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Guitars from DRFT 215 students decorate The Commons in the Math Building.
Photo: Brent Masiero Sierra Beckwith Staff Writer
Second-year Coordinator of the Architectural Technology and CAD/Drafting program, Luke Jumper and a class of nine recently embarked on a journey to make their own electric guitars.
Making these guitars teaches students how to use different programs in the engineering process, techniques, and the science involved in development.
To make a guitar you need to understand the history of the different types, styles, and brands of guitars that exist. From there, a company sends sheets of blank wood, and blank necks and the students are allowed to draw up any design as long as it fits on the dimensions of the blank.
“It’s literally whatever you want,” said Vincent Kwas, an Architectural Technology major.
The guitars were set out for the public eye at Halpin Music for the first month after they were finished. They are currently on display in the stairway of the Commons in the Math and Science Building here at the college.
As the guitars were being hung on campus, a couple students shared their experience throughout the project’s development, one of which was still in the finishing stages of his guitar. They said the procedure was fun, but definitely had its challenging moments.
“All the sanding was the most brutal part,” Kwas said.
The Product Design and Development class (DRFT 215) had seen better days. The class lost complete interest of the CAD/Drafting students over the past 6 years. Jumper wanted to increase enrollment, and knew he had just the thing to recapture the interest of his students.
Jumper attended a conference centered around taking the interests of the students, and implementing it into their STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) education. While at the conference, Jumper made a sample guitar in four very long days, which he brought to the school to entice the students enthusiasm in the project/class.
Jumper is also working with the Dean of the department about making this class more accessible to students without having to have the prerequisites it already requires, DRFT 140 and 253. A class in guitar design will hopefully be run this summer, or by Spring 2015 at the latest.
For more information on this class, contact Luke Jumper at ljumper@lc.edu.
