2006
AL#87 p.14
Staff
▪ GAL conventions can wear you out physically while they build you up as a luthier and human being. If you’ve never been, you need to go. This coverage shows what you missed this time and what you might expect during the next. With a multitude of photos.
2006
AL#87 p.6
Kenny Hill
▪ Hill has made guitars for eons, harvested his own wood, taught lutherie in a prison, and opened shops in Mexico and China. Not to mention that he’s a fine guitarist. The man has been around. This piece is part biography, part how-to, and all interesting. He’s led an interesting life, and he’s not that old. With 9 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#86 p.69
Michael Turko
▪ Kitchen tongs to hold small parts when spraying them with adhesive.
2006
AL#86 p.69
George-A. Smith
▪ A templating system for cutting classic guitar pegheads.
2006
AL#86 p.68 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer finds that neither of these books is that great but that Wickham’s is probably a better value than Gilbert’s.
2006
AL#86 p.67 read this article
Brian Burns
▪ Q refers to one of the basic qualities of stringed instrument materials, tested generally through tap tones to measure sound diminishment time.
2006
AL#86 p.66
Alan Perlman
▪ Repairing an old Italian round-body mandolin with a split down the middle of the bowl without lessening it’s value.
2006
AL#86 p.66
Brian Boedigheimer
▪ What to do about tiny scratches in finishes, noticed after buffing.
2006
AL#86 p.66
Ellis McMullin
▪ Plans and design principles for making a half scale classical guitar.
2006
AL#86 p.62 ALA2 p.4
James Condino
▪ Saw stop table saws are meant to screech to a halt before they can cut your skin. The reviewer finds that they really work. What are your fingers worth to you, anyway? With 8 photos.
2006
AL#86 p.58
Robert-A. Edelstein
▪ We all know that wood dust can make a luthier’s life miserable, but there are other air pollutants common to any woodshop.You better learn about them, and most of all you better learn how to avoid them. “Stay healthy! Make more instruments!” It should be one of our battle cries. With one chart.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#86 p.54
C.F. Casey
▪ Luthiers probably believe that quality instruments made in the Western Hemisphere all come from North America because that’s all they hear about. Not so! The Puerto Rican lutherie scene may be small but the luthiers are just as intense about their craft as American and Canadian builders. So what’s a Puerto Rican tiple, anyway? You better read this to find out. Just don’t confuse it with the Martin or Colombian tiple—Puerto Rican luthiers have their pride, too! With 5 photos.
2006
AL#86 p.50
John Calkin
▪ This is another of the author’s attempts to save a ruined instrument without ruining the customer’s bank account. The subject this time is a WWI-era Gibson army-navy style mandolin. With 14 photos.
2006
AL#86 p.48 read this article
Michael Sanden
▪ The author is enthusiastic about the spruce he buys from Pacific Rim Tonewoods, and his tour of the facility provides some insight as to how trees become guitar tops. With 7 photos.
2006
AL#86 p.42
R.M. Mottola
▪ Strict traditions have hampered the evolution of musical instrument decoration, but the creativity of some luthiers will not be held back. Make your logos on your computer. Iron your labels right onto the wood. Engrave decorations with a desktop CNC. We haven’t begun to try what might be done, but this article might awaken you to the possibilities. With 21 photos.
2006
AL#86 p.38
Robert-J. Spear
▪ Straight story on the relationship of the Catgut Acoustical Society, the New Violin Family Association,a nd the Violin Society of America.
2006
AL#86 p.36
Alan Carruth
▪ Specifications and diagrams for the members of the New Violin Octete developed by Carleen Hutchins and the Catgut Acoustical Society.
2006
AL#86 p.32 read this article
Alan Carruth Carleen Hutchins
▪ Even if you couldn’t care less about violins you will be fascinated by this woman’s life. She has built and studied bowed instruments for as long as anyone, and her contributions to the field may be beyond estimating. If everyone’s life was as busy and fulfilling as Hutchins’ the world would be a far different place than it is. With 4 photos and relative drawings of the 8 instruments in the new violin family.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#86 p.24 ALA1 p.28
Harry Fleishman Mike Doolin
▪ This neck joint should eliminate neck resets. Its pretty complex but within the grasp of any guitarmaker. With 23 photos and a drawing.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#86 p.18
Jonathon Peterson Bernard Millant
▪ Millant is a violin maker, a bow maker, an appraiser, an author, and a man of high repute within the fiddle world. The depth of training behind many fiddle people will astonish most guitarmakers, and it makes for entrancing reading. With 9 photos.
2006
AL#86 p.6
Chris Burt
▪ This segment wraps up Burt’s series on plate carving. Every luthier, but especially beginning luthiers, should read his “Word to the wise” paragraph, the best piece of advice you are ever likely to read. With 19 photos and a drawing.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#86 p.3 read this article
Paul Butler
▪ Seems that Mottola’s simple bass in AL#80 resembles a certain type of baritone fiddle going aback about a thousand years. Butler makes a similar thing to play with kids.
2006
AL#86 p.3
David Macias
▪ Macias clears up some details about the life of Juan Serrano. R.E. Brune agrees that he got a few things wrong in his article in AL#84.
2006
AL#85 p.65
John Hagen
▪ This fixture provides a means for fitting braces to arched plates that is fast, accurate, and fool proof. The brace is held stationary against the soundboard while a strip of sandpaper is moved under it.
2006
AL#85 p.64 read this article
Cyndy Burton
▪ The reviewer enjoyed this DVD, though she seems hesitant to recommend it to anyone seeking solid information about building a harp guitar. It’s a tour of the contemporary harp guitar scene important to anyone who wishes to be part of that society in any guise.
2006
AL#85 p.63
R.M. Mottola
▪ Changing the depth of a guitar’s ribs to modify the manner in which the bindings are fitted to the binding ledge.
2006
AL#85 p.63
John Calkin
▪ Construction plans for a 12 string acoustic guitar; a Guild F series or a Martin D-12-28.
2006
AL#85 p.62
Phil Neuman Wes Brandt Tim Olsen
▪ Plans for stringed instruments of the middle ages: citara (kithara) fidula, etc.
2006
AL#85 p.62
David Freeman
▪ Strategies for minimum damage when flying with guitars.
2006
AL#85 p.59
Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman is at his humorous best here, hunting the past for how frets used to be laid out, why they were often wrong, and why the new Stew-Mac rules are tools worth having. Did you know there are at least three ways to calculate fret spacing? Did you know they vary in their results? Can musicians hear the difference? With 1 photo and a chart.
2006
AL#85 p.56 ALA1 p.44
Dan Erlewine Tim Shaw Don MacRostie
▪ Every repair person who’s seen generations of Gibson guitars knows that the 24 3/4 inch scale ain’t necessarily so. If you measure from the nut to the 12th fret you get several magic numbers, and you deal with it. But here’s the low-down on why they may have changed and why the number has stayed the same. With 4 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#85 p.54
Ervin Somogyi
▪ If a simple formulation of wooden parts was all it took to make a guitar there would be no small shops and no handbuilders. The factories would get it right and their efficiency would rule out the little guys. But the factories don’t, and the little guys haven’t been. Somogyi takes a shot at explaining why this is so.
2006
AL#85 p.52 ALA2 p.2
Michael Sanden
▪ Sanden first related his barber chair workbench to GAL members in 1986, and he has never stopped updating it. His latest incarnation is a model of useful efficiency, and the chair has nearly disappeared beneath the cabinetry. Very compact cabinetry at that. With 6 photos.
2006
AL#85 p.46
John Calkin
▪ Some instruments aren’t valuable enough to warrant extensive repair work but are too interesting to throw away. Enter the resurrectionist. In this case the subject is a ’30s tenor guitar by Regal. Cracks are fixed, braces are replaced, a new bridge is made, and the neck is refitted. With 21 photos.
2006
AL#85 p.44
Alan Carruth
▪ A few people have long struggled to expand the violin family from four members to perhaps eight. There isn’t airtight agreement here. But the family is growing. This description of the 2005 convention seems to explain how successful the new sprouts on the family tree might be,. With 1 photo,
2006
AL#85 p.38 ALA3 p.40
Woodley White Greg Byers
▪ Byers has been around for a long time. He has an intuitive idea of what sound he is seeking in his guitars and a clinical approach to finding it. That’s quite a combination, and he is quite an interesting fellow. With 7 photos.
2006
AL#85 p.37
Rodney Stedall
▪ Using the Spanish foot requires that the neck angle of a classical guitar be established before the back is glued to the instrument, which locks all the parts firmly (and hopefully permanently) together. Stedall’s method will further your understanding of this problem and help you achieve the results you seek. With 1 drawing and 1 photo of a jig used to stiffen the body while the ribs are sanded to receive the back.
2006
AL#85 p.30
Chris Burt
▪ Burt’s in-depth examination of plate carving continues. His techniques are old-school, relying on tap tones to define plate stiffness and definite tonal relationships between the top and back plates. With 9 photos and a drawing.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#85 p.20
Jonathon Peterson David King
▪ King is a perfectionist who even machines his own bridges. The finish he uses is a catalyzed polyurethane. He uses some interesting equipment to arch his fingerboards and install his frets. After reading this you may not be eager to set up next to him at an instrument show. With 15 photos.
