Red Star Guitars – Course Terms and Conditions
Last Updated: 16th October 2026
Please read these Terms and Conditions carefully before purchasing any goods or services from Red Star Guitars. They form a legally binding agreement between you (the Customer) and us (Red Star Guitars) for purchases made in-store or online.
These terms and conditions ("Terms") apply to every booking for a course (each a "Course") run by Red Star Guitars Ltd ("we", "us", "our"), held at our workshop in Cross in Hand, East Sussex. By making a booking, you ("the Attendee", "you") agree to be bound by these Terms.
The Terms are in two parts. Part A applies to all Courses. Part B contains additional terms for each individual Course. If Part A and Part B differ, Part B applies to that Course. A plain-English summary is at the end ("Key Points at a Glance"); it does not replace these Terms.
PART A – TERMS THAT APPLY TO ALL COURSES
1. About the Courses
1.1 Each Course is as described on our website at the time of booking.
1.2 Group sizes are limited to ensure close individual supervision. We reserve the right to run a Course with fewer or more attendees if necessary.
1.3 Course content, running order and pace may vary between sessions depending on the group's pace, experience, questions raised, topics of interest and individual progress (we often "meander around topics"). We do not guarantee that every listed topic will be covered in the same depth at every session, but we will use reasonable efforts to cover the full syllabus as advertised and, where the Course involves a practical outcome (for example a complete fret dress or a completed build), to ensure every attendee completes it within the Course time.
1.4 Each Course is educational and practical in nature. It does not constitute a professional qualification, certification or accreditation, and completion of a Course does not guarantee any particular standard of skill or competence in guitar building, setup, fret work, pickup winding or repair work.
2. Booking and Payment
2.1 A booking is only confirmed once you have paid the amount due at booking (full payment or an agreed deposit) and received written confirmation from us. For the Pickup Making Course, this confirmation includes your chosen pickup option; for the Guitar Building Course, your specification is confirmed as set out in Part B.
2.2 Setup, Fret Dressing and Pickup Making Courses: The Course fee (excluding any extras) is payable when booking, third party staged payments available upon checkout.
2.3 Guitar Building Course: a non-refundable deposit of £750 is required to secure your place and confirm your specifications, with the balance due no later than 30 days before the Course start date. We reserve the right to release your place if the balance is not received by this date.
2.4 Prices are as stated on our website at the time of booking and include VAT. Prices do not include travel, accommodation, or any tools or instruments you choose to purchase. Course-specific pricing is in Part B.
3. Cancellations, Rescheduling and Refunds
3.1 Cancellation by the Attendee. Refunds depend on the Course and on how much notice you give:
Build your own guitar
More than 90 days before the Course start date - Deposit non-refundable; remaining balance (if paid) refunded in full
Within 30 days, or non-attendance - Non-refundable. All parts will be sent to You in event of cancellation or reschedule to a future course
Guitar Setup
More than 90 days - Full refund minus our administration fee
Within 14 days - Non-refundable or reschedule to a future course
Fret Dressing
More than 90 days - Full refund minus our administration fee
Within 14 days - Non-refundable or reschedule to a future course
hand wound Pickups
More than 90 days - Full refund minus our administration fee
Within 14 days - Non-refundable or reschedule to a future course
3.2 Transfers. For the Setup, Fret Dressing and Pickup Making Courses, you may transfer your place to another person, or to a different course date (subject to availability), by giving us at least 30 Days notice. We reserve the right to charge a £35 administration fee for transfers or cancellations. For the Guitar Building Course, transfer to another course date is subject to availability and may be possible with at least 90 Days notice, though where components have already been ordered to your original specification this may not always be practical. We will do our best to accommodate reasonable requests.
3.3 Cancellation by us. We reserve the right to cancel or postpone a Course due to insufficient bookings, tutor illness, or circumstances beyond our reasonable control (see Clause 10). If we do, you will be offered a full refund or a place on an alternative date, at your choice. We are not liable for any other costs you may incur as a result, including non-refundable travel or accommodation booked separately (see Clause 11 and Part B). We recommend you avoid booking non-refundable travel until close to the Course date and until your Course (and, where applicable, specification) is fully confirmed.
