2002
AL#71 p.66 BRB6 p.540 read this article
David Riggs
▪ The reviewer turned his pages into a gathering of all the chief sources of useful bass making information, finding that in the end “there is a very deep well of information not in print.”
2002
AL#71 p.65 BRB6 p.462
David Haxton
▪ Toasted oat cereal as a method for volume measurement in two guitars.
2002
AL#71 p.65 BRB6 p.464
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Small adjustable-width angle gauges for a through-the-soundhole approach to repair a fractured top on a Spanish guitar.
2002
AL#71 p.64 BRB6 p.467
Ed Beaver
▪ Building a guitar with inspiration from a two week build your own guitar workshop with George Morris of Vermont Instruments.
2002
AL#71 p.62 BRB6 p.485
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola likes the Grizzly H2881 pump sander, a handheld drum sander he uses for sculpting neck heels and the like. He doesn’t however, much enjoy doing business with the Grizzly company. With 2 photos.
2002
AL#71 p.58 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Drawing the neck in CAD continues with the headstock design.
2002
AL#71 p.50
Cyndy Burton
▪ The interest in lutherie is growing so quickly that sources of information and instruction are hard to keep up with. This list includes schools, on-line instruction, organizations, periodicals, and publishers.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2002
AL#71 p.44 BRB6 p.507
John Calkin
▪ Irish ‘zooks are cool, though they don’t much resemble bouzoukis and very few of them come from Ireland. The author finds the kit to be easily assembled and a bargain. Though the nontraditional materials may turn off some, the instrument is playable and sounds decent. With 13 photos.
2002
AL#71 p.42 BRB6 p.398
Harry Fleishman
▪ Harry can rout his guitars for binding with his eyes closed. Honestly! The system he explains uses a laminate trimmer suspended by a swinging arm and you can build it in your shop.With a photo and 2 diagrams.
2002
AL#71 p.36 BRB6 p.429
Tom Harper
▪ Turner is an inventor, guitarmaker, and a wireman extraordinaire. Harper attended Turner’s wiring workshop at the American School of Lutherie and reports back what he learned there. With 4 photos.
2002
AL#71 p.30 BRB6 p.392
Don Overstreet
▪ Everything about the violin must be just so, since there are few details that an experienced musician is going to overlook. The instruments can be extremely expensive and the work standards are very high. Overstreet is an old hand at the game, and here gives the straight info on getting it right.
2002
AL#71 p.24 BRB6 p.424
John Calkin Duane Heilman
▪ Heilman builds quirky, imaginative ukes that he auctions on-line. He’s also made hundreds of exotic picks that he sells the same way. With 17 photos.
2002
AL#71 p.8 BRB6 p.368
Eugene Clark Jonathon Peterson
▪ How deeply do you want to dive into the matter of making rosettes? Here Clark will submerge you until you gasp for air or make a fine rosette, whichever comes first. Designing the rosette and dying the sticks receive deepest treatment, though no words are spared when describing the cutting and sizing of the materials. Everything is here. With 33 photos. Part Two will appear in a future issue of AL.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2002
AL#71 p.7 read this article
Philippe Refig
▪
2002
AL#71 p.5
Roger Sadowsky
▪
2002
AL#71 p.5 read this article
Clive Titmuss
▪
2002
AL#71 p.3 BRB6 p.348 read this article
Pauline Dickens James Jones Graham Caldersmith
▪ Dickens did R&D work at Bell Labs in his day job, and was among the first to look at the functioning of the guitar from a mathematical vantage point. He was known for his inquisitive mind and willingness to share his knowledge with others.
2002
AL#70 p.65
John Calkin
▪ Where to rewind the magnets of a 1958 Strat pickup with damaged coils to maintain original sound.
2002
AL#70 p.65 BRB6 p.423
Randy DeBey
▪ A JVC company violin wherein the ribs are one continuous piece.
2002
AL#70 p.65
Saul Koll
▪ Plans for a 1959-1960 Les Paul Flametop custom drawn by Don MacRostie from Stu-Mac.
2002
AL#70 p.64 BRB6 p.357
Wade Lowe
▪ Brush varnish.
2002
AL#70 p.64 BRB6 p.355
Gernot Wagner
▪ Changes in the tone of guitars as a result of refretting.
2002
AL#70 p.64 read this article
Rodney Stedall
▪ Having custom rosettes made in small quantities.
2002
AL#70 p.63 BRB6 p.466
Michael Breid
▪ A simple knob puller for removing control knobs from electric guitars and airbrush cleaning tips.
2002
AL#70 p.63 BRB6 p.464
Kent Everett
▪ A simple fence made for an old 20″ Delta bandsaw.
2002
AL#70 p.62 BRB6 p.465
Peter Giolitto
▪ An oak tool used to prepare veneers to the constant thickness required to make the mosaic sections of rosettes and purflings.
2002
AL#70 p.58 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ This segment begins instruction in drawing a neck using MasterCam Draft, Version 8. If you stumble onto the perfect neck and wish to have it machine reproduced you may have to know this stuff. With 3 drawings.
2002
AL#70 p.54 BRB6 p.470
Fred Carlson
▪ Carlson ventures into Plasticland hoping to find a useful substitute for animal parts on his guitars. An aversion to both plastic guitar parts and animal slaughter leaves hardly any useful material for bridge saddles, and he sort of settles on a material called Tusq. Partly tongue-in-cheek and generally philosophical, the review concludes that beef bone saddles will be around for awhile yet.
2002
AL#70 p.53 BRB6 p.349
R.M. Mottola
▪ The author has simplified a computer technique for use with graph paper and pencil, and maintains that the system is accurate to about .5%. If you know the area of a plate you can figure out the volume of the soundbox, as in Raley’s article on p.52.
2002
AL#70 p.52 BRB6 p.347 read this article
Dave Raley
▪ There are a number of reasons you might wish to know the volume of an instrument. Raley uses a spreadsheet program and some careful measuring to determine this figure.
2002
AL#70 p.48 BRB6 p.344
John Calkin
▪ Using templates and a tablesaw to slot fingerboards in minutes, and how to make your own templates. With 7 photos and 5 fret scales for off-beat scale lengths.
2002
AL#70 p.44 BRB6 p.365
R.M. Mottola
▪ With digital recording and spectrographic analysis software a computer can print out a diagram of an instrument’s tone spectrum, reducing the complicated issue of tone comparison to easy-to-read graphs. The scientifically inclined luthier may find that this helps him build better instruments, while others may decide that it’s another case of too much information. If you’ve found that intuition has carried you as far as it can you might check out the usefulness of “tone pictures”. With 5 bass guitar spectrographs.
2002
AL#70 p.40 BRB6 p.362
Alain Bieber
▪ Bieber’s classical guitars feature removable, adjustable necks and slight double cutaways to increase fretboard access. They also look quite remarkable. With 8 photos.
2002
AL#70 p.36 BRB6 p.324
Bruce Petros
▪ The author finds that the General Model 15-250 M1, for $1600, may be the most sander for the money that the small shop can afford. With 7 photos.
2002
AL#70 p.34 BRB6 p.343
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2002
AL#70 p.16 BRB6 p.328
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Returning a historically important guitar to life is not only a painstaking project but also one that must be done with finesse and a respect for the instrument’s value as an historical document. This restoration took several months and much research and investigation, requiring the use of tools not normally associated with guitar repair. With 43 photos and a magazine-size version of GAL Plan #47 of the instrument under discussion.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2002
AL#70 p.12 BRB6 p.358
Ralph Novak
▪ The author uses neck making in his example of how gearing up to make small runs of like parts can make the small shop more efficient and profitable. With a photo and 9 drawings.
2002
AL#70 p.4 BRB6 p.350
John Calkin Ralph Novak
▪ Novak has been on the guitar scene since the late ’60s, specializing in the creation and repair of electric instruments, though his expertise doesn’t end there. His best-known invention is probably the Novax fanned fret system, though his work with multi-string guitars deserves note. Mentions Charles LoBue. With 17 photos.
2002
AL#70 p.3 read this article
Rodney Stedall
▪
2002
AL#69 p.65 BRB6 p.249
Cyndy Burton
▪ Filling questions for French polishing a classical guitar top.