2006
AL#85 p.8
Graham McDonald
▪ McDonald’s forte has become the oversized mandolin called the Irish Bouzouki. Here he unloads a ton of information about building them with flattops and carved tops with several forms of neck attachment and scale lengths, including pin bridge and tailpiece models. Zowie! With 25 photos and 5 drawings.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#85 p.3
Mike Doolin
▪ Doolin was an early advocatre for waterborne finishes. But now he has switched to stinky and toxic catalyzed polyester. He explains why.
2005
AL#84 p.65
Scott van-Linge
▪ Tips on water based lacquer finishing, swabbing scratches with everclear and German-made spray guns by Sata.
2005
AL#84 p.65 BRB7 p.499
Peter True
▪ A simple modification for a Stanley block plane of this particular pattern.
2005
AL#84 p.64 BRB7 p.479
John Calkin
▪ Spruce and pine for guitar and mandolin tops VS maple.
2005
AL#84 p.64 BRB7 p.479
Scott Marckx
▪ Download free CAD (computer assisted drafting software) at www.Emachineshop.com.
2005
AL#84 p.61 BRB7 p.537 read this article
John Calkin
▪ This 70 minute video demonstrates building an acoustic guitar from a Stew-Mac kit, and may be a bit misleading in it’s title.
2005
AL#84 p.60 BRB7 p.536 read this article
John Calkin
▪ Though the reviewer found fault with this CD-ROM he decides that for the beginner it is better instruction than any book on the subject.
2005
AL#84 p.59 BRB7 p.535 read this article
Randy DeBey
▪ The reviewer seems ambivalent about the value of this software, claiming that it is frustrating to use and probably of most value to violinists who are searching for an older instrument and need information about the builders.
2005
AL#84 p.58 BRB7 p.534 read this article
James Condino
▪ The reviewer finds this book to be a treasure well worth the high cost to anyone serious about the standup bass.
2005
AL#84 p.57 BRB7 p.509
Keith Davis
▪ The reviewer fairly gushes about the many uses for this drill press sanding tool.
2005
AL#84 p.54 read this article
Bill Beadie
▪ An apprenticeship, as described here, involves no transfer of cash, but the author lists a variety or reason why an apprenticeship might be a fine thing for apprentice and mentor alike.
2005
AL#84 p.50 BRB7 p.412
John Calkin
▪ Resurrection isn’t so much about true restoration as in making a dilapidated instrument function again in a manner that the owner can afford. Time-saving procedures are permitted that a restorationist wouldn’t dream of, but preserving the instrument as much as possible is still the goal. With 12 photos.
2005
AL#84 p.36
Chris Burt
▪ This is an in-depth look at the tools and procedures used in carving the plates of an archtop instrument. The first article in this series appeared in AL#83, and subsequent articles will follow.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#84 p.34 BRB7 p.411
Tom Blackshear
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2005
AL#84 p.33 BRB7 p.410
Tom Blackshear
▪ One page of notes plus a 2-page spread of GAL full-size plan #53 of a Reyes flamenco guitar.
2005
AL#84 p.28 BRB7 p.404
R.E. Brune
▪ This Meet the Maker article focuses on a Spanish luthier who has been in the business since 1949. With 30 photos of four guitars.
2005
AL#84 p.22 BRB7 p.386
R.M. Mottola
▪ Instruments with domed plates must have the rib assembly altered to accept the topography of the plates. This can be done after assembly or before bending. The author offers an overview of how either can be accomplished.
2005
AL#84 p.18 BRB7 p.402
Mark Swanson Del Langejans
▪ Langejans is a resourceful guitar maker with a big-time clientele. Many of his designs are unique, as is his finishing material and some of the wood he uses. He has strong opinions about how to get started and survive in the business, which have apparently worked for him very well. With 9 photos.
2005
AL#84 p.6 BRB7 p.392
Greg Byers
▪ With tools you’ve probably already got in your shop you can make mosaic rosettes that look modern and yet somehow traditional. The techniques differ from the bricks and tiles made of old and are more akin to the processes of making fancy purflings. Cooler than anything, but not for the impatient among us. With 31 photos and a pair of diagrams.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#84 p.3 BRB7 p.545
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune comments on the restoration of the Torres guitar covered in AL #83. Brune worked on this guitar previous to Elliott’s restoration, and he offers two more photos of the instrument.
2005
AL#83 p.61 BRB7 p.501
David Golber
▪ Restoring old decorated Hardanger fiddle pegs. You need to preserve the old carved button, so this method involves grafting it to a new shaft.
2005
AL#83 p.60 BRB7 p.500
Brian Yarosh
▪ A trash can steamer to correct wood bent in the wrong direction or orientation.
2005
AL#83 p.59 BRB7 p.479
Alain Bieber
▪ Bieber says there are old patents that show guitars with top grain orientation perpendicular to the strings. But were any of these ever built?
2005
AL#83 p.59 BRB7 p.473
R.M. Mottola
▪ Typical instrument dimensions for guitars, mandolins, violins, etc for use in CAD drafting.
2005
AL#83 p.58 BRB7 p.453
Eugene Clark David Hurd Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Canting the bass side of the fretboard on classical guitars and resulting saddle and string compensation.
2005
AL#83 p.55 BRB7 p.533 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer notes that luthiers with a modicum of experience may find this book and CD combination lacking in useful new information. However, he enjoyed the reading/viewing and decides that the beginning electric luthier could do much worse than starting with Koch’s work.
2005
AL#83 p.53 BRB7 p.533 read this article
Tom Harper
▪ This offering includes a pamphlet by R.E. Brune and Don Pilarz that includes 30 color photos of this guitar, a new full-size blueprint by Brune, a CD of music by Segovia, and a poster. The reviewer concludes that “as a builder of classical instruments I really can’t imagine passing up this compilation.” ‘Nuff said.
2005
AL#83 p.52 BRB7 p.532 read this article
C.F. Casey
▪ The reviewer notes that this book is more about harp construction theory than about actual construction techniques, but decides that that is where the emphasis should be. He notes that the section of string length vs. string tension is especially useful, and that the book as a whole should have an important place on any harp makers’ reference shelf.
2005
AL#83 p.44 BRB7 p.380
Todd Rose Jay Hargreaves
▪ Bass maker Hargreaves is hardly a stranger to AL readers. Here he stands on the other end of the interview as he discusses his work as well as his affiliations with Michael Kasha and Richard Schneider.
2005
AL#83 p.42 read this article
Johannes Labusch Ermanno Chiavi
▪ Few harp guitars are nylon strung. Fewer still have frets under all the strings. The Chiavi-Miolin is unique, weird, and strangely beautiful. Its goal is to play piano and lute literature without leaving out notes. With 4 photos.
2005
AL#83 p.36
Harry Fleishman Mike Doolin
▪ Two experts in the field of acoustic amplification discuss available equipment as well as why few of them seem to work as well as we might wish. They do not dumb down the technical talk, so be prepared to expand your vocabulary and your mind. With 2 photos and 4 diagrams.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#83 p.32 BRB7 p.378
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2005
AL#83 p.18 BRB7 p.364
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Restoring famous instruments is a tricky business. If they are also old, well-played, and abused by poor storage facilities the work becomes a cross between knowledge, craft, and art. Elliott goes where few of us would care to travel, explaining every step of restoration as he goes. Perhaps as important is what he doesn’t do. The ethics of restoration is a foundation of the story. With 42 photos as well as a 2-page spread of GAL full-size plan #52.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#83 p.14 BRB7 p.358
Michael Finnerty Bradley Clark
▪ Cole Clark Guitars is an Australian company specializing in computer designed and manufactured flattop and electric guitars. Rather than use CNC machines to duplicate old guitar styles of construction they have modified their designs to suit the potentials of the machinery, which in the end reduces expensive hand labor by as much as half. A sidebar mentions the lutherie uses of 3 Aussie wood varieties. With 10 photos.
2005
AL#83 p.10 BRB7 p.362
Jonathon Peterson Pierre-Yves Fuchs
▪ Fuchs went through cabinet making school and violin making school on his way to becoming a gold medal bow maker. He is traditional and opinionated, and will make you believe that there might be cosmic influences involved in making an excellent bow. Intuition, that is. Tradition, experience, and a good feeling about your work in progress. Science guys may pull their hair out, but most of us would rather have good intuition than a good grounding in physics. With 3 photos.
2005
AL#83 p.6
Chris Burt
▪ Do you own or have access to archtop instruments that you’d like to duplicate? Ever wonder why they sound so good, or why they don’t? Use this article to map out the plate thicknesses, arch heights, and neck angles. Measure everything you can get your hands on. Become an expert. Tell your friends how they’re going wrong. Be the hero of your lutherie group.With 6 photos.