3.4 We reserve the right to refuse or cancel a booking, at our discretion, where an attendee's conduct or behaviour is reasonably believed to pose a risk to themselves, other attendees or our staff.
4. Health and Safety
4.1 Our Courses involve practical work with tools, equipment and materials that may include hand and power tools, files, finishing materials, polishes, cleaning solvents or Soldering: a soldering iron at high temperature, with risk of burns and solder fumes. Wax potting: heated wax used to pot the finished coil, with risk of burns from hot wax and equipment. Adhesives: thin CA (cyanoacrylate) glue during flatwork preparation, which bonds very quickly and can bond skin. Magnets and small components: magnets, pole pieces and small metal parts should be kept away from sensitive electronic devices (for example pacemakers) and are a choking hazard where applicable to anyone present.
Please tell us in advance of any relevant medical conditions (in particular any implanted medical device that could be affected by magnets) and any allergies or sensitivities including skin conditions (for example to solder fumes or specific adhesives).
4.2 You must follow all safety instructions given by tutors at all times, including the correct handling of tools and the use of any protective equipment provided.
4.3 Attendees under the influence of alcohol or drugs will not be permitted to take part in practical sessions.
4.4 We maintain appropriate insurance and take all reasonable care to run a safe workshop environment, but cannot eliminate all risks inherent in practical, tool-based training. Attendees participate in practical elements at their own risk, save for injury or damage caused by our negligence (see Clause 7). The workshop may include exposed tools, workbenches and equipment.
4.5 Tutors reserve the right to complete or assist with any step they judge to be unsafe for an attendee to perform unsupervised, regardless of the attendee's stated experience level.
5. Attendee Conduct
5.1 We want every Course to be an enjoyable, relaxed and open learning environment. We ask all attendees to treat tutors and fellow attendees with respect.
5.2 We reserve the right to remove any attendee from a Course, without refund, if their behaviour is abusive, unsafe or disruptive to other attendees, or if they repeatedly disregard safety instructions.
6. Photography and Recording
6.1 We may take photographs or video during a Course for promotional or record purposes (for example our website and social media), including finished builds, pickups and instruments. You must let us know before the Course if you do not wish to be included, and we will respect this.
6.2 Attendees may not record, photograph or film Course content for commercial redistribution or resale without our written permission. Personal photos and notes for your own learning are welcome.
7. Liability
7.1 Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under English law, nor does anything in these Terms affect your statutory rights, including under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
7.2 Subject to Clause 7.1, our total liability to you arising out of or in connection with a Course, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, is limited to the total amount you paid for that Course.
7.3 We are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss, including loss of income or business opportunity, or damage to instruments or property except as set out in the "Bringing your own instrument" clauses in Part B (Setup and Fret Dressing Courses).
7.4 Advice, techniques and guidance given during a Course are provided in good faith based on our experience. Any subsequent work you carry out on this or any other guitar, pickup or electronics, using knowledge gained on a Course, is undertaken entirely at your own risk and discretion.
8. Intellectual Property
8.1 All course materials, notes, diagrams, schematics and other resources provided during a Course remain our intellectual property. They are provided for your personal learning use only and may not be reproduced, distributed or used for commercial teaching purposes without our written consent.
8.2 Exception: the schematic provided for the specific pickups you build on the Pickup Making Course is yours to keep and use for your own personal reference.
9. Data Protection
9.1 Personal information you provide when booking (including specification or pickup-choice preferences) is used only to administer your booking and build and to communicate with you, in accordance with our Privacy Policy https://www.redstarguitars.co.uk/privacy-policy and UK GDPR.
10. Force Majeure
10.1 We are not liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including illness, extreme weather, fire, flood, supply chain disruption affecting component availability (including winding wire and magnets), or government restrictions. Clause 3.3 applies in such circumstances.
