Arts & Culture
Authentic: Jeffrey Boerner
Guitars, music, and the Fab Lab.
“We’re 12 miles from the most famous manufacturer of guitars in the world—the Martin Guitar company,” says Jeff Boerner, Director of the Fab Lab, “and they pay the tuition for employees who wish to take guitar making classes.”
The Fab Lab is a makerspace under the aegis of Northampton Community College. It offers access to state-of-the-art technologies ranging from a full metal and wood shop to 3D printers to a guitar-making and repair studio, and much more—with plans to grow. The college is planning on moving the Fab Lab to a 7800 square foot space on the first floor of their current building on the South Side of Bethlehem, with construction beginning this fall.
“There are highly talented individuals who have found the Fab Lab and want to be involved” Jeff says, “so, by working with their specialty, I have been building courses and programs around them.” Of the 26 instructors who work and volunteer at the Fab Lab, 20 are entrepreneurs in business for themselves.
Makerspaces inspire people, especially young people, to figure out how they can change something and make it better for other people by creating a prototype with the possibility of taking it to market “It’s kind of a mindset of creating your own destiny,” Jeff says.
“The fact that we have the only luthier program in the area,” Jeff says, “is the word we’re trying to get out to people who might not have heard of us yet.” And if you come to the Fab Lab—no matter your skill level—you will get the best, most comprehensive training in the art, science, and mechanics of guitar building available anywhere.
To learn more: go to northampton.edu and follow the community ed link to the Fab Lab or call 610.332.8665.