2005
AL#82 p.69 BRB7 p.499
Barry Irvin
▪ Filling oral-dosing syringes with leftover glue, using the supplied caps and putting them in the freezer for small doses in future jobs.
2005
AL#82 p.68 BRB7 p.498
Marc Connelly
▪ Making a hex wrench long enough to insert through the end pin hole to bolt on a guitar neck.
2005
AL#82 p.67
Cyndy Burton
▪ A source for plans to build a metal dobro and the parts that cannot be made.
2005
AL#82 p.67
Cyndy Burton
▪ Advice for a beginner on how to create stringed instruments with gorgeous tone.
2005
AL#82 p.67
Cyndy Burton
▪ Liability insurance for guitars from guitar stores being repaired in a home shop.
2005
AL#82 p.67
Wes Brandt
▪ Wes knows no makers of orpharions in the USA, but steers the questioner to Stephen barber in the UK.
2005
AL#82 p.66 BRB7 p.437
Don Overstreet Don MacRostie
▪ Cleaning a 1920 Gibson A-4 mandolin properly without hammering whatever finish is present and removing the wax layers.
2005
AL#82 p.66 BRB7 p.431
Bill Hunter
▪ The toxicity of U.F.O. (user friendly odorless) cyanoacrylate glue made by Satellite City, makers of Hot Stuff.
2005
AL#82 p.64 BRB7 p.531 read this article
Ken Goodwin
▪ The reviewer enjoyed the CD-ROM format of this teaching unit, noting that the pictures are better than those of a typical book, though navigating around the CD can be irritating at first. Though he hints that there could be more instruction for the money he concludes that a beginning violin maker would find the CD a good investment.
2005
AL#82 p.63 BRB7 p.530 read this article
Bryan Johanson
▪ The author really, really likes this history of the vihuela. But you have to read it in the French.
2005
AL#82 p.58 BRB7 p.336
Brian Yarosh
▪ Yarosh came up with a top-loaded (pinless) bridge with individual sliding bone saddles. You can build one yourself with his good description and 26 photos.
2005
AL#82 p.56 BRB7 p.356
Philippe Refig
▪ This is a short description of a Hierros classical made in 1845 (no pictures) and of a Garcia from 1920 with 3 photos.
2005
AL#82 p.54 read this article
Bruce Calder
▪ Take a 2-page, 6-photo journey to a lutherie shop around the world. The ouds and other instruments are vastly different from American Normal and their decoration is almost beyond description.
2005
AL#82 p.51
Ervin Somogyi
▪ So you’ve made a guitar but it’s not all you hoped for. You have the opportunity to discuss it with your peers and they all have a cure. Unhappily the methods of correction don’t jibe. Somogyi finally got a response he could live with. It saved his guitar and eventually turned into an unexpected sale. The whole trick is in lucking into the right guy to talk to.
2005
AL#82 p.44 BRB7 p.350
Aaron Green
▪ As far as looks go, guitars with wooden tuning pegs are the cat’s patoot. Regarding long-term functioning, though… well, maybe you better read Green’s article. His method of installing hidden maple bushings in the headstock should put you way ahead of the game. With 21 photographs.
2005
AL#82 p.41 BRB7 p.348
R.M. Mottola
▪ Here’s the numbers and how to use them.
2005
AL#82 p.38 BRB7 p.344
R.M. Mottola
▪ It’s not necessary to understand the physics of sound to be a great instrument maker, but it can’t hurt. Many of us would like to believe that we succeed using experience and strong intuition and don’t need science. Maybe an analytical mind just gets in the way, no? Or maybe the science guys are just smarter than the rest of us and we need an excuse not to stand in the same light that they do. Who knows? Anyhow, the Helmholtz resonance is the lowest vibratory mode of an instrument, though not necessarily the lowest note that instrument is capable of. All the rest of sound physics is built on top of the Helmholtz resonance, and Mottola devolves the science enough for the rest of us to understand. It’s fun but in the end it’s not clear that it really matters. For the few among us with operational math brains all the formulas are presented in a sidebar.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#82 p.36 BRB7 p.343
Luis-Alberto Paredes-Rodriguez
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2005
AL#82 p.34 BRB7 p.341
Luis-Alberto Paredes-Rodriguez
▪ Tracking the evolution of Spanish-based South American instruments can be complicated. Fortunately luthiers don’t have to care about it since we live in the present, or at least many of us try to. The Colombian tiple is a four course, 12-string instrument a bit smaller than a classical guitar, and not like the Martin tiple at all. The heart of this article is the 2 page version of GAL plan #51. The text dabbles with instrument history and offers a string gauge chart as well as a family tree of the tiple, bandola, and guitar. The most intriguing text involves the author’s method in compensating the nut when different gauges of strings are used in the same course. With 1 photo.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#82 p.26 BRB7 p.312
Jonathon Peterson Charles Beare
▪ Beare is the captain of a violin restoration firm, a competition judge, and a man thoroughly versed in the intricacies of vintage violins. He has known all the experts of his life time, and he has formulated many strong opinions about old fiddles and the various fields that use them to do business. You’ll find him interesting even if you aren’t a violin person. With 9 photos.
2005
AL#82 p.6 BRB7 p.320
Fred Carlson
▪ Carlson makes some of the world’s coolest, most graceful, and weirdest stringed instruments. Focusing on a harp guitar he calls the Flying Dream he discusses at length how he designs and builds his creations. There is lots of detailed info here that will help you build the instruments you see in your mind, as opposed to the ones for which you can already buy a blueprint. Truly inspirational. With 42 photos and 10 drawings.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#82 p.5
National-Music-Museum
▪ After his untimely death, Paul Gudelsky’s wonderful collection of archtop guitars by James D’Aquisto became the basis of a new collection permanent exhibit at the National Music Museum. Paul had previously shown this collection at the 1995 GAL Convention where luthiers were invited to examine and play the instruments.
2005
AL#81 p.65 BRB7 p.497
Michael Turko
▪ Cauls made of aluminum and packing foam are quick and easy for gluing braces into a guitar.
2005
AL#81 p.65 BRB7 p.498
Ervin Somogyi
▪ You know how you see new cars being shipped to the dealer’s lot with big sheets of protective film on them so the bug spalts will peel off? Similar thought here. Paper protectors are made for polished pegheads.
2005
AL#81 p.64 BRB7 p.496
Keith Davis
▪ Removing and replacing bridge plates in dreadnought guitars the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid) way.
2005
AL#81 p.63 BRB7 p.423
John Calkin
▪ Rule of thumb information on saddle compensation for an octave mandolin with a 560mm scale and fixed bridge.
2005
AL#81 p.63 BRB7 p.415
John Calkin
▪ The thick soundboard requirement in hammered dulcimer construction.
2005
AL#81 p.62
Ellis McMullin
▪ Workbench plans for guitar making.
2005
AL#81 p.62 BRB7 p.235
Byron Will
▪ Tips and directions in digital photography for workshop and instrument construction documentation.
2005
AL#81 p.59 BRB7 p.528 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ The right side of the brain is creative and the left side is analytical. It’s nice when they can work together, but for most of us one side or the other is dominant. The reviewer (who is admittedly left-brained) would like even right-brained luthiers to read this book, though he admits that they may struggle. Intelligent people shouldn’t ignore any source of information that may improve their work. Those who become luthiers to escape from real work may not grasp this concept.
2005
AL#81 p.58 BRB7 p.527 read this article
C.F. Casey
▪ The reviewer enjoyed this Spanish-only book about the Puerto Rican tiple, which includes the instrument’s history, how to build it, and how to play it.
2005
AL#81 p.56 BRB7 p.514
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer likes this system of pulling down the bulging tops of flattop guitars. With 3 photos and a diagram.
2005
AL#81 p.54 BRB7 p.300
Thomas-C. DeVeau
▪ A basic archtop-style, floating bridge, that is. With 9 photos.
2005
AL#81 p.46 BRB7 p.306
Bruce Calder Bob Jones
▪ Jones is one of the “big guys” in the New York City instrument repair scene. He owns some very cool collectables. He’s worked for some of the biggest names in the industry. He has definite opinions about how to get into the business. How could you not read this? With 13 photos, including one of a double neck Selmer.
2005
AL#81 p.40 BRB7 p.302 read this article
Ralph Charles
▪ Man! How come red spruce is so expensive? And how come we can’t find a red spruce top as pretty as a piece of Sitka? Friends, if you look at enough old guitars you’ll realize that Adirondack spruce tops were rarely tight-grained, perfectly straight, and perfectly quartered all at the same time. The big stands of Eastern spruce may have been harvested 60 years ago, but forester Charles is here to say that the trees never grew with luthiers in mind. Man has had a random hand in growing red spruces for generations, and so have beavers. Conditions in the woods can change rapidly. It’s wild out there! To amateur naturalists this is exciting stuff. With 5 photos and a chart.
