Are there any Seattle frame builders on this forum? I am looking for someone to help me build my first frame and thought it might be a good idea to check on here first! I have welding experience and have looked into local classes but there isn't much... Thought I would see if anyone is interested in being a mentor.

Hope to hear from someone! Thanks.

Its no Portland, but it seems like there are a lot of builders in the Seattle area.
You might want to try Alex Wetmore https://alexwetmore.org/?p=539 and get a few names to make a more personal contact.

Kent Erickson? Angel Rodriguez?

And Portland is THAT far away.

theres another Matthews in SW WA a long ways from Seattle , making some Frames.

Angel no longer builds bikes since his retirement in the early 90s. He sold the bike shop which operates under R+E Cycles. They proudly kept the Rodriguez brand. BTW, Kent Erickson also builds under the R+E umbrella.

We own a couple of custom Rodriguez bikes and will highly recommend them. On both bikes they exceeded our expectations.

I'm not too sure how that offer will be received. Some frame builders do a deal where they will build alongside you. And there are obviously schools. But helping someone build a frame is a real looser of a deal on so many fronts I don't know where to start. You have people who just love to teach, no mater how stupid that may be. There are a ton of pros who hang out on the various boards and give masses of valuable advice that was nowhere to be found pre-internet.

Having taught a few people to build over the years i can say that it takes many times longer to teach then to build. So if a builder gets $500 for his time for building (and this is a number pulled out of thin air for the sake of discussion) said builder might need to get $2000-3000 for the time he'll spend teaching. The "builders" who have established their business model with teaching as a large aspect can charge less (with more students in each class). And of course this "course cost" doesn't yet include materials or shop overheads.

The only reason i taught those that i did was because they were friends and investing is those around you is worth more then money. Andy.