2002
AL#69 p.64 BRB6 p.249
Mike Doolin
▪
2002
AL#69 p.64 BRB6 p.248
Mike Collins
▪ Potentially deadly mold in spalted maple wood.
2002
AL#69 p.63 BRB6 p.463
Peter Giolitto
▪ A way to plot the contours of the ribs and the back braces as alternative to buying or making a dished workboard for fitting a spherically-arched guitar back.
2002
AL#69 p.62 BRB6 p.461
Marc Connelly
▪ A little goofball finger strap flashlight to illuminate the Dremel bit, and a Trac II razor to shave dried glue off fingertips.
2002
AL#69 p.59 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ How to use Mastercam’s Scale function to generate a fret pattern. With 1 diagram.
2002
AL#69 p.56 BRB6 p.481
Harry Fleishman
▪ Guitar maker and teacher Fleishman compares two thickness sanders, the Performax 22-44 and the Delta 31-250, finding that both are useful, have different peculiarities, and that you are better off with either one than without a thickness sander at all. With 2 photos.
2002
AL#69 p.48 BRB6 p.500 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The author discovers that this kit provides a harp fit for a professional musician. The finished harp is a powerful instrument with a wide range, and though the kit is pricey it is easy to build. The process of lace finishing is described in detail. With 17 photos.
2002
AL#69 p.46
Ervin Somogyi
▪ The wry Somogyi presents some little-known information that may not improve your work but will nicely occupy your mind as you carve a neck for the 50th time, or whatever. The meaning of many words has drifted so far from the roots of those words that, in the strictest sense, we no longer know what we are talking about, even though we continue to communicate very nicely. Mostly. A fun piece.
2002
AL#69 p.40 BRB6 p.301
R.M. Mottola
▪ Not really a computer article, the author uses a CAD-like system of plotting the contours of an arched plate. The result is sort of a topo map of the plate that is used to rout the plate into terraces that are then faired into a finished plate. Mottola explains the drawing, not the machining. With 13 drawings.
2002
AL#69 p.36
Andrew Atkinson
▪ The author’s focus is on recreating a lute maker’s shop, circa the late 16th century. Old paintings provide some of his most valuable research materials. He is not only interested in old tools, but in the old ways of making those tools. With 2 photos.
2002
AL#69 p.28 BRB6 p.316
Jonathon Peterson Kerry Char
▪ Char is a guitar maker who also specializes in the restoration of old and odd instruments, particularly harp guitars by Knutsen and others. With 16 photos of vintage instruments.
2002
AL#69 p.22 BRB6 p.296 read this article
Joseph Ennis
▪ Build an amp that matches the resonance of your acoustic instrument. Build it into the instrument if you like. Ennis offers some math, some circuitry, and some advice to beginners who want the most portable amps for their instruments. With 9 photos and a circuit diagram.
2002
AL#69 p.13 BRB6 p.288
John Calkin
▪ This is an examination of 17 varieties of wood not usually associated with guitars, their bending characteristics, and how they look. Calkin’s opinions about tonewood have proven to be pretty controversial, but this article may help if you are tired of the same old look on your instruments. With 19 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2002
AL#69 p.8 BRB6 p.305
Larry Mills
▪ An introduction to free plate and fixed plate voicing of the guitar top, the latter using a jig to fix the braced plate much as it will be on the guitar, though tapping is used as the driver, not strings. Interesting, and a good presentation of current bracing notions. With 8 photos.
2002
AL#69 p.7 read this article
Bryan Johanson
▪ Bryan gives a personal overview of the 2001 GAL Convention. In this context he recalls meeting Bob Lundberg.
2002
AL#69 p.5 read this article
Erik Stenn
▪ Erik reports on small-scale efforts to replant Brazilian rosewood.
2002
AL#69 p.5 read this article
William-G. Snavely
▪ An early self-starter tells of his adventures in lutherie learning.
2002
AL#69 p.3 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ R.M. says IntelliCAD software is good enough, and it is free.
2002
AL#69 p.3 read this article
Steve Spodaryk
▪ Steve went to Italy to take a lutherie class from Fabio Ragghianti. He says the class and the hospitality were great.
2001
AL#68 p.69 BRB6 p.205
Ervin Somogyi
▪ The differences in the characteristics of the top woods European spruce, Sitka spruce, Engelmann spruce, and western red cedar.
2001
AL#68 p.67 BRB6 p.327
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Making a classical baritone guitar so that the 6th string can be tuned to B.
2001
AL#68 p.66 BRB6 p.326
Robert Steinegger David Freeman
▪ Info on the B-45-12, the best Gibson 12 string ever built, according to chapter 9 of Gibson’s fabulous flat-top guitars, by Whitford, Vinopal, and Erlewine.
2001
AL#68 p.66 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ Where to have your lutherie questions answered online.
2001
AL#68 p.66 BRB6 p.107
Rollo Scheurenbrand
▪ Another way to clean clogged sand belts.
2001
AL#68 p.66
David Freeman
▪ The new comfortable pleated dust masks now available.
2001
AL#68 p.62 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Previous columns saw the creation of a 3D wireframe computer image of a dreadnought guitar body. In this installment a 2D profile of a side is extracted from the software, from which the side set can be cut to shape before bending. With 6 diagrams.
2001
AL#68 p.60 BRB6 p.484 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ Product reviews include Ameritage cases, a Grizzly H2881 drum sander, and an Asturomec ES/RV detail spray gun.
2001
AL#68 p.59
Kent Everett
▪ A wireless doorbell carried around like a pager to monitor your shop front door.
2001
AL#68 p.59 BRB6 p.461
Jim McLean
▪ A $10 jig from a sheet of plexiglas and a piece of plywood for arch bracing.
2001
AL#68 p.58 BRB6 p.460
Keith Davis
▪ Make a toothed blade for a block plane by annealing the blade, grinding a set of grooves, and re-tempering the blade. Also describes reducing the mouth with J.B. Weld.
2001
AL#68 p.54 BRB6 p.284
Joao-Jose-de-Santana Borges Fernando Cardosa
▪ AL has certainly included an international air this year, and this introduction to Brazilian luthier Cardosa adds to the festivities. With 8 photos.
2001
AL#68 p.50 BRB6 p.314 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ Yes, you can make your own transducer pickups and save big bucks. Here’s how. Including 6 photos and 2 diagrams.
2001
AL#68 p.40 BRB6 p.266
David Giulietti
▪ The pursuit of engraving skills demands just a small investment in tools but a large investment in determination and time. At least, for those not born to be artists. But the author makes it clear that there is hope for nearly all of us who truly wish to acquire this skill.
2001
AL#68 p.36 BRB6 p.313
Tom Blackshear
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2001
AL#68 p.33 BRB6 p.310
Ronald-Louis Fernandez
▪ There are discrepancies in the Rodriguez family history that the author seeks to remedy.
2001
AL#68 p.28 BRB6 p.274
Cyndy Burton Tom Blackshear
▪ Blackshear has been building classical guitars since the ’50s. He has been strongly influenced by the work of Miguel Rodriguez. With 15 photos.
2001
AL#68 p.24 BRB6 p.280
John Kitakis
▪ Kitakis has a long history of jobs in wood finishing, so when he finally made the jump to water-based finish (in his case CrystaLac) he knew what he was doing. Working with CrystaLac isn’t quite the same as working with lacquer, but the author makes a good job of clearing the off-spray. With 5 photos.
2001
AL#68 p.16 BRB6 p.250
Bob Benedetto
▪ For a builder of orthodox archtop guitars Benedetto certainly has some iconoclastic ideas. His opinions about bridges, tailpieces, guitar setup, and tonewood may turn your head around. With 9 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#68 p.8 BRB6 p.242
Jonathon Peterson Bob Benedetto
▪ Benedetto has had as large an impact on the modern archtop guitar as anyone. He’s also a really nice guy, unpretentious and level-headed. You’re gonna like him. With 11 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#68 p.6 read this article
Wilfried Ulrich
▪ Wilfried has made a lot of real hurdy-gurdies. He says Americans tend to have a cartoonish view of the venerable drehleir. They ought to educate themselves and have more respect for a highly developed classical instrument. He eventually authored Plan#49 for us.