2005
AL#81 p.36 BRB7 p.296
Jon Sevy
▪ All those cool pre-war Martins not withstanding, many luthiers believe that domed guitar tops are the way to go. But they can complicate construction in unforeseen ways. Sevy offers a mathematical cure, a set of formulas for predicting neck pitch and saddle height. Probably not for the math challenged, but give it a look before you abandon this path. With 4 charts and 5 diagrams.
2005
AL#81 p.26 BRB7 p.286 read this article
Cyndy Burton Kevin La-Due
▪ A high school teacher coaches entire classes through guitar making. Think kids can’t do it? You’ll be surprised. Some well-made and easy-to-use jigs make the process faster and friendlier, and the use of local wood makes it affordable. Pretty inspirational, and with 21 photos.
2005
AL#81 p.22 read this article
John Calkin Steve Kinnaird
▪ Two luthiers decide to build guitars for each other, a straight across trade and with a minimum of rules. Its wonderful fun if the anxiety doesn’t kill you. With 5 photos.
2005
AL#81 p.8 BRB7 p.274
Steve Kauffman
▪ Kauffman and friend Steve Klein have used carbon fiber (graphite/epoxy) in as many guitar applications as anyone, stopping short (I think) of an entirely graphite instrument. If you’ve only dabbled with graphite truss rods and such you have no idea how hotly some others are pursuing synthetic materials to make wood guitars sound better and last longer. “All natural materials” has been a battle cry for decades, but perhaps the time is ripe for making natural materials better than nature had in mind. You be the judge. With 36 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#81 p.7
Harry Fleishman
▪ The innovative and energetic luthier has a few thoughts on the nature of patents, original ideas, proper acknowledgement, and the damaging power of rumor.
2005
AL#81 p.5 read this article
Robert-J. Spear
▪ Spear announces the division of the New Violin Family Association (NVFA) from the Catgut Acoustical Society. The CAS then merged with the Violin Society of America. Both the CAS and the NVFA were founded and based upon the work of Carleen Hutchins.
2005
AL#81 p.3 BRB7 p.299 read this article
Eric Meyer
▪ Another member of the tribe moves on.
2004
AL#80 p.65 BRB7 p.496
Dale Randall
▪ With this arrangement, fresh glue can be injected straight from the bottle through plastic tubing which terminates in a brass ink holder from a ballpoint pen which serves as an injection needle.
2004
AL#80 p.64 BRB7 p.495
Brent Benfield
▪ Taking the lead from Jose Romanillos in fitting bent sides into slots cut in the sides of the Spanish heel to join the neck to the body.
2004
AL#80 p.63 BRB7 p.57
Udi Vachterman
▪ A severe, itchy skin rash presumably brought on by woods or chemicals in glues.
2004
AL#80 p.63 BRB7 p.268
Howard Bryan
▪ Evaluating an old Clark harp, SN 2102, with light wear.
2004
AL#80 p.63 BRB7 p.268
John Greven
▪ Radiusing in John Greven’s X brace, as seen in AL#76, page 22.
2004
AL#80 p.61 BRB7 p.349
R.E. Brune
▪ A highly valued classical guitar from the 60s that has developed a dish between the bridge and the sound hole.
2004
AL#80 p.61 BRB7 p.259
Robert Ruck
▪ Sound ports in guitar sides near the neck to help boost the sound for the player, especially the hard of hearing, and even the audience.
2004
AL#80 p.60 BRB7 p.233
Randy DeBey James Condino
▪ Construction and repair issues for upright bass.
2004
AL#80 p.59 BRB7 p.526 read this article
Bryan Johanson
▪ The reviewer gushes about the detail and quality of research that went into the book, as well as the authors’ enthusiasm for their subjects.
2004
AL#80 p.58 BRB7 p.525 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer found this book about several ways of constructing the Irish bouzouki to be up-to-date, useful, and generally well written, though the huge number of typos bothered him.
2004
AL#80 p.56 BRB7 p.272
Lloyd Marsden
▪ Gaining access to the inside of guitars through a door in the tail block seems to be catching on. The author’s method of construction saves the side material as part of the door to make the assembled instrument as normal looking as possible. With 8 photos.
2004
AL#80 p.52 BRB7 p.507
Harry Fleishman
▪ Toolman Harry examines three new measuring devices from Stew-Mac and finds them all to be accurately made and useful. The tools are the Fret Rocker (for finding high frets), the String Action Gauge (for measuring string height), and the String Spacing Tool (for laying out nuts and perhaps saddles). With 3 photos and a diagram.
2004
AL#80 p.48 BRB7 p.260
John-C. Moore
▪ Spectroscopy turns instrument noise into pictures, or graphs. As the author points out, the equipment for accomplishing this has now left the lab and is available to the home user. It may take some time to find out if these graphs are useful to the builder of instruments, but as Moore states, the only way to find out is to get started. With 12 graphs and 2 photos.
2004
AL#80 p.46 BRB7 p.270
Eugene Clark Jonathon Peterson
▪ Scratch tools are like one-tooth saws. One of Eugene’s has a chisel tip, the other a pointed tip.The detail knife has only one bevel and is intended to make right hand cuts only. Descriptions of their uses are included. With 7 photos.
2004
AL#80 p.39 BRB7 p.267
Alain Bieber
▪
2004
AL#80 p.38 BRB7 p.262
Alain Bieber
▪ The author offers a nice history of guitars built with adjustable and/or removable necks and states a variety of reasons why we should build our guitars with this feature today. The benefits of adjustability are pretty irrefutable, and modern adjustable systems are easier to incorporate than the dovetail joint so commonly seen. The effect upon instrument tone seems to be minor or nonexistent. This is a very convincing article. With 10 photos and 5 diagrams. Mentions Fabricatore, Staufer, Scherzer, Lacote, others.
2004
AL#80 p.28 BRB7 p.254
Cyndy Burton Armin Kelly
▪ Meet the dealer? Well, when a dealer has such a strong influence in the lives of the luthiers he represents, why not? If you build, and if you want to sell through a dealer, you need to read this interview. Besides, Kelly’s enthusiasm is so infectious it will send you right back to your workbench. Boutique guitar builders and shops are relatively new to the steel string, but it has always been the way among classical guitar people. This is why. With 3 photos.
2004
AL#80 p.27 BRB7 p.253
R.M. Mottola
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2004
AL#80 p.22 BRB7 p.248
R.M. Mottola
▪ Savart built a simplified violin that apparently sounded very good. This was long ago. The author uses Savart’s general principles to build a much simplified upright bass that compares to the traditional design in sound. But the scale length is 34″, and it can use electric bass guitar strings if desired. An interesting concept and a cool looking instrument. With 14 photos. Included is a one-page version of GAL Plan #50 of Mottola’s bass.
2004
AL#80 p.15 BRB7 p.245
Frank Ford
▪ Different repairpersons are willing to do jobs that others wouldn’t, and some repairs are socially acceptable at one time and not at another, so sometimes a repairman is faced with undoing another repair guy’s work. In this case it’s not as a restoration but to make the altered guitar more playable while keeping within the general style of the maker. This little Martin went from a slot-head, to friction pegs, to a solid head with contemporary tuners. Whew! Check out the use of the milling machine. With 19 photos.
2004
AL#80 p.10 BRB7 p.236
Jonathon Peterson Frank Ford
▪ Sometimes an interviewer has to pry information out of a person. Not so with Frank Ford, who unleashes a wonderful account of his life as a repairman in the Bay area. Prominently mentioned are Richard Johnston, Jon Lundberg, Dan Erlewine, Gryphon Instruments, and Mario Martello. Inspirational stuff, including 14 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#80 p.4 BRB7 p.228
Ervin Somogyi
▪ The author not only explains how the traditional lute rose is carved, but demonstrates how the technique might be used other than as a rosette. With 17 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#79 p.64 BRB7 p.494
Eugene Clark
▪ The ultimate palette knife is a grapefruit knife, a chef’s tool made by Dexter Russell Inc, which can be used for hot shellac and in routing.
2004
AL#79 p.64 BRB7 p.494
William-G. Snavely
▪ Using rectangular-section steel tubing rather than radiused sanding blocks to shape a fretboard which tends to over-radius the edges.
2004
AL#79 p.64 BRB7 p.64
Dennis Russell
▪ A Eureka Hotshot steamer purchased at Home Depot and rigged up for use on violins, cellos, and anything else that has hide glue joints.
2004
AL#79 p.63 BRB7 p.475
Don MacRostie
▪ Doing a sunburst finish by hand, without using a spray gun.
2004
AL#79 p.63 BRB7 p.469
Cyndy Burton
▪ Cautionary tidbits for bending African blackwood for the first time with a Fox side bender.
2004
AL#79 p.63 BRB7 p.252
Frank Ford
▪ Effectiveness of making a batch of hide glue, freezing it in ice cube trays, then microwaving it to thaw each cube as needed.
2004
AL#79 p.63 BRB7 p.252
Charles Fox
▪ Tiny scratches after using a power buffer to rub out finish.
2004
AL#79 p.60 BRB7 p.512
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer examines Stew-Mac’s top and back brace sets for flattop guitars and finds that they limit the luthiers design options, but he nonetheless is able to put them into one of his guitars with no qualms. With 4 photos.
