Frame building in B'ham

contact a local gas or welding consumables supplier and ask what courses they recommend or know of.An introduction day or short course would be enough to cover the safety side and get you on your way.Being able to weld is only a very small part of learning how to build frames and the welding is only a small proportion of the complete job
try http://www.energas.co.uk or similar

Yup, totally.

Thats the reason I was keen on watching an actual framebuilder at work. The actual welding seems to be common sense+practice.
But all the careful use of jigs to align pieces, working out all the angles/lengths, cutting and bending tubes etc. That seems to be where the clever part is.