2001
AL#68 p.6 read this article
Stephen Frith
▪ Stephen took a class from Jose and Liam Romanillos in Spain. He liked it, and them, a lot.
2001
AL#68 p.5
John Calkin
▪ Calkin says that he has been told many times that he should use a vacuum clamp to glue top braces. He proceeds to make a good case for his screw-and-bar clamping system.
2001
AL#68 p.5 read this article
Mike Moger
▪ Mike attended a class taught by Harry Fleishman and Fabio Ragghianti. He liked it a lot.
2001
AL#67 p.65 BRB6 p.457
David Freeman
▪ John Calkin’s wet inlay technique as a shortcut to cutting pearl and abalone, or as a cost saving method.
2001
AL#67 p.64 BRB6 p.459
Robert Steinegger
▪ A jig for slotting bridges, Steiny style.
2001
AL#67 p.63
Cyndy Burton
▪ Online sources, including chat groups, for lutherie questions.
2001
AL#67 p.62 read this article
Cyndy Burton
▪ A noncomprehensive list of classical guitar dealers who may be interested in a high end classical guitar stand.
2001
AL#67 p.62 BRB6 p.81
Charles Fox
▪ Removing a few millimeters to compensate for the relaxation of the radii when the sides are removed on a Fox side bender.
2001
AL#67 p.62 BRB6 p.107
John Calkin
▪ Cleaning sanding belts.
2001
AL#67 p.60 BRB6 p.539 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ The luthier who has no interest in how human beings hear and interpret sound hasn’t really come to terms with instrument making at all. The reviewer likes this textbook that takes in this subject, though it sounds like heavy going.
2001
AL#67 p.60 BRB6 p.539 read this article
John Calkin
▪ This is a picture book of guitars that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, included in a show of artfully conceived instruments. The reviewer loves the style of the photography but gives the project a so-so evaluation.
2001
AL#67 p.54
Cyndy Burton
▪ This is a list of where to buy wood (tone or otherwise) and inlay materials.
2001
AL#67 p.51 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ In the last installment we learned how to make a computerized outline of a guitar body using Mastercam software. In this installment we learn how to make a wireframe image that suggests three dimensions. With 5 diagrams.
2001
AL#67 p.48 BRB6 p.264
John Kitakis
▪
2001
AL#67 p.46 BRB6 p.262
John Calkin John Kitakis
▪ Kitakis and his sons make high-end ukes in Hawaii.
2001
AL#67 p.42 BRB6 p.258
John Calkin
▪ Some instruments aren’t worth repairing because their value is less than the cost of the repair work. Unless, that is, you resort to superglue and a bit of trickery. On the cuatro used in the example a tailpiece is used along with the stock bridge to prevent steel strings from tearing the bridge off the top again. With 8 photos.
2001
AL#67 p.40 BRB6 p.260
Peter Giolitto
▪ Scraper planes are good for dressing down figured wood without tearing them up or following the grain. Here’s how to make one. With a photo and 5 drawings.
2001
AL#67 p.34 BRB6 p.206
Jonathon Peterson David Minnieweather
▪ Minnieweather lives in Oregon and makes some fine-looking electric basses, including a stunning electric upright. With 9 photos.
2001
AL#67 p.22
Bon Henderson
▪ If you weren’t there you can still get a feel for the show. It’s worth it. With 86 photos.
2001
AL#67 p.6 BRB6 p.222
Scott Hackleman
▪ Hackleman spent nearly a year in India learning one shop’s traditional ways of making sitars. The low state of technology in India, and the amazing work they do with so few tools, make this a fascinating read no matter what your interest in ethnic instruments. With 36 photos and 11 drawings.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#67 p.3 read this article
Harry Fleishman
▪ Harry Fleishman leaps to the defense of Larry Sandberg. He feels that Ben Hoff was too harsh in his criticism of Larry’s book The Acoustic Guitar Guide.
2001
AL#67 p.3 read this article
David Haxton
▪ In praise of vacuum clamps and dished workboards.
2001
AL#66 p.64 BRB6 p.458
Keith Davis
▪ Making fills in worn fingerboards using fitted wood chips; an ebony fingerboard with ebony fills, a rosewood fingerboard with rosewood fills, etc.
2001
AL#66 p.64 BRB6 p.459
Dick Kern
▪ Scrapers from spring steel from a clock spring work really well for leveling plates.
2001
AL#66 p.64 BRB6 p.457
Skip Helms
▪ 1″ rigid foam insulation is tough, accurately dimensioned, weighs almost nothing, and can be used to help freshly bent sides hold their shape.
2001
AL#66 p.63
John Park
▪ A painful swelling in the finger joints and a rash associated with epoxy sensitization as a result of wearing vinyl gloves for extended periods while French polishing.
2001
AL#66 p.63 read this article
Ed Pastor
▪ Removing musty odors from old instruments.
2001
AL#66 p.63 BRB6 p.107
Amalia Ramirez
▪ Finding a supplier of Ramirez fret wire or fret wire that is similar.
2001
AL#66 p.63 BRB6 p.107
George-A. Smith
▪ Clogged sanding belts on a Performax 16-32 plus drum sander when sanding rosewoods or dyed veneers.
2001
AL#66 p.60 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ In this segment the author instructs how to get Mastercam Draft software to draw the outline of a particular guitar body. The one you want, that is, not just any old outline.
2001
AL#66 p.58 BRB6 p.480
Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman spends an entire column talking about a particular brown masking tape, and darn if he doesn’t make it sound like a fine use of space.
2001
AL#66 p.57 BRB6 p.538 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer decides that if you want to make your first knife you just about can’t go wrong with this book.
2001
AL#66 p.56 BRB6 p.537 read this article
David Riggs
▪ Riggs raves about the detail included in this blueprint of a Benedetto archtop.
2001
AL#66 p.55 BRB6 p.536 read this article
Benjamin Hoff
▪ The reviewer finds this book too expensive and too incomplete to recommend on any level other than for the nice photography.
2001
AL#66 p.50 BRB6 p.496 read this article
John Calkin
▪ Calkin barely knew what a hurdy-gurdy was when he began this kit, and afterwards he still wasn’t too sure. Not that it was the kit’s fault. The hurdy-gurdy (a mechanical fiddle) has nearly vanished from the musical scene and few details are to be found outside of museum blueprints. The kit turned out pretty good, though it makes no attempt at historical accuracy. Fun stuff, with 15 photos.
2001
AL#66 p.47 BRB6 p.198
Steve Newberry
▪ Tatay built guitars in the back room of a music store in WWII-era Manhattan. Newberry hung out then as a teenager. Not many of us have memories of our youth that are this cool. Alas. Or is it just that Newberry tells a really good tale? With 2 photos.
2001
AL#66 p.38 BRB6 p.194 read this article
John Calkin
▪ Inlay advice using epoxy and Inlace mixed with various substances to fill the routed holes, rather than a solid such as MOp.With 8 photos.
2001
AL#66 p.32 BRB6 p.238
Jonathon Peterson Taku Sakashta
▪ Sakashta left Japan to build both archtop and flattop guitars in California. He is definitely not afraid to design away from tradition. With 8 photos.
2001
AL#66 p.28 read this article
Mike Nealon
▪ The author offers plans for a jig that uses a router to shape the surface of a conical fretboard. With 11 photos and 5 diagrams.
2001
AL#66 p.20 BRB6 p.216
Greg Hanson Sebastian Stenzel
▪ Stenzel is a German who specializes in classical guitars. He shares much information about his guitars as well as some opinions that may surprise you. With 5 photos.
2001
AL#66 p.16 BRB6 p.182
Scott van-Linge
▪ The author has some unique ideas about how bridge and brace shape and weight effect the volume and tone of flattop guitars. His ultimate guitar bridge is going to make a lot of traditionalists nervous, but it is pretty in a minimalist fashion and should be a winner if it does what he claims. With 10 photos and a diagram.
2001
AL#66 p.6 BRB6 p.186
Ken Goodwin Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman has been a guitar and bass designer/builder, a teacher of lutherie and writing, a longtime member of the GAL, a frequent contributor to AL and its current product reviewer. Harry is as well-known for his outrageous sense of humor as for the outrageous instruments he creates. With 10 photos.