2004
AL#79 p.58 BRB7 p.234
R.M. Mottola
▪ An outside mold is one that the instrument under construction sits inside of. Weird, huh? The author has made changes to his molds that make them into side bending forms as well. Pretty cool. With 3 diagrams.
2004
AL#79 p.48 BRB7 p.516
Todd Rose
▪ Slot-heads have been standard on classical guitars since they evolved away from wooden friction pegs, but that elegant design has appeared only intermittently on steel string guitars. Noting a comeback in the steel string slot-head, the author examines and evaluates many of the various tuners available, from the basic to the sublime. With 19 photos and list of sources.
2004
AL#79 p.46 BRB7 p.224
Paul Woolson
▪ If you’re going to need a bunch of identical parts you might as well jig up to do it. Besides, making jigs is fun. Here’s one method (of many, no doubt) to make bridges a whole lot faster than you can make guitars to put them on. You can do that by hand, too, it just doesn’t feel that way. With 7 photos and a diagram.
2004
AL#79 p.34 BRB7 p.416
Peggy Stuart Don MacRostie
▪ The author attended a mandolin making class taught by Don MacRostie at the American School of Lutherie. The first four parts of her report appeared in the four previous issues of AL. Part Five concerns the application of a sunburst using stains, both by spraying and rubbing, as well as the application of lacquer and French polish finishes. With 37 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#79 p.22
Bon Henderson
▪ If you were there you know how cool it was, and if you weren’t, you’ll have to make do with the 80 photos collected here.
2004
AL#79 p.6 BRB7 p.206
R.E. Brune
▪ In a sense Brune is laying down the law for successful classical guitar making. Much of it will be useful to any builder, and all of it is interesting because Brune is an interesting man who has his thoughts together. Not to mention that he’s a heck of a luthier with a deep background in the history of his craft. With 30 photos and 8 diagrams. Mentions Santos Hernandez, Marcelo Barbaro, Ignacio Fleta, Hermann Hauser, Sr.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#79 p.5 read this article
Keith Watson
▪
2004
AL#78 p.69 BRB7 p.493
Mark Brantley
▪ Modifying the Rockwell trim router to route the edge of guitars and ukuleles for binding.
2004
AL#78 p.68 BRB7 p.495
David Riggs
▪ Correcting common issues when making a flattop bridge.
2004
AL#78 p.68 BRB7 p.492
Michael Breid
▪ Making a brace prop gauge from a dowel, brass tubing, and scrap dowel for the knob.
2004
AL#78 p.67
Eugene Clark
▪ Making a viable batch of French polish and considering the variables: brands of flake and grain alcohol, dissolving or grinding flakes, and age of shellac flake.
2004
AL#78 p.67 BRB7 p.357
John McCarthy
▪ Finish for cocobolo.
2004
AL#78 p.64 BRB7 p.226
John Calkin
▪ The author maintains that the safest way to bend a radical cutaway is to do it in two steps, both using an electric blanket. With 9 photos.
2004
AL#78 p.62 BRB7 p.172
Robert Deacon
▪ Using templates to slot a fingerboard is the way to go, whether you use a miter box or a table saw. The author doesn’t mention it, but his templates should work as well for table saw people as for the miter box folks. Of course, this is for making templates for scale lengths not offered by the manufacturer of the templates. With 2 photos and 3 diagrams.
2004
AL#78 p.56 read this article
Dave Raley
▪ The pine woods are full of leaky trees that want you to make rosin varnish. The author tells how to harvest it and how to make an electric tin can kiln to melt rosin into a form that can be dissolved in alcohol. With 7 photos and 6 diagrams.
2004
AL#78 p.54 BRB7 p.204
Robert-A. Edelstein Ben Edelstein
▪ How would you like an inspection tool that slides into any soundhole and gives you an electronic picture of what it sees? It’s here, it’s very cool, but it’s still pretty expensive. With 7 photos.
2004
AL#78 p.51 BRB7 p.220
R.M. Mottola
▪ A couple decades ago electric musicians believed that the only way to get good sustain and tone was by playing a heavy guitar or bass. Guitarists gave up on this a few years ago, but bass players have been slower to go light. The author specializes in bass instruments, and the design he includes here weighs less than six pounds while surrendering precious little to much heavier bass guitars With 4 photos and 2 diagrams.
2004
AL#78 p.46 BRB7 p.200
John Calkin Jeffrey Yong
▪ Yong hails from Malaysia, a country not often associated with fine lutherie. Nevertheless, he makes a lot of instruments that look very contemporary and tasty, and he has access to varieties of wood that would make many of us very envious. With 10 photos.
2004
AL#78 p.45 BRB7 p.199
Michael Darnton
▪ By making a topo map of the spherical arch you wish your top or back to be (in 1/32″ intervals in this example) one only has to lay an outline of the guitar on the map and chart the contour of the sides. So easy. So elegant. So how come it wasn’t more obvious? With one photo and one diagram.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#78 p.28 BRB7 p.416
Peggy Stuart Don MacRostie
▪ Ms. Stuart’s epic continues with the making of the headstock cap, shaping of the neck, installing the neck and fingerboard, as well as setting up and stringing the finished (but in-the-white) instrument. The first three parts were in the three previous issues of AL. Don MacRostie taught Stuart’s class at the American School of Lutherie. With 74 photos, most of the step-by-step process.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#78 p.20 BRB7 p.192
Cyndy Burton Lester DeVoe
▪ A maker of flamenco guitars discusses guitarists and instruments. A good interview can be as inspiring as a good how-to, and this is a good interview. Mentions Santos Hernandez, Sabicas, Paco de Lucia.
2004
AL#78 p.4 BRB7 p.174
Dan Erlewine Frank Ford
▪ A ton of guitar repairs can only be accomplished by reaching through the soundhole. Here, two masters of the genre describe some of their methods a working in the cramped darkness, some of the tools they’ve used and/or created, and the attitude you have to acquire when getting stumped and handing back an unrepaired guitar is not an option. With 32 photos.
2004
AL#78 p.2
Gerhard Oldiges
▪
2004
AL#77 p.68
Jim Hoover
▪ Where to get mandola plans.
2004
AL#77 p.68 BRB7 p.107
John Greven Eugene Clark Charles Fox Greg Byers Gernot Wagner
▪ A rationale, acoustic or structural, for single blocks VS solid linings VS kerfed linings between the sides and back and the sides and top when building a first guitar.
2004
AL#77 p.67 BRB7 p.490
Scott van-Linge
▪ Mushy, overcooked angel hair spaghetti as an excellent grain filler for mahogany necks.
2004
AL#77 p.67 BRB7 p.491
C.F. Casey
▪ Making use of undamaged portions of a dozuki saw blade after some teeth have been chipped out.
2004
AL#77 p.67 BRB7 p.492
Carl Formoso
▪ A few useful approaches to making sides for ukuleles.
2004
AL#77 p.64 read this article
Marc Connelly
▪ The setar is a “long-necked, fretted, 3-or 4-stringed instrument with a gourd-shaped soundbox,” (reviewer’s description). The reviewer loves this book about how to construct the setar, admires it for its detail and concision, and enjoys the fact that it is printed in both English and Persian script (in 2 sections, not both at once).
2004
AL#77 p.64 BRB7 p.524
Don Overstreet
▪ The reviewer likes these brass finger planes made in Arizona and in the end decides that their price of $89 apiece is reasonable for any professional builder of archtop instruments.
2004
AL#77 p.60 BRB7 p.169
R.M. Mottola
▪ If you are not fascinated by computers you probably don’t want a personal CNC machine of any size. If lutherie is your escape from modern technology, you are also excused. But if computers and robots and programming turn you on you may want to combine your hobbies by investing in and/or building a small CNC machine. (The word hobby seems to connote such a lack of seriousness that we use it hesitatingly, but you know what we mean.) Mottola finds that his little CNC has moved his work beyond what he might attempt without it, as well as speeding up and spiffing up stuff that he used to do by other means. This is not so much a how-to as a why-do, but if it doesn’t charge you up, then computer-aided manufacturing is not for you. With 8 photos.
2004
AL#77 p.54 BRB7 p.186
Peter Hurney
▪ Hurney’s pantograph uses chain drive and a chainsaw carving attachment on an angle-grinder to shape ukulele necks. The scale of the machine can be adjusted for whatever size neck you wish to carve. There are 7 photos and a series of diagrams to help you along, but if you’re not already a mechanic you’d have to be pretty adventurous to build one of these without help.
