students in his technology class.
Aaron Raible, a student from Butler, spent one of the final classes of the semester fine-tuning the sound on his six-string. Raible heard the class would build a guitar, and he soon signed up.
"It was fun," he said.
Raible took his solid body guitar home to paint and used a mirrored glass design for the pick guard. It was a little customization on a project that took a lot of his time, he said.
"There was a lot of prework to do," he said.
The class had to develop drawings and plans to build guitars. He said he was surprised they were two weeks into the class before he got to start building.
Once he started piecing the guitar together, he learned how computers could help him with tasks such as tuning the guitar.
"The whole thing was kind of new to me," Raible said.
Robinson said developing a curriculum with Aikens in a short time was a challenge. But, he said, he's learned it would have been much more regimented at other institutions.
The idea of the class, which will be repeated in the fall, is to teach technology concepts in an interactive way.
"We have a very unique way to teach STEM concepts," Aikens said.
Science, technology, engineering and math are hot educational concepts supported by the National Science Foundation, which has provided the college with a grant to collaborate with other community colleges and Purdue University.Aikens hopes the curriculum he has developed will garner another grant this summer so the collaboration creates a supply chain for the guitar parts. He's hoping for a strong student response in the fall and would eventually add an evening class if the demand is there.The class has no prerequisites, not even any knowledge about playing a guitar."I'm the poster child of the one who's not musically inclined," Robinson said. "I've learned a lot about guitars and more about technology."Most of the students, including Raible, can't play. However, that doesn't damper their enthusiasm.Raible said he plans to buy an amplifier and other equipment and learn how to play his guitar this summer.