2001
AL#66 p.5 BRB6 p.165 read this article
Jonathon Peterson Jean Gilman Lora Lundberg Schultz Dorothy Bones Ben Lundberg Michael Yeats Gunter Mark Cyndy Burton Jeffrey R. Elliott
▪ Lundberg was perhaps the foremost lute maker in America, a champion of building lutes in an historical manner, a longtime member and supporter of the GAL, and author of the landmark book Historical Lute Construction. Family and friends take a deep look at the significance of his life and work. With 10 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#66 p.3 read this article
Joe-D. Franklin
▪ Joe Franklin believed that the secret to good sound in classical guitars was the exacting relationship between interior dimensions and the wavelengths of sound.
2001
AL#66 p.3 read this article
Frederick-C. Lyman-Jr.
▪ Longtime GAL member Fred Lyman tells of the conversation that got Irving Sloane interested in making bass machines. Fred also gives a quick overview of his life in lutherie and wishes more lutherie info had been available to him in his youth.
2001
AL#65 p.65 BRB6 p.456
Francis Kosheleff
▪ A portable battery powered sound system featuring PA box cabinets designed to visually reflect the instruments played by the Balka quartet for a gig in the Santa Cruz mountains.
2001
AL#65 p.65 BRB6 p.456
Peter Giolitto
▪ A method to profile the heads of classical guitars helps achieve a much more accurate shape more quickly than just drawing around a single template and working to the line; instead using shapes of workable metal.
2001
AL#65 p.64 BRB6 p.455
Eric Nicholson
▪ This guitar holding device has two main parts; a neck/body adapter and bench-mounting arm.
2001
AL#65 p.63 BRB6 p.536 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer recommends this video about installing under-the-bridge flattop guitar pickups.
2001
AL#65 p.62 BRB6 p.535 read this article
Benjamin Hoff
▪ Hoff seriously doesn’t recommend this book about buying and maintaining a guitar.
2001
AL#65 p.59 BRB6 p.478
Harry Fleishman
▪ AL’s Tool Meister reviews a bunch of circuit accessories from Stewart-MacDonald. He rejects the Black Ice crunch-adder but likes the Voltage Doubler, ConducTool, Megaswitch, and Yamaha 5-way switch.
2001
AL#65 p.57 BRB6 p.215
Cyndy Burton
▪ Clear spring 190 proof ethanol, everclear, and other drinkable grain alcohols to use for making shellac and for French polishing.
2001
AL#65 p.57 BRB6 p.215 read this article
Harry Fleishman
▪ Amplifying a flattop bass built with GAL plan #13.
2001
AL#65 p.57 BRB6 p.215
Greg Byers
▪ Sealing the interiors of fretted instruments: most builders don’t.
2001
AL#65 p.52
Cyndy Burton
▪ Lots of folks want to teach you to build stringed instruments. Here’s a 5-page list of them.
2001
AL#65 p.48 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ No doubt many of us pursue lutherie as an escape from an ever-escalating technology that the rest of the world imposes upon us. If that’s you, skip this new column. If, however, you see yourself entering lutherie as a business you may find yourself shut out of future developments if you can’t speak CAD (Computer Aided Design). Bourgeois’ arguments for getting involved are strong, and you may even find a degree of fun in the pursuit. Working with Mastercam software to design guitars and parts will be the focus of future columns.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#65 p.44 BRB6 p.200
Bruce Calder Sergio Huerta-Chavez
▪ Chavez is a builder of guitars and violins from Mexico who has managed to find markets in the US. Lutherie-life south of the border is probably different than you think, especially if Paracho has been your only touchstone. With 5 photos.
2001
AL#65 p.39 BRB6 p.170
Fred Campbell
▪ A large part of the secret to getting a fine gloss finish of any sort is the preparation of the wood before anything is even applied. Campbell has specialized in finish work for years and isn’t shy about sharing what he knows.
2001
AL#65 p.28 BRB6 p.174
Jonathon Peterson Eugene Clark
▪ Clark began his guitar building over 40 years ago, which makes him one of the true father figures of our craft. His life has been a crooked path, with interesting things at every jog in the road. You’ll like meeting him. With 12 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#65 p.22 BRB6 p.210
John Calkin
▪ The dished workboard can make it easier to make better guitars. Calkin reveals several ways to make them more versatile, more accurate, and more fun to use. With 13 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#65 p.10 BRB6 p.82
Paul Schuback
▪ Schuback learned violin making in a small shop in France during the ’60s. This segment of his 1995 convention workshop lecture covers completing the plates and fitting the neck, fingerboard, nut, and soundpost to the body. There’s lots of local French color, old tools, and old ways presented here, as well as a bit of how the violin has changed since the days of the first Italian masters. Part One appeared in AL#63. With 33 photos, a diagram, and a sequence chart for building a violin.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#65 p.5 BRB6 p.204 read this article
Paul Fischer
▪ Born David Joseph Spinks, Rubio was an Englishman who adopted his Spanish nickname. He became a well-known maker of classical guitars, early instruments, and violins.
2001
AL#65 p.3
Ric McCurdy
▪
2000
AL#64 p.65 BRB6 p.454
Adrian Lucas
▪ A spreadsheet to calculate nut slot bracing for ukes, 4 and 5 string bass, and any number of strings.
2000
AL#64 p.64 BRB6 p.57
Jay Hargreaves
▪ Patents and use of Kasha/Schneider design.
2000
AL#64 p.64 BRB6 p.57
Robert Steinegger
▪ Filling gaps in ivoroid binding.
2000
AL#64 p.61 BRB6 p.476
Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman returns to this column after a long absence, and finds that he has a strong admiration for Hipshot Ultralight Bass Tuners. He also examines the Earvana intonated nut intended for Fender electric guitars and finds that they do improve intonation, though the installation is not a piece of cake. With 3 photos.
2000
AL#64 p.58 BRB6 p.493
John Calkin
▪ The author enjoyed building this kit and decides that it is a fine value as well as a good way to enter guitar making. With 14 photos.
2000
AL#64 p.56 BRB6 p.534 read this article
Michael Darnton
▪ Though the reviewer finds that this book shares a few of the same limitations as all other violin construction books, in the end “this is a great book (that) for the most part completely eclipses every previous violin making text.”
2000
AL#64 p.56 BRB6 p.534 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer finds this video to be more opinion than explanation, and that the limited amount of information included doesn’t justify its purchase.
2000
AL#64 p.50 BRB6 p.156
Nathan Stinnette
▪ Stinnette is the Huss & Dalton Guitar Co. employee in charge of converting split red spruce trees into billets of brace wood, and then into guitar braces. The article describes how the rough chunks of wood are converted into quarter-sawn boards and then how the boards are made into braces. With 15 photos.
2000
AL#64 p.44 BRB6 p.136
R.M. Mottola
▪ The author’s invention is an attempt to create the tone of the upright bass in a more portable instrument. The Bassola is a carved-plate instrument very much like a huge F-model mandolin, though not as large as a bass mandolin. It utilizes standard bass guitar strings and “fits in any car.” With 9 photos.
2000
AL#64 p.38 BRB6 p.160
Craig Pierpont
▪ American Lutherie #61 offered a plan and description of the Clark Irish harp.Here harp maker Pierpont gives a more technical explanation of the Clark’s anatomy and explains why it is a good starting point for any prospective harp builder. With 9 photos and a set of diagrams.
2000
AL#64 p.20 BRB6 p.140
Jonathon Peterson Rick Turner
▪ Not frequently is one person so often in the right place at the right time with the skills to take advantage of the situation. Turner has “been there and done that” as an inventor and designer of instrument electronics as well as a repairman, designer, and manufacturer of Alembic guitars and basses and Turner-brand electric and acoustic guitars. His story is as colorful as it is informative. With 21 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#64 p.6 BRB6 p.118
Jeffrey-R. Elliott Greg Byers Eugene Clark Gary Southwell
▪ Four note-worthy builders of the classical guitar talk about their influences, their building philosophies, and some of the their construction techniques in a panel discussion that should inspire anyone interested in the instrument. With 26 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#64 p.4 read this article
Jason DuMont
▪
2000
AL#64 p.3 read this article
David Cohen
▪
2000
AL#64 p.3 read this article
Bob Benedetto
▪
2000
AL#63 p.64 read this article
Keith Hill
▪ Hill suspects that many luthiers pursue their craft to please the eye more than the ear because that is what they know how to do, and also that the road of pure science cannot lead them back to the straight path.