11. Travel and Accommodation
11.1 No Course includes travel or accommodation. We are not liable for any travel or accommodation costs or losses, including if we need to cancel or postpone a Course under Clause 3.3. Additional guidance for the multi-day Guitar Building Course is in Part B.
12. General
12.1 These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between us relating to the Course.
12.2 We may update these Terms from time to time; the version in force at the time of your booking will apply.
12.3 These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and any disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
13. Contact
If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at INFO@REDSTARGUITARS.CO.UK
or +44 01435 867333.
If you wish to discuss bringing your own guitar to the Fret Dressing Course, please contact us before booking or promptly after.
PART B – COURSE-SPECIFIC TERMS
B1. Guitar Building Course
Price and extras. The base Course price is inclusive from £1,499 and covers the standard build as described on our website. A soft gig bag is included as standard. Optional extra tweed hard case at £75 Some custom options (for example non-standard colours, specific made-to-order pickups or specialist hardware) may incur additional charges; any such cost will be confirmed and agreed with you in writing before it is applied.
Tools. All lutherie tools required are supplied by us.
Custom specification. Upon booking, you will select your preferred build specification via our order form. Please note any options you are unsure of in the notes section. All specifications are provisional until confirmed by us, and we will discuss your chosen options with you before confirming the final spec. Key components, certain woods, colours, hardware or pickup specifications are subject to availability and may not be obtainable in time for your course date.
Stricter cancellation terms. Because components and materials are ordered specifically for your build once your specification is confirmed, our cancellation terms for this Course (Clause 3.1) are stricter than for our shorter Courses.
Materials, hardware and availability. We use quality branded components as standard (for example Gotoh hardware, hand-wound pickups, CTS pots and similar), as described on our website. While we make every effort to use the exact specification you select, on rare occasions a specific component may become unavailable. Natural materials such as wood vary in grain, colour and figuring. Where your build uses a natural or semi-natural finish, minor variation from any reference images shown to you should be expected as a normal characteristic of real timber, not a fault.
Travel and accommodation. The workshop is in Cross in Hand, East Sussex, and the Course runs across 3 consecutive days, so attendees travelling from further afield will typically need to arrange local accommodation. We are happy to suggest local accommodation options on request, but any booking you make is between you and the accommodation provider and is entirely your responsibility. We strongly recommend against booking non-refundable travel or accommodation until your Course date and specification are fully confirmed by us, and you may wish to consider travel insurance.
The finished guitar.
Our tutors will guide and correct your work throughout the build to ensure a good result. However, as the guitar is assembled substantially by your own hand under our guidance (rather than built for you), the finished instrument reflects your own developing skill and involvement as much as the parts and tutoring provided. Minor cosmetic imperfections consistent with hand-built, hand-finished instruments should be expected and are part of the character of a self-built guitar, not a fault.
If a genuine fault or defect becomes apparent after you leave (for example a hardware or component fault, as opposed to a matter of personal taste), please contact us within 30 days of your Course completion date. We will assess this case by case and, where we agree a component or workmanship issue attributable to us is responsible, we will arrange for it to be rectified or the affected part replaced at no extra cost. This does not affect your statutory rights.
We cannot offer refunds on completed builds on the basis of subjective taste. We always encourage full discussion of your specification before it is confirmed for exactly this reason.
B2. Professional Guitar Setup Course
Instruments used. Course demonstrations are primarily carried out on our own instruments (a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Stratocaster, or similar). You are welcome to bring your own electric guitar to work on during the practical sessions, but this is optional and not a requirement.
Bringing your own instrument. If you bring your own instrument:
You do so entirely at your own risk. While we and our tutors will take reasonable care at all times, guitar setup work (including truss rod adjustment, saddle/nut work, fret polishing and electrics) carries an inherent risk of accidental damage, however carefully carried out.
We strongly recommend you do not bring an irreplaceable, highly valuable or sentimentally significant instrument.
We accept no liability for pre-existing faults, damage or wear that becomes apparent during the Course, or for damage arising from an attendee's own actions while working on their instrument, whether or not under tutor guidance.