2004
AL#77 p.38 BRB7 p.416
Peggy Stuart Don MacRostie
▪ The epic continues! In this segment the neck is assembled, the body is closed up and bound, and the fingerboard is bound and fretted. All this is accomplished under the able tutelage of Don MacRostie at the American School of Lutherie. With 67 photos. Parts 1 and 2 were in the two previous issues of American Lutherie.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#77 p.36 BRB7 p.168
Wilfried Ulrich
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2004
AL#77 p.30 BRB7 p.162
Wilfried Ulrich
▪ Whether the hurdy-gurdy is a fascination or an abomination is up to each listener, but it has to be built right to be given a fair shot. Ulrich uses historical examples as a basis for his instruments, then modifies them to suit contemporary players. This article contains some hurdy-history, photos of a museum hurdy, and a magazine-size version of GAL Plan #49. Also included are photos and drawings of Ulrich’s hurdy-gurdy, a chart of dimensions for laying out the key box, and a series of drawings to help explain the inner workings of the beast. You, too, can enjoy a bit of history in all its hurdy-glory.
2004
AL#77 p.28 BRB7 p.160 read this article
Stephen Frith
▪ Frith travels to Austria to mill spruce with Tobias Braun, and suggests that other luthiers might like to treat themselves to such a holiday. See the world, spend time in the outdoors, and collect some European spruce at a remarkable price! With 9 photos of sawmill mayhem to whet your appetite.
2004
AL#77 p.22 BRB7 p.156
John Calkin
▪ Dealing with a store saves you the hassle of dealing with customers but includes the uncertainties of not having access to the customers. The pros and cons are examined. Meanwhile, a Gretsch electric guitar fingerboard is removed, the truss rod swapped out, and the instrument is restored, all in good detail. With 10 photos.
2004
AL#77 p.8 BRB7 p.142
Jonathon Peterson Sue Mooers Ray Mooers
▪ This is a wonderful story of how a couple began a basement lutherie business and ended up employing 36 people in the creation of fine harps and hammered dulcimers. Everybody in the lutherie trades should be this nice and interesting (and the wonder of it is that so many are!). With 37 photos, including a bunch of the harp assembly shop.
2003
AL#76p.65 BRB7 p.491
Alain Bieber
▪ A method for matching the curl when making 4-piece curly maple backs.
2003
AL#76 p.64
Tim Olsen
▪ GAL plan #44 is for a simple, esy-to-make guitar. No side bending involved.
2003
AL#76 p.64
David Riggs
▪ David says he has templates from his own workin the early 1970s.
2003
AL#76 p.64
Brian Stewart
▪ Recomendations for MIDI pickups.
2003
AL#76 p.64 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola says it makes no diff. He points to an article in by Steve Newberry in BRB2 p.106, which see.
2003
AL#76 p.60 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ This is an episode in the series that even digiphobes will enjoy, taking the file to the CNC man to actually make necks by computer-guided milling machine. This is not a machine that most of us will ever own, or even want to, but it’s obvious how effectively it might add to ones output. With 15 photos.
2003
AL#76 p.58 BRB7 p.510
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer tries out the Spot Check contact thermometer on his side-bending machine and makes some interesting discoveries. This tool is too cheap and useful to be without. With 3 photos.
2003
AL#76 p.52 BRB7 p.132
Larry Mills Chris Jenkins
▪ Replacing the conventional guitar tail block with an access panel is an appealing idea whose time has come. Why you should use it and how it is made is the focus of this article. This may be the first article of its kind. Pretty humorous, too. With 15 photos.
2003
AL#76 p.46 BRB7 p.138
John Calkin
▪ One man’s journey through the world of lacquer paint that includes safety equipment, varieties of paint both old and new, application equipment, and some preferences. With 7 photos.
2003
AL#76 p.42 BRB7 p.128
Tom Harper
▪ The author went to the American School of Lutherie where he learned the Fox style of binding from Fox associate Cameron Carr. The binding is completely taped in place while dry, then glued in after everything fits just right. Just one more example of how modern materials have improved the quality of lutherie. With 9 photos.
2003
AL#76 p.41 BRB7 p.137
Mike Doolin
▪ Fanned-Fret fingerboards use those wacky, slanted frets you’ve probably seen on some “California” guitars. So how does one cut those slots accurately? Doolin has worked out a method—make the ‘board its own miter box. Pretty cool. With 5 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#76 p.38 BRB7 p.126
Michael Darnton
▪ Certainly no instrument maker has been as studied and thought about as Stradivari. Not only would modern makers like to be as successful as he was, but his methods were poorly recorded and have to be rediscovered by examining his instruments. It’s a puzzle, and luthiers are by nature patient puzzle solvers. So, was there a Cremonese formula for laying out f-holes? Darnton thinks so, and believes he may be onto the answer. With a photo and one drawing.
2003
AL#76 p.28 BRB7 p.416
Peggy Stuart Don MacRostie
▪ Stuart continues her tale of learning to make a mandolin under the tutelage of Don MacRostie. In this episode of the four-part series, jigs and power tools become more important as the instrument comes together. This isn’t about becoming Geppetto, plying one’s trade with a knife and a chisel. This is about making mandolins in the real world. Routers and tablesaws are staple items, as are several impressive jigs created by MacRostie. With 37 photos and 3 drawings.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#76 p.16 BRB7 p.116
Mike Doolin John Greven
▪ This wonderful interview has the kind of depth that only happens when friends talk. It takes familiarity to know what to ask and how to answer. Humor permeates this discussion of alternative woods, business ploys, the Internet, and in general living the life of a successful luthier. Greven has been in the business as long as anyone and is generous with his advice and experience. With 22 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#76 p.8 BRB7 p.110
Steve Klein
▪ Klein delivers a lecture that asks as many questions as it attempt to answer. Why has guitar design seemed to stall when so many other fields are jumping into the future? What do musicians really want? How can we make musicians want what we want to build? Is there any more to improve on the steel string guitar? A thought-provoking piece, indeed. With 13 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#76 p.6
William Nesse
▪ Nesse offers a math correction to Rodney Stedall’s dished workboard article in AL#74.
2003
AL#76 p.6
David Quinn
▪ Quinn offers a math correction to Mike Nealon’s compound radius jig found in AL#66.
2003
AL#75 p.69
Chad Phillips
▪ A blonde finish to obscure a repair just enough to be invisible.
2003
AL#75 p.69 BRB7 p.490
Peter Giolitto
▪ A self-aligning saw to produce kerfed linings using two cheap identical back saws.
2003
AL#75 p.68
Mike Doolin
▪ A plan for a Gibson Firebird.
2003
AL#75 p.68 BRB7 p.71
Cyndy Burton
▪ Causes of some finish to craze more than others and what to do.
2003
AL#75 p.66 BRB7 p.108
Mike Doolin
▪ The author always uses the same binding/purfling scheme on his guitars, so he jigged up permanently set routers to use on his Ribbecke jig. Pretty cool if you never change your decoration scheme. With 5 photos.
2003
AL#75 p.64 BRB7 p.503
R.M. Mottola
▪ The author tries out soft cases (gig bags) by Colorado Case Co. and finds them to be satisfying though pricey. With 5 photos.
2003
AL#75 p.62 BRB7 p.106
R.M. Mottola
▪ Cool beans! Radius gauges you can cut out of the magazine and use on your instruments. Jeez, I mean gauges that you can Xerox, then cut out and mount on a backer board and use on your instruments. What was I thinking?
2003
AL#75 p.60 BRB7 p.104
John Calkin
▪ The emphasis of this little article is a Jeff Huss jig for quickly producing bridge plates on the tablesaw. With 7 photos.
2003
AL#75 p.56 BRB7 p.100
John Greven
▪ Heel carving is one of the few decorative effects usually permitted on steel string guitars. Carved heels look cool and, according to Greven, aren’t that hard to do. The tools required are minimal and the impact on the instrument large, a really fine combination. With 11 photos.
2003
AL#75 p.42 BRB7 p.76
Jonathon Peterson Dake Traphagen
▪ For those who really make an impact in lutherie complete immersion in the craft is the rule, not the exception. Long days, few breaks, and a lot of work. Traphagan is a good example. Floating to the top of the heap isn’t a simple matter. Still, one can get there while maintaining a sense of humor and a continuing appreciation for the mysteries of the craft, and Traphagan is also a good example of that, too. A really good interview with 10 photos and three diagrams of guitar tops.
2003
AL#75 p.40 BRB7 p.98
Jon Sevy
▪
2003
AL#75 p.39 BRB7 p.96
Mike Doolin
▪ Doolin enlists the aid of Jon Sevy to work out the math used in determining the side height of an instrument with a spherically-domed back. Knowing the side height will allow you to profile the sides to fit the guitar design before they are bent. With a photograph and three drawings.
2003
AL#75 p.36 BRB7 p.95
C.F. Casey
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2003
AL#75 p.32 BRB7 p.92
C.F. Casey
▪ Casey examines a Staufer-ish guitar made in Russia, a seven-string flattop with an adjustable neck feature. The guitar is parlor-size and with the old figure-eight body shape. Included are 12 photos as well as a small version of GAL Plan #48, a blueprint of the guitar with a list of all specs and materials.