2000
AL#63 p.63 BRB6 p.65 read this article
Alan Carruth Joe-D. Franklin
▪ Changing guitar dimensions while maintaining the same size air cavity.
2000
AL#63 p.61 BRB6 p.533 read this article
Gary Southwell
▪ The reviewer likes these high-end tuning machines for their precision and elegant appearance.
2000
AL#63 p.61 BRB6 p.533 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer admires this video as a look at the real world of guitar finishing, where standards are high and problems are bound to arise.
2000
AL#63 p.59 BRB6 p.453
Gerald Sheppard
▪ A fairly simple jig that takes advantage of the elegant design of the Fox side bender.
2000
AL#63 p.58 BRB6 p.452
Jim Clay
▪ A modification to the very fine Dremel router base that Bishop Cochran sells.
2000
AL#63 p.58 BRB6 p.452
Peter Giolitto
▪ A simple way to make a guitar mold using only hand tools.
2000
AL#63 p.56 BRB6 p.471 read this article
Fred Carlson
▪ Mr. Fred spins a tale about new finish products, then reviews the orange oil-based finish products from Livos.
2000
AL#63 p.50 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The best of these books and videos should put you well on the way to making professional quality electric instruments. You should know about the others, too, if only so you know to avoid them.
2000
AL#63 p.46 BRB6 p.114
Cyndy Burton
▪ The V joint is an elegant, traditional method of adding a pitched headstock to a classical guitar. This 20-photo essay follows the able hands of Geza Burghardt as he completes the entire operation.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#63 p.40 BRB6 p.130
Gordon Gray Clive Titmuss
▪ Titmuss is a Canadian who builds and performs upon the lute. He’s also a lute historian and a musicologist. It takes an interesting person to make a mostly-forgotten piece of the past come alive, which is what Titmuss does. With 8 photos.
2000
AL#63 p.34 BRB6 p.108
John Calkin
▪ OK, so you’ve got all the parts for your flattop guitar body prepped for construction. How do you get all the pieces to fit together? The author details the construction methods used at the Huss & Dalton Guitar Co, all of which should prove useful to any small shop.With 21 photos.
2000
AL#63 p.20 BRB6 p.82
Paul Schuback
▪ This piece would be important just as an historical document of Schuback’s apprenticeship to a French violin maker in the early ’60s. The inclusion of his current shop practices and building methods makes it an article that everyone interested in the violin should read. With 33 photos and 5 diagrams.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#63 p.10 BRB6 p.72
Cyndy Burton Sheldon Urlik
▪ When a collector becomes a historian his importance to lutherie takes on a new dimension. Urlik’s collection begins with Torres and extends to many important current, and can be examined by anyone in his book A Collection of Fine Classical Guitars, from Torres to the Present. With 19 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#63 p.7 read this article
Chris Foss
▪
2000
AL#63 p.5 read this article
Alan Carruth
▪
2000
AL#63 p.5 read this article
John Monteleone
▪
2000
AL#63 p.3 BRB6 p.88 read this article
Tim Olsen
▪ Nick was a multi-faceted friend of the GAL and instrumental in its on-line existence. He was a frequent AL author, especially on the subject of botany.
2000
AL#63 p.3 BRB6 p.71 read this article
Tim Miklaucic
▪ Current patriarch of a guitar-making dynasty dies at the age of 47.
2000
AL#62 p.64
David Oppenheim
▪ Guitar binding courses outside of north America and the UK.
2000
AL#62 p.64 BRB6 p.11
Dave Maize
▪ Building demolition, street trees, blowdowns, flooding, and naturally killed trees as sources for recycled/reclaimed woods.
2000
AL#62 p.63 BRB6 p.532 read this article
Woody Vernice
▪ This video is used to explain the design of the new Taylor neck. The reviewer likes it as more than the selling aid that Taylor envisioned, that for him it opened the discussion for the future role of the handbuilder.
2000
AL#62 p.62 BRB6 p.531 read this article
Jonathon Peterson
▪ The reviewer recommends this book that traces the history of harp and Hawaiian guitars, focusing sharply of the life and work of Knutsen.
2000
AL#62 p.59 BRB6 p.66 read this article
John Calkin Henry Stocek
▪ Stocek began a small business to supply the guitar trade with pickguard stock that resembles pre-war celluloid. He loves old Martins, bluegrass, and “the right look,” and all three have altered his life. With 2 photos.
2000
AL#62 p.58
Peter Giolitto
▪ A method utilizing a go-bar deck as alternative to gluing on a classical bridge using clamps through the soundhole.
2000
AL#62 p.58 BRB6 p.451
Ethan Deutsch
▪ Clearing string holes in bridges using the 1/16″ drill bit with which they were originally made.
2000
AL#62 p.57 BRB6 p.451
Jonathon Peterson
▪
2000
AL#62 p.56 BRB6 p.450
Gerald Sheppard
▪ A small jig attached to a belt sander to thin wood binding, headstock overlays, and other small items.
2000
AL#62 p.54 BRB6 p.470
Fred Carlson
▪ Carlson examines Frank Ford’s “Frets.Com, A Luthier’s Notebook”, an ongoing CD-ROM project taken from Ford’s website and finds that it offers more information than one reviewer can deal with. The reviewer also looks at the Fret Tang Expander and the Fret Tang Compressor, 2 tools invented by Ford, and finds them a good addition to his tool kit. With 4 photos.
2000
AL#62 p.50 BRB6 p.490 read this article
John Calkin
▪ This is the first of a new semi-regular column. The Riverboat features massive amounts of wood to paint or carve, as well as a head adjustment system that eliminates all of the traditional banjo hardware. Calkin likes it. With 7 photos.
2000
AL#62 p.46 read this article
Mike Nealon
▪ Nealon’s jig allows a router to fully shape the neck behind the heel, including the diamond on the back of the headstock. With 15 photos and 6 diagrams.
2000
AL#62 p.42 BRB6 p.62
Andrea Tacchi Masaru Kohno
▪ Kohno classicals are ranked with the best of 20th century guitars. His youth in pre-war Japan was an experience unfamiliar to most of us, though his path toward higher standards of craftsmanship is one that many luthiers have traveled. His life was not an ordinary one. With 5 photos.
2000
AL#62 p.26 BRB6 p.48
Gary Southwell
▪ The evolution of the guitar was not a straight-line event. Though both the classical and the steelstring have been more or less fixed in form for over a hundred years the century before that has not been well-documented. Here Southwell has begun to repair that oversight. A luthier with a keen sense of history, he has used the guitars of this period to inform and guide his own creations. With 37 photos of historical and Southwell guitars.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#62 p.18 BRB6 p.42
Jonathon Peterson David Freeman
▪ Freeman is an independent thinker who builds a wide variety of instruments and runs his own lutherie school in Canada. He’s also outspoken and articulate. You’ll be glad you met him here. With 21 photos.
2000
AL#62 p.6 BRB6 p.32
John Monteleone
▪ No one in the field of archtop guitars is more respected than Monteleone. This article represents his full thoughts on the instrument as of 1998. With 12 photos and 4 drawings.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#62 p.3 BRB6 p.81
R.E. Brune
▪ Mentions the death of Jim Norris, who “was instrumental in bringing the classical guitar to Chicago in the late 1950s and early 1960s…”
2000
AL#61 p.64 BRB6 p.113
R.E. Brune
▪ Info on typical string clearances at the 1st and 12th frets on a flamenco guitar, based on GAL plan #42 (1951 M. Barbero) by R.E. Brune.
2000
AL#61 p.64 read this article
John Calkin
▪ Wenge is hard, yet very brittle and splinters are a constant threat.
2000
AL#61 p.64 read this article
John Calkin
▪ Super glue interaction with finishes.
2000
AL#61 p.64
Steve Klein
▪ The advantage of having a zero fret at the top like on the Klein and Selmer guitars instead of a regular nut.
2000
AL#61 p.63 BRB6 p.531 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer likes this video for its good advice to luthiers who have no access to professional equipment. Those who already have a booth and good spray gear will also benefit from the instruction. The 2 jobs involved are both electric guitars finished in colors.