Where damage occurs as a direct result of our tutor's negligence while physically handling your instrument, our liability is addressed in Clause 7.
B3. Fret Dressing Course
The guitar used. As standard, we supply a guitar for you to work on. It remains our property and you will not take it away with you, but you will leave having personally carried out a complete fret dress on it, plus the knowledge and confidence to do the same on your own instruments.
Bringing your own guitar. If you would prefer to fret dress your own instrument, this must be agreed with us in advance and is subject to our approval. Not every guitar is suitable for fret dressing within a one-day course (for example instruments with worn-out frets needing a full refret, structural neck issues, or unusual/vintage hardware may not be appropriate), so please contact us before booking, or promptly after booking, with details of the instrument. No additional instrument charge applies if you bring your own with prior approval; where you use our guitar, it is included in the Course price.
We reserve the right to decline a specific instrument if, on inspection at the start of the Course, we assess that it is not suitable for fret dressing, needs a full refret instead, or presents a risk beyond the scope of the Course. In this case we will offer you one of our supplied guitars instead so you don't miss out on the practical experience.
If you bring your own instrument (with our prior approval):
You do so at your own risk. Fret work, including levelling, re-crowning and polishing, is a precision, material-removing process and carries an inherent risk of the unexpected, however carefully carried out.
We strongly recommend you do not bring an irreplaceable, highly valuable or sentimentally significant instrument.
We accept no liability for pre-existing faults, damage or wear that becomes apparent during the Course, including issues only discoverable once the frets are worked on, such as underlying fretboard damage.
Where damage occurs as a direct result of our tutor's negligence while physically handling your instrument, our liability is addressed in Clause 7.
B4. Pickup Making Course
Your pickup choice. Each attendee chooses, and leaves with, one of: a TelecasterⓇ pickup set, a StratocasterⓇ pickup set, or a JazzmasterⓇ pickup set. Your choice must be confirmed with us at the time of booking, as it determines the materials prepared for your session. Once your option is confirmed, materials are prepared/ordered accordingly, so changes close to the Course date may not always be possible; please tell us as early as you can if you wish to change your selection.
Price. £299 per person.
Schedule. The Course follows a structured schedule (as set out in our course outline) covering theory, flatwork preparation, coil winding, wax potting, soldering and testing. Timings are approximate and may vary depending on the group's pace, individual winding speed and any troubleshooting needed (for example a broken wire during winding, which is a normal and recoverable part of hand-winding).
What you will leave with. A genuine, playable, hand-wound pickup set (per your chosen option) along with a schematic for what you have built.
Natural variation. No two hand-wound coils are ever perfectly identical, even between pickups made in the same session by the same person. Small differences in tension, turn count or coil evenness between the pickups in your set (or compared to other attendees' pickups) are a normal and expected characteristic of hand-winding, not a fault or defect.
Damaged coils. We will use reasonable efforts to ensure every attendee completes and leaves with a working set. If, despite our guidance, a coil is damaged beyond use (for example an unrecoverable wire break or significant winding fault), we will do our best to assist with re-winding within the remaining Course time. We cannot guarantee this is always possible within a single day, particularly toward the end of the session. In such circumstances we will discuss reasonable options with you, which may include completing or replacing the affected pickup after the Course at our discretion.
Testing. We will test with a LCR multimeter throughout and at the end of the course day. Testing is a diagnostic step, not a guarantee of a specific tonal outcome: tone is influenced by the guitar, amp and setup used for testing, as well as the choices (magnets, wire gauge, turns) made during your build.
Supply issues. See Clause 10 for supply issues affecting winding wire or magnet availability.
By completing your booking (and, for the Guitar Building Course, confirming your build specification), you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to these Terms and Conditions.
Red Star Guitars Ltd.
Registered Address:
40 Gracechurch Street, London, United Kingdom, EC3V 0BT
Company Reg No 17337058
VAT Reg No 527 3677 66
Copyright © 2026 Red Star Guitars