2003
AL#75 p.12 BRB7 p.416
Peggy Stuart Don MacRostie
▪ The author describes her mandolin making class with Red Diamond mandolin builder Don MacRostie, giving us a photo-heavy series that should be of practical use to anyone in the mandolin field regardless of their experience. The emphasis is on hand tools, though power tools are used to add efficiency. With 68 photos and 4 drawings, this is the first in a four-part series.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#75 p.6 BRB7 p.86
Geza Burghardt Cyndy Burton
▪ Geza Burghhardt builds classical guitars on a workboard rather than a mold, but it isn’t just any old workboard. Its carefully jigged up for accuracy and guitar-to-guitar consistency and his jigs are nearly as pretty as his guitars. Well, to another luthier, anyhow. With 17 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.68 BRB7 p.489
Eric Foulke
▪
2003
AL#74 p.67 BRB7 p.488
Peter Giolitto
▪ A planing jig expanded from the old trick of inverting a plane in a vise for planing small items.
2003
AL#74 p.66 BRB7 p.490
Dave Dillman
▪ A simple wrench made from a piece of dowel to spin the wing nuts of the spool clamps snug when clamping the top or back.
2003
AL#74 p.66 BRB7 p.489
Richard Heeres
▪ A new method for old style rosette that works better than gluing strips into the rosette channel.
2003
AL#74 p.65 BRB7 p.506
Harry Fleishman
▪
2003
AL#74 p.64 BRB7 p.505
Harry Fleishman
▪ Mr. Harry examines fossil ivory as a material for bridge pins, nuts, and end pins, and finds it exquisite. He also checks out the Stew-Mac Bridgesaver tool and finds it useful on a variety of fronts.
2003
AL#74 p.63 BRB7 p.75
Harry Fleishman
▪ Built in guitar effects customization without dealing with the complications of the circuit board.
2003
AL#74 p.63 BRB7 p.65
John Calkin
▪ Placement of Hot Rod 2-way adjustable truss rods.
2003
AL#74 p.62 BRB7 p.73
R.M. Mottola
▪ Glued on VS floating bridges on flattop guitars.
2003
AL#74 p.62 BRB7 p.33
Dana Bourgeois
▪ A CNC machining company that takes custom CNC neck orders of as little as 30 in quantity / glued on VS bridges on flattop guitars.
2003
AL#74 p.61
Kerry Char
▪ Plans for the Orville Gibson style U harp guitar.
2003
AL#74 p.61 BRB7 p.17 read this article
Alan Ollivant
▪ Quartersawing and drying six large maple rounds that are 45″ long and 3′ in diameter.
2003
AL#74 p.60 BRB7 p.523 read this article
Fred Carlson
▪ The reviewer likes this book a lot. It is more concerned with explaining how instrument amplification works and how one might build hisher own gear than in reviewing the many commercial units that are available.
2003
AL#74 p.58
Harry Fleishman
▪ Long-time AL contributor Fleishman takes to task contributing editor John Calkin for being a closed minded so-and-so, referring to statements made in Calkin’s “A Heretic’s Guide to Alternative Lutherie Woods” in AL#69. Fleishman’s plea for tolerance is well made.
2003
AL#74 p.56 BRB7 p.74
Bruce Petros
▪ Using old organ-building technology it’s possible to switch onoff the same machine from a number of workstations. Here’s how, with 4 photos and a pair of drawings.
2003
AL#74 p.55 BRB7 p.47
Rodney Stedall
▪ The author includes a formula for creating radiused workboards as well as a method of making them with a router. With 2 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.48 BRB7 p.538
John Calkin
▪ The oversize nature of the parts in this kit offers the ability to build guitars that are wider and/or deeper than the standard Martin OM. The author builds one he calls the magnum, a normal OM shape that has the depth of a dreadnought. He finds it to be a thoroughly top-flight instrument. With 18 photos and a sidebar about the author’s Ferrari OM, an attempt to build the lightest possible instrument that will still thrive in the real world.
2003
AL#74 p.46 BRB7 p.72
Jim DeCava
▪ A look at an old solution to a much older problem—how to accurately slot a fingerboard to receive the frets. Contains some interesting history of the Liberty Banjo Company. With 4 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.44 BRB7 p.70
Mike Doolin
▪ An evolution of the familiar Fox bender idea. Another example (two in one issue!) of Doolin’s genius for creating effective tools that any of us can build to fill a void in our shop routine. With 6 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#74 p.43 BRB7 p.69 read this article
Andy DePaule
▪ A short discussion that includes the Dan ty ba, Dan guyet, Dan bau, Dan tran, and Dan tam thap luc. With 5 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.40 BRB7 p.66 read this article
Andy DePaule Do Viet-Dung
▪ A common, if unspoken, theme that runs through AL is how different humans are around the world even though they may share the same work or obsessions. Vietnamese luthier Dung is a prime example. Things are different over there. May we keep sharing, but may we all remain different! With 9 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.36 BRB7 p.62
R.M. Mottola
▪ A tight-fisted and humorous look at buying select tools, wood, and strings without draining your bank account. With 4 photos and a drawing.
2003
AL#74 p.32 BRB7 p.58
Ed Beaver George Morris
▪ Morris has spent his life teaching others to build instruments. Teachers influence their fields in ways that rarely become apparent because it’s often their students who become prominent. It takes a special character to thrive under these conditions, and character seems to be something Morris has plenty of. With 7 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.30 BRB7 p.56
Franz Elferink
▪ A variety of forces begun by simple string tension not only make our instruments function but may eventually tear them apart. With a little math we can determine what those forces are and sort of decide if our archtops are beefy enough to withstand them. With 3 drawings.
2003
AL#74 p.20 BRB7 p.48
Jonathon Peterson Steve Grimes
▪ Grimes is one of the premier archtop builders of our times. His flattops aren’t bad, either. He worked for years in the Northwest before moving to Hawaii, where the slack-key guitar scene has impacted his flattop designs.
2003
AL#74 p.19 BRB7 p.31
Mike Doolin
▪ No, this isn’t a machine for sanding dishes. You’d find that in Good Housekeeping. This is a motorized, dished workboard for sanding the contours of arched plates into your assembled instrument sides. It beats doing it by hand by miles, and Doolin’s clever design looks easier to build than others.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#74 p.8 BRB7 p.36
Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman’s perspective on guitar design and construction is all his own, so it’s no surprise that his brand of inlay should also be unique. He has a philosophy of inlay (and of working, and living in general) that guides his pursuit of guitar decoration that is just as important as how the work is accomplished. This lecture is Harry at his best, shedding light on a deep subject while flooring us with laughter. Great stuff, with 30 cool photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#74 p.6 BRB7 p.32
Philippe Refig
▪ Bouchet (1898-1986) was one of only a handful of guitar makers that kept the craft alive previous to the “lutherie boom” we are now enjoying. His small output belies the influence he had on the classical guitar. The author knew Bouchet and has written a charming, if too short, biography. With 1 photo.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#73 p.69 BRB7 p.487
Eugene Clark
▪ Part 2 of 2: Eugene Clark describes his simple veneer scraper, mounted in a vise.
2003
AL#73 p.68 BRB7 p.486
David-B. Hawley
▪ Building a guitar entirely out of toothpicks for $127.
2003
AL#73 p.67 BRB7 p.61
Cyndy Burton
▪ Choosing lutherie schools based on one’s individual needs, desires, and goals.
2003
AL#73 p.67 BRB7 p.41
Dave Raley
▪ Building your own amps.
2003
AL#73 p.66
Tim White
▪ A good book that teaches fundamentals of acoustics for guitar construction.
2003
AL#73 p.66 BRB7 p.46
Alan Carruth
▪ Purchasing the various elements needed for measuring soundboard variation; tuning tops.
2003
AL#73 p.66 BRB7 p.22
Alan Carruth
▪ A method of measuring an acoustic guitar’s efficiency that can be performed by the average luthier without the resources of a fully equipped lab.
2003
AL#73 p.65 BRB7 p.27 read this article
Ted Megas
▪ Thin, small cracks on the ebony tailpiece of a new custom made archtop.
2003
AL#73 p.65 BRB7 p.13
John Calkin
▪ Bending bubinga and other woods.
2003
AL#73 p.64
Jeffrey-R. Elliott Cyndy Burton
▪ Some tools have a value way beyond function. Elliott looks at three he especially likes, a low-angle plane, a marking gauge, and a small spokeshave which is called a contour plane.
2003
AL#73 p.62 BRB7 p.34
Pete Barthell
▪ As the title indicates, a nice fixture for finding the proper location of the classical guitar bridge. With 6 photos and a set of diagrams.
2003
AL#73 p.61 BRB7 p.523
John Calkin
▪ This video is a collection of shop tips that the reviewer found to be valuable and entertaining, especially in view of the low price.
2003
AL#73 p.60 BRB7 p.522 read this article
Bryan Johanson
▪ The reviewer pronounces this book to be “a massive achievement to which the reader can return again and again for information, insights, and pleasure.” A pretty good indication that he found it useful and valuable.
2003
AL#73 p.57 BRB7 p.20
R.M. Mottola
▪ Does plywood have a place in the luthier’s bag of tricks? The author thinks it may, and gives us some examples to think about. With 2 photos.
2003
AL#73 p.54 BRB7 p.28
Mike Doolin
▪ Perhaps you’d care to make all your necks look and feel the same, just as the big factories do. Perhaps you’d like to make them a lot faster while you’re at it. And do it all on a budget? Doolin’s machine may be just what you were looking for. With 8 photos and several diagrams.
2003
AL#73 p.50 BRB7 p.24
Nathan Stinnette George Wunderlich
▪ Wunderlich builds minstrel banjos, recreations of banjos made before the various factories turned them into standardized items that standardized the way we all think about the banjo. With 6 photos.
2003
AL#73 p.46 BRB7 p.18
Steve Regimbal
▪ Take a quick look at three adventurous instruments by archtop builder Ted Berringer. They are a 12-string octave guitar, a 5-string mandolin, and a 6-string archtop made entirely of spruce. With 12 photos.
2003
AL#73 p.40 BRB7 p.2
John Calkin
▪ Everyone develops little work habits or adopts minor tools that together make a big difference in their work and the pleasure they find in it. This is one man’s collection of odds and ends that changed the quality and quantity of his work. With 15 photos.
2003
AL#73 p.36 BRB7 p.14
Jon Sevy
▪ This piece is aptly subtitled “Rules of thumb for approximating changes in the size of braces, tops, and strings,” which sums it up nicely. Our teachers promised us that math wouldn’t be irrelevant in our futures, and here their words come back to bite us. Sevy obviously believed them, and here presents some “easy” formulas for calculating the results of changes in size we might make in our instruments.
2003
AL#73 p.34 read this article
Juan-Carlos Morales John-L. Walker
▪ The struggle toward lutherie can be really difficult in countries where the people honor the old ways and mistrust anything new. The Pugos in this little story the fought indifference and fear of their Ecuadorian countrymen to become makers of violins and other instruments.
2003
AL#73 p.24 read this article
Mike Doolin John Greven
▪ Finding good water-based instrument finishes becomes more important as luthiers (and various state and federal government agencies) become more health conscious. The authors are both Portland people, and by trying different materials and application techniques and then combining their discoveries they have made big leaps toward finding the perfect alternative to lacquer. With 9 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#73 p.14 BRB6 p.368
Eugene Clark Jonathon Peterson
▪ Clark is one of the old American masters of lutherie. Building an original rosette in the Spanish tradition is way more complicated than routing a channel and poking in some abalone, as steel stringers are apt to do, but with Clark’s instruction you can do it. Includes 22 photos. Part 1 appeared in AL #71.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#73 p.8 BRB7 p.8
Cyndy Burton Kathy Matsushita
▪ Matsushita is a professional teacher and an adventurous luthier, which makes for a fine combination for an interview. Her story is one of the best examples of how the internet has impacted our lives, of how we can teach and learn by electron. Joy and information can be the same thing. With 14 photos.
2003
AL#73 p.5
Marc Connelly
▪
2003
AL#73 p.3 BRB7 p.7 read this article
Rodney Stedall Stuart Deutsch Larry Baeder Anne Ludwig
▪ South African luthier Pistorius died way too young, but don’t we all. Here a few of his friends remember him.
2002
HLC p.261
Robert Lundberg
▪ A listing of the many information sources used by Lundberg in the preparation of his lute-making course.
2002
HLC p.249
Robert Lundberg
▪ A listing of over 300 ancient lutes personally observed and measured by Lundberg. Listed by museum collection. Also mentions their condition.
2002
HLC p.245
Robert Lundberg
▪ A list of ancient lute makers giving their dates and locations. Aslo some thoughts on the inconsistant spellings of some names.
2002
HLC p.xi
Douglas-Alton Smith
▪ A quick backgrounder on the history of the lute.
2002
HLC p.ix
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Historical Lute Construction was published after the decease of its author Robert Lundberg. Preface also addresses issues of the Venetian inch and the rearrangment of some of the magazine article material when organizing the book.
2002
AL#72 p.65 BRB6 p.466
Skip Helms
▪ A jig that makes the initial notches on the bandsaw for marks to file slots accurately.
2002
AL#72 p.65 BRB6 p.466
Michael Breid
▪ Removing a Piezo pickup from a small 0-18 Martin guitar and leaving the metal end pin jack in place.
2002
AL#72 p.63 BRB6 p.374
Jeffrey-R. Elliott R.E. Brune Stewart Pollens Byron Will Michael Darnton Frank Ford
▪ Thoughts from various folks representing different instruments and approaches on restoration label do’s and don’ts for severely damaged guitars.
2002
AL#72 p.62
Bishop Cochran
▪ A manufacturer of guitar amp kits.
2002
AL#72 p.62 BRB6 p.374
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ The exact brand of foam used by Jeff Elliott described in AL#70 for making a mold of a top on a guitar being restored.
2002
AL#72 p.60 BRB6 p.486
R.M. Mottola
▪ The reviewer examines the Asturmes ES/RV spray gun and finds that it’s the answer to the finish problems he’s found, and at a reasonable price. With one photo.
2002
AL#72 p.54 BRB6 p.541 read this article
John Calkin
▪ Eight new videos (with four already on DVD) from the inventor of video lutherie instruction. The reviewer obviously likes them and believes they will speed the learning curve for anyone interested in guitar repair and maintenance.
2002
AL#72 p.50 BRB6 p.420 read this article
David Golber
▪ It’s the difference between a spline and a Bezier curve, but we’re not geeky (read smart) enough to understand it. Bezier curves are good and splines aren’t, but not all CAD software supports their use. Uses 8 plots to make the difference more understandable.
2002
AL#72 p.46 BRB6 p.433
Michael Bashkin Michihiro Matsuda
▪ Changing countries and cultures to enhance one’s skills must be a daunting and exhilarating experience. Matsuda came from Japan to learn lutherie in Arizona, then apprenticed in California. His designs are innovative and his guitars lovely to behold. With 9 photos.
2002
AL#72 p.44 BRB6 p.436
R.M. Mottola
▪ The author has devised a set of layout gauges for positioning the side markers and fretboard dots of his guitars, easily assuring himself that all dots will be nicely and quickly centered. A set of gauges for various scale lengths is included for photocopying.
2002
AL#72 p.36 BRB6 p.410
Jonathon Peterson Saul Koll Ralph Patt
▪ Jazz guitarist Ralph Patt and luthier Saul Koll have teamed up to make archtop 8-string electric guitars that are tuned in thirds rather than standard tuning. The guitars look a little strange because there is no taper to the fingerboards. You’ll have to read the article to understand the thinking behind them. Watching Patt play must confuse the heck out of other guitarists. With 14 photos.
2002
AL#72 p.32 BRB6 p.417
John Calkin
▪ A small shop can easily make all the nice instrument lining it needs if it already has a tablesaw and a thickness sander and invests in a few simple jigs. It isn’t hard, but it isn’t especially fun, either.
2002
AL#72 p.24 BRB6 p.404
Ken Goodwin Edward-Victor Dick
▪ A Canadian now living in Denver, Dick has a long and varied career as a builder, repairman, and teacher. He builds a wide array of instruments, including some fascinating sound sculptures. The 13 photos illustrate his versatility as a builder and artist.
2002
AL#72 p.22 read this article
Michael Turko
▪ A number of well-known luthiers have switched to this finish, including the speed-builder John Greven. In the author’s experience it’s quick, easy, rivals nitro lacquer in appearance, and is non-toxic, a winning combination for sure. With 3 photos.
2002
AL#72 p.18 BRB6 p.400
Stephen Frith
▪ How would you like to learn guitar making in a Spanish castle? How about under the tutelage of Jose Romanillos? Cool, huh? Frith explains what it’s like. Any organization with a staff member named Big Pep has to be pretty far out. With 19 photos.
2002
AL#72 p.8 BRB6 p.438
John Greven
▪ Greven’s inlay work specializes in large easily repeatable designs highlighted by engraving of a photographic quality. His pearl-cutting techniques are pretty strange, but no one can argue with the quality of the finished work. With 18 photos and a pair of drawings of graver types and angles.
2002
AL#72 p.7
Clive Titmuss
▪
2002
AL#72 p.3 BRB6 p.397 read this article
Jay Hargreaves
▪ Remembering George Majkowski (1929-2002) who began his career at IBM, later turned his attention to building harpsichords and guitars, and served as one of Richard Shneider’s assistants.
2002
AL#71 p.69 BRB6 p.309
Bob Miller Fred Carlson
▪ A pore-filler and sealer that is compatible with a brush-on oil finish.
2002
AL#71 p.69
Francis Kosheleff
▪ Replacement tuners for 3 string balalaika.
2002
AL#71 p.68 BRB6 p.357
Ric McCurdy
▪ Changes in a guitar’s response as a result of refretting.
2002
AL#71 p.68 BRB6 p.96
R.M. Mottola
▪ Building an archtop bass in the same style as Robert Benedetto’s archtop guitars.
2002
AL#71 p.68 BRB6 p.248
Bob Woodcock
▪ Spalted wood toxicity.