2000
AL#61 p.62 BRB6 p.530 read this article
Dave Zogg
▪ The reviewer decides that this very pretty book should serve all but the tool-disabled to care for their guitars.
2000
AL#61 p.62 BRB6 p.530 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer recommends this book to anyone who wishes to spray lacquer, but especially to those who wish to recreate many of the electric guitar finishes the factories have put out.
2000
AL#61 p.61 BRB6 p.448
Peter Giolitto
▪ Making a jig to hold guitar necks while carving them.
2000
AL#61 p.61 BRB6 p.448
Michael Breid
▪ Putting banjo strings in a fly-tying vise to prevent them from making small grooves in the tailpiece.
2000
AL#61 p.61 BRB6 p.448
Michael Breid
▪ An idea from Dan Erlewine: little acrylic blades to lift internal bracing to get glue beneath it.
2000
AL#61 p.61 BRB6 p.448
R.M. Mottola
▪ A way to quickly ‘add’ table space to a drill press, bandsaw, or spindle sander is with a couple of fret bar clamps, such as those made by True Grip.
2000
AL#61 p.60 BRB6 p.447
David Kempf
▪ An illustrated description of building a uniquely shaped bridge for a steel string guitar.
2000
AL#61 p.55
Cyndy Burton
▪ This is a list of lutherie schools in the USA, Canada, and the British Isles, followed by a list of organizations, periodicals, and publishers of interest to luthiers.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#61 p.52 BRB6 p.468
John Calkin
▪ Good grades are given to the Stew-Mac neck jig, a fretting aid. The fret nippers intended for jumbo fret wire is greeted with mixed emotions. The Allen mandolin tailpiece is found to offer grace and dignity to any mando with a bridge high enough to allow its use.
2000
AL#61 p.46 read this article
Janos Pap
▪ The cymbalom is the mother of hammered dulcimers. It may also be the mother of the piano. It’s also a complex animal to build, though building it isn’t the focus here. What can be learned by rolling an instrument into an acoustics laboratory? We’re still not sure. With 17 charts, three drawings, and a photo of the beast in question.
2000
AL#61 p.40 BRB6 p.28
Harry Fleishman Fabio Ragghianti
▪ Ragghianti is an Italian luthier. It’s interesting that luthiers from around the world seem to think of their instruments in the same terms. This easily allows them to immediately find a common ground regardless of their cultural background or language. Ragghianti came to America, then Fleishman went to Italy. The terrain didn’t seem to make a lot of difference. With 3 photos.
2000
AL#61 p.38 BRB6 p.26
Kevin-B. Rielly
▪ The P-1 is a funky plywood guitar intended for the lowest end of the handmade market. That’s a real tough slot to fill, but Rielly seems curious about the possibilities and not too concerned about staking his livelihood on the little devils. There’s a moral here, though: there is someone hungry for almost anything you can make. Finding that guy may be the hard part. With 5 photos.
2000
AL#61 p.37 BRB6 p.25
David Riggs
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2000
AL#61 p.34 BRB6 p.22
David Riggs
▪ The Celtic harp has become something of a cult object. The author offers his plans as a place to begin creation and not as an idea frozen in stone. There are 7 photos of construction details, along with some suggestions of how to proceed. The plans are a shrunken version of GAL full-size blueprint #45.
2000
AL#61 p.28 BRB6 p.18
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Ten years after the GAL convention lecture that made him a guru to most of the steelstring clan, Bourgeois has new information to offer about the construction and voicing of the flattop guitar. With 2 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#61 p.20 BRB6 p.12
Jonathon Peterson David Rivinus
▪ This luthier has redesigned the viola into a beast he calls the Pellegrina. Its ergonomic design can potentially extend the working life of violists while supplying the tone they need for the most exacting jobs. The price, however, is a way-cool new look for the instrument. Way-cool for some, at least. With 12 photos and 3 drawings of different viola bridges.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#61 p.17 BRB6 p.10 read this article
Henry Stocek
▪ Stocek loves vintage Martins, and resupplying the world with pre-war style pickguard and binding stock has become his passion. His story is proof that recreating the past can be much harder than simply getting along with the present. It’s also the story of how celluloid is made.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#61 p.14 BRB6 p.68
Robert Painter
▪ How to cut, bevel, and buff a pickguard using celluloid flat stock. With 6 photos.
2000
AL#61 p.4 BRB6 p.2
Cyndy Burton Geza Burghardt
▪ Burghardt and his family emigrated to Canada from Hungary in 1988 with few worldly goods and little English and proceeded to carve out a niche in a fashion we have grown accustomed to hearing about in these pages. He seems to prefer classical guitars and hand tools. Included is an 8-picture description of the jig he uses to slot the sides into the necks of his guitars, and 7 other photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#61 p.3 read this article
Michael Darnton
▪
2000
AL#61 p.3 read this article
John Calkin
▪
2000
AL#61 p.2
Keith Davis
▪
1999
AL#60 p.52
Cyndy Burton
▪ This column updates several source lists that have appeared in past issues. If you need it to build instruments, you should find a supplier here.
1999
AL#60 p.51 BRB5 p.504
Scott van-Linge
▪ A photo of a modification to the Bishop Cochran plunge-router base.
1999
AL#60 p.51 BRB5 p.503
Peter Giolitto
▪ How the dished form described in AL#58 is used to fit the backs of guitars.
1999
AL#60 p.50 BRB5 p.505
Stan Tucker
▪ A fixture to cut fret slots using an older 9″ DeWalt radial-arm saw to measure and cut accurate fret slots for odd scale lengths.
1999
AL#60 p.49 read this article
Bruce Harvie
▪ Origins of maples which exhibit the bird’s eye figure when slab cut, as seen in several Torres extant guitars.
1999
AL#60 p.49 read this article
Robert Lundberg
▪ Obtaining plans for a vihuela.
1999
AL#60 p.49 BRB5 p.398
Mike Wilson
▪ The toxicity of cyanoacrylate (CA) glues.
1999
AL#60 p.49 BRB5 p.398
Kirk Sand
▪ Pecan oil varnish used on old Kohnos and whether to refinish the top.
1999
AL#60 p.48 BRB5 p.485 read this article
John Calkin
▪ All it takes to slap together a parts guitar is a screwdriver and some common sense, right? Way wrong! The reviewer decides that this video should be figured into the budget of every first-time guitar assembler.
1999
AL#60 p.48 BRB5 p.485 read this article
Randy Allen
▪ Mandolin magazines come and go. The small market must cramp their longevity. Then reviewer likes this latest contender, and if it’s as good as he says we all hope it will hang around for awhile.
1999
AL#60 p.44 BRB5 p.436
Fred Carlson
▪ Hi-Tone instrument cases are reviewed and not found wanting, “a contender for the handsomest case out there, and very solidly built.”
1999
AL#60 p.39 BRB5 p.432
Todd Novak
▪ Clear text and 19 photos explain how to do a fret job the old fashioned way—no fancy-shmansy new jiggery or expensive tools. Fret jobs have been done this way since the advent of barbed fret wire, and it’s good to be reminded that self-reliance and skill can still get the job done.
1999
AL#60 p.38 BRB5 p.431
Todd Novak David Santo
▪ Santo has not only been a luthier of wide experience, he has been a consultant to several instrument companies of note.
1999
AL#60 p.36
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Healdsburg has become a Mecca for makers and fans of custom guitars. If you weren’t there you don’t have to be square, these 15 photos and Peterson’s crisp text will clue you in on what you missed.
1999
AL#60 p.30 BRB5 p.412
Joseph Curtin
▪ Evia is Curtin’s shorthand for Experimental Viola, a design he has created in wood and which he hopes to transfer into graphite and foam. Perhaps the time for change is finally upon us. Many think they can see the end of first-quality tonewood, and if we’re going to alter a 500-year-old tradition by changing wood species, why not change all the way and leave wood behind? Curtin (a widely respected creator of bowed instruments) seems certain that synthetic instruments of tonal excellence are less than a decade away. With 19 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#60 p.28 BRB5 p.420
John Calkin Bob Gernandt
▪ This North Carolina luthier likes to use native timber in the wide variety of instruments he builds. His particular interest is the Irish bouzouki and cittern.
