Western Iowa Tech Community College is located in Sioux City just across from the Nebraska border. The school provides students with two-year degrees in an array of trades, from auto mechanics to interior design. Also included is a program called "Band Instrument Repair," in which students can learn the skills needed to repair and restore musical band instruments, from trumpets to cellos. This involves not only becoming familiar with the tools, such as lathes and scratch-brushes, that are used on instruments, but learning the basics of playing them as well. Since the program is essentially job-entry training, outside internships are encouraged.
Renton Technical College, located in the suburbs of Seattle in the Pacific Northwest, operates under the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. The majority of programs offered are specifically for job training and include numerous apprenticeships. The school offers a degree under what is titled "Band Instrument Repair Technology," which, according to Renton Tech, covers "repair, maintenance, and adjustment of instruments belonging to the woodwind, brass, and percussion families." For the most part, the courses are broken down by instrument, such as flute or saxophone, but others are based on general repair education, such as the "Dent Removal" and "Soldering and Brazing" courses.
While most instrument repair courses are offered by trade schools that have dozens of other skill-related programs, the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, Arizona, not only focuses solely on instrument repair, but specifically on that of the guitar. The word "luthiery" is, in fact, the official title given to the field of guitar building and repairing. The school also differs from others in that its program is only five months in length, with the average graduating class numbering fewer than 40 people. The curriculum includes a guitar-building course, various tool seminars and a course in electronics. Graduates from Roberto-Venn, which is part of ACCSCT, the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, receive an official "Luthier Certificate."
Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical, located in Red Wing along the Wisconsin border, is one of the schools within Minnesota's college and university system. Like most tech schools, this particular college offers training in a range of fields, from cosmetology to carpentry. When it comes to musical instrument repair, the Minnesota State College offers two programs: "Band Instrument Repair," which includes brass, woodwind and percussion instruments, and "Guitar Repair & Building," which involves fixing guitars as well as building them from scratch. The latter program offers multiple focuses, including one that centers entirely around building electric guitars.