1999
AL#60 p.22 BRB5 p.408
Rich Mermer
▪ Are you familiar with the Weissenborn Hawaiian guitars of the ’20s? How ’bout the acoustic lap steel work of David Lindley? Well, Lindley often plays a Weissenborn, which is lap guitar with a sound chamber that includes a hollow neck (think of a guitar whose mother was frightened by a fretted dulcimer). Rich Mermer doesn’t build exact Weissenborn copies, but a very similar design. His good plan is a single-page diagram with a chart of measurements. With 12 photos.
1999
AL#60 p.19 BRB5 p.417
Ervin Somogyi
▪ How important is the grain orientation of your braces? Is quartersawn wood really the stiffest? Somogyi ran a small series of tests that suggest that information we all trust and take for granted may be little more than lutherie mythology. With 3 photos and a chart.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#60 p.16 BRB5 p.399
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Caldersmith offers this article as an aesthetic link with his more scientific treatise in AL#58. The shape of a fiddles sound can be explained technically, then interpreted into a wooden shape that must please the maker’s artistic eye. If you’ve been scratching your head over the meaning of all the technical gobbledygook, this may be the information you’ve been waiting for. With a drawing and 11 photos of the carving process.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#60 p.6 BRB5 p.422
Fred Carlson Harry Fleishman William Eaton Saul Koll
▪ The market for flattop guitars probably isn’t evolving away from tried and true designs at all, but individual luthiers are working on instruments that would baffle (and hopefully intrigue) Orville and old C.F. These four groundbreaking guitarmakers got together to discuss their work in front of an audience at the 1998 GAL convention, and if their work and philosophies don’t show you anything you must be hopelessly lost in the nostalgic past. This article is a condensed version of that discussion. With 24 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#60 p.4
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune’s letter gives us an update of the Spanish flamenco scene as he found it during a visit to Spain in May of 1999. With 3 photos.
1999
AL#59 p.65 BRB5 p.484 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer likes this instruction video that is ultimately intended to sell product, and finds that the instruction far outweighs the salesmanship angle of this Stew-Mac tape.
1999
AL#59 p.63 BRB5 p.483 read this article
David Hurd
▪ The reviewer finds that the expense and daunting technical nature of this two-volume set should not prevent individuals from acquiring them and wading in. He admonishes that one never knows what will come out of such reading, but that nothing will come of it if it isn’t attempted.
1999
AL#59 p.63 BRB5 p.478 read this article
John Calkin
▪ Robinson not only continues to widen the scope of instrument inlay, he invites others to come along and shows them how to do it. The reviewer is very enthusiastic about this video tape.
1999
AL#59 p.62 BRB5 p.482 read this article
Linda Manzer
▪ The reviewer finds this book about the life and work of John D’Angelico and James D’Aquisto “is a wonderful and carefully prepared book,” though perhaps not free of errors.
1999
AL#59 p.61 BRB5 p.500
Gene Simpson
▪ A cardboard tube sliced up for use as radiused pads.
1999
AL#59 p.61 BRB5 p.502
Michael Breid
▪ A custom bow-tip-gluing jig built out of necessity.
1999
AL#59 p.60
Ken Altman
▪ French bowmaking planes very much like the ones used by Stephan Thomachot, who gives bowmaking workshops at Oberlin College.
1999
AL#59 p.59 read this article
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Is it safe to use African wenge to make classical guitar bridges?
1999
AL#59 p.59
Eric Aceto
▪ Inquiries on switching to water based lacquer after developing an allergy to low toxic lacquer, Crystalac in particular.
1999
AL#59 p.56 BRB5 p.452
Fred Carlson
▪ Carlson checks out Iboney, a specially treated cow bone used for nuts and saddles. Also in this column is an examination of 3 Stew-Mac tools, a fingerboard and bridge heating iron, a purfling cutter attachment for the Dremel MultiPro, and a binding cutter for the Stew-Mac version of the MultiPro router base. Fred likes the Iboney, and decides that both Stew-Mac Dremel attachments are better made than the Dremels themselves. The heating iron passes inspection, too, but the GAL Tool Guy feels a bit luke-warm about it.
1999
AL#59 p.50 BRB5 p.392
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Rhinehart has built Dobro-style guitars for years, and was among the first to furnish custom resonator cones to the industry. Includes a new plan format, a one-page diagram of a square neck guitar with a chart of dimensions. Different methods of seating the cone are discussed, and 8 photos show some of the details of Rhinehart’s work.
1999
AL#59 p.46 BRB5 p.396
Jeff Huss Mark Dalton
▪ Hand carved and compensated bone saddles are a mark of finesse. Fine work is all about the details, and Huss and Dalton discuss a detail that is often overlooked but easy to make. With 8 photos.
1999
AL#59 p.39 BRB5 p.402
Gordon Gray Grit Laskin
▪ Laskin is a well-known maker of masterful guitars and a groundbreaking artist in inlay concept and design. He’s also a novelist and a recording artist. If the 9 photos of his guitars and inlay work don’t inspire you, you’re certainly from an old school of lutherie.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#59 p.36 BRB5 p.390
Merv Rowley
▪ Rowley may have been the first to use metal rod for frets rather than fret wire, a technique often attributed to Richard Schneider. He has built dulcimers for many years and has been something of an innovator. Here he examines the chromatic, rather than the diatonic dulcimer, and decides that perhaps it’s time has come and how to make it most acceptable to those who already play the conventionally fretted instrument. With a photo and two charts.
1999
AL#59 p.22 BRB5 p.332
Jonathon Peterson George Majkowski Boaz Elkayam
▪ George Majkowski and Boaz Elkayam complete their work on 10 Kasha guitars to honor the memory of Richard Schneider and to keep his work alive. The hand tools involved, the strange method of fretting, and the cool vacuum clamps, as well as the design philosophy behind the guitars, make this a pair of articles not to be missed. The Old World meets the future here and they blend very nicely. With 58 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#59 p.18 BRB5 p.386
David Melly Steve Kauffman
▪ Kauffman had been a luthier for sometime before he apprenticed to Steve Klein. Today he builds Klein acoustics in his own shop as well as his personal line of guitars. He’s a thoughtful and thought-provoking man, and you’ll be glad you met him. With 6 photos.
1999
AL#59 p.6 BRB5 p.374
Frank Ford
▪ A top repairman tackles the sticky subject of what repair and restoration work should be tackled in this age of vintage instrument mania, especially in the area of elective surgery. Even today’s utilitarian instruments may be tomorrow’s hot collectibles, so every instrument that passes over our bench has to be considered in this light. What work should we refuse, and what are our liabilities for the work we do? Includes 41 photos, mostly of vintage guitars and mandolins.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#58 p.61
Henry Strobel
▪ Full sized violin molds.
1999
AL#58 p.61
Don Overstreet
▪ Info on upright bass repair in book or video form.
1999
AL#58 p.60 BRB5 p.361
R.E. Brune
▪ Publications on identifying Ramirez guitars by serial number and more info on the 1988 model 1A.
1999
AL#58 p.60
Lawrence Smart
▪ Information on the dovetail method for joining the instrument neck to body including calculating the degree of neck angle, dimensions of the dovetail cuts, procedures for making the cuts, and adjusting any improper fit.
1999
AL#58 p.60
Peter Dyer
▪ Universal side bender.
1999
AL#58 p.60
Peter Dyer
▪ Stainless steel and its rusting properties and the universal side bender.
1999
AL#58 p.59 BRB5 p.503
Peter Giolitto
▪ An easy way to make dished forms using plaster to create the dished surface.
1999
AL#58 p.59 BRB5 p.502
Skip Helms
▪ A quick jig for cutting bridge slots and tie block inlays for use with a plunge router.
1999
AL#58 p.58 BRB5 p.501
John Monteleone
▪ A good method for finding the height of mandolin family sides using a violin soundpost height gauge.
1999
AL#58 p.58 BRB5 p.501
Andrea Andalo
▪ A simple device to hold guitars during the finishing phase which consists of an upright which can be held in a vise and a workboard which the neck can be secured.
1999
AL#58 p.57 BRB5 p.481
Cyndy Burton
▪ Bream began when the classical guitar world was small, indeed. The reviewer finds this collection of letters about Bream’s early years to be small, expensive, and enjoyable.
1999
AL#58 p.56 BRB5 p.481 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer finds this set of three video tapes (about 6-hrs. worth) to be roughly made but perhaps invaluable to the learn-at-home crowd.
1999
AL#58 p.55 BRB5 p.480 read this article
David Riggs
▪ The reviewer likes this book about building assorted folk and flea market instruments, though he doesn’t expect serious luthiers to have much use for it. Not unless they like to kick back with a tin can banjo, that is. A fun book for unserious moments.
1999
AL#58 p.55 BRB5 p.480 read this article
Woody Vernice
▪ In 1984 the MIT museum sponsored an exhibition of banjos built predominantly in and around Boston. This book is sort of the catalog of that show, complete with two essays about the history of the banjo and the Bostonians who built the factories. The reviewer decides that if you like the open-back banjo you’ll enjoy this book.
1999
AL#58 p.52 BRB5 p.449
Fred Carlson
▪ How would you like a video camera that can snoop inside your guitar? Carlson examines the Chapin Insight guitar inspection camera and finds that it’s loads of fun and probably very useful to a repairman who has the $350 to improve his inspection capabilities.
1999
AL#58 p.49
Ervin Somogyi
▪ Why do you lutherize? Really, why? Luthiers may be more inclined to look inward than others, but they’re no more inclined to talk about what they find there than anyone else. Somogyi’s eloquent confession might spark the rest of us into talking more deeply about our art and craft.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#58 p.46 BRB5 p.370
Eric Fouilhe
▪ What affect does the tailpiece have on your latest fiddle? Bet you don’t even know! We’ll bet you haven’t even thought about it! The cello is the object of concern here, but is there a large difference? The cello tailpiece has evolved into an inelegant plastic lump, and Fouilhe maintains that it’s often a source of sonic foul play, sort of like a 200-pound jockey on a race horse. He makes his case with 3 photos and 2 drawings.
1999
AL#58 p.42 BRB5 p.355
Jon Sevy
▪ If first-year college math pushed your left-brain functions to the limit (been there, done that) you may cringe at the sight of the simplest equation. If so, check out this article. Modern luthiers build arcs into many of their instruments, and if you don’t know how to create them to lay out your own jigs you’ll be forever at the mercy of tool suppliers. Worse yet, when someone asks what the radius of your back plate is you can shrug your shoulders and look like an idiot. Let Sevy solve your problem. You can do it!
1999
AL#58 p.38 BRB5 p.366
Cyndy Burton Gary Southwell
▪ Southwell makes gut-strung guitars that may be strange or more-or-less conventional, but always elegant, and he makes them for some high-profile patrons. His specialty is pre-classical or “salon” guitars. He’s an eloquent Englishman whom you’ll be happy to meet. With 6 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#58 p.32 BRB5 p.362
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Everyone knows that the most responsive instruments often teeter on the edge of self-destruction from string tension. Building fine-sounding instruments that will also have a reasonable lifespan is one of our general goals. Caldersmith takes a scientist’s view of the violin and decides that arching design is the key to longevity, while an understanding of free-plate tuning is needed to release the tonal qualities the luthier seeks. He furnishes 7 charts and diagrams to help make his case, as well as a photo of his Australian self. But what we all want to know is if a pursuit of science will eventually enhance our luthier’s intuition. Is it better to think or to feel? Do we really have to choose?
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#58 p.20 BRB5 p.332
Jonathon Peterson George Majkowski Boaz Elkayam
▪ Boaz Elkayam and George Majkowski extend the work of Michael Kasha and Richard Schneider in a project that entails the construction of 10 guitars. A wide variety of building techniques involving hand and power tools, as well as vacuum clamping, is necessary to make these complicated instruments. An unlikely pairing of craftsmen contributes to our understanding of one of the most controversial instrument designers of our times, and the memory of a respected luthier and teacher. With 26 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#58 p.16 BRB5 p.358
John Calkin Bonnie Carol
▪ Bonnie Carol has been a mainstay on the dulcimer scene for three decades. She is alive and well in Colorado, still building and performing. With 9 photos of her shop, instruments, and construction process. Mentions Max Krimmel.
1999
AL#58 p.6 BRB5 p.262
Jay Hargreaves
▪ The final installment in the series, parts 1 & 2 were in AL#56 and #57, respectively. In this segment the sides are bent, the body is assembled and bound, the neck is fitted to the body, and attention is given to tuning the plates. Special consideration is given to making the adjustable bridges as well as Tom’s elegant ebony/graphite tailpiece. With 36 photos and a drawing.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#58 p.3
Gheorghiu Aristotel-Viorel
▪
1999
AL#57 p.64
Cyndy Burton
▪ If you’re looking for formal lutherie instruction in the UK, Canada, or US, this list of schools is your best place to start.
1999
AL#57 p.63 BRB5 p.480 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer finds that this book will guide any luthier through the construction of this instrument that is sort of a simple guitar from Yugoslavia.
1999
AL#57 p.62 BRB5 p.479 read this article
Nicholas-Von Robison
▪ The reviewer finds that this technical tome about how wood vibrates may have a lot of value to any luthier who wants to work out the math, but that its high price will make it unavailable to most.
1999
AL#57 p.61
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ An inconspicuous way to fix an exposed edge of a truss rod on the neck of a steel string.
1999
AL#57 p.61 BRB5 p.193
Bradley Bischoff
▪ A removable or reversible varnish mentioned by Joseph Grubaugh.
1999
AL#57 p.58 BRB5 p.436
Fred Carlson
▪ Carlson takes over the GAL test pilot seat for new tools. This time he flies the Turbo-carver, an ultra-speed carving tool similar to (but not as elaborate as) a dentist drill. Carlson likes the tool but can’t seem to find a lot of use for it in lutherie. And though the tool is fairly inexpensive, he also questions its lifespan.
1999
AL#57 p.56 BRB5 p.458
Michael Darnton
▪ Good violins often come with a certificate of authenticity, but what does that mean? What are the legal ramifications of a certificate, and who writes them? Are they trustworthy? How does one gain the necessary expertise to write certificates? Cool stuff, even if you could care less about fiddles.
1999
AL#57 p.53 BRB5 p.327
John Calkin Steve Kinnaird
▪ Kinnaird is a minister, luthier, blues guitarist, and all-around nice guy. You’ll be glad you met him. With 4 photos.
1999
AL#57 p.50 BRB5 p.324
Paul McGill
▪ McGill’s lutherie shop is in his basement, and keeping his house free of fumes and dust involved lots of planning and not a little money. Here’s how he did it. With 3 photos and a drawing.
1999
AL#57 p.48 BRB5 p.322
Don Musser
▪ Musser supplies wood to the trade, and his notions about grain runout may surprise you. Wood from split billets doesn’t guarantee a minimum of runout unless the billet itself has absolutely no runout. Does it matter? Musser thinks so. With 4 photos.
1999
AL#57 p.46 BRB5 p.330
Kevin-B. Rielly
▪ By now we all know about using dished workboards to create a radius on flat instrument plates. Rielly’s board is easier to make than most, and can be adjusted for either the top or back radius. With 6 photos.
1999
AL#57 p.43 BRB5 p.321
John Calkin
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1999
AL#57 p.40 BRB5 p.317
John Calkin
▪ Calkin builds a uniquely shaped travel guitar called the True Companion, and here explains its construction as well as the jigs he devised for production building. The plan is a mini-version of GAL Plan #44. With 14 photos, including one of the sternest luthier of the year. Ya’ll remember to smile when it’s your turn!
1999
AL#57 p.32 BRB5 p.310
David Hurd
▪ Uke maker Hurd was once a research scientist, and intuitive instrument construction is not his bag. Using his formula luthiers can compare known wood species with unknowns and learn what to expect of the new ones. He also offers some top dimensions for instruments of the ukulele family. With 5 charts and much math.
1999
AL#57 p.24 BRB5 p.262
Jay Hargreaves
▪ In this installment the top plate is carved and braced. Ribbecke roughs out the plates in a unique vacuum cage that goes a long way toward keeping his shop clean. The chainsaw wheel he attaches to his grinder gives this series its name, and speeds the carving process dramatically. Tuning the top isn’t completed until the guitar is assembled in the next segment. Part 1 was in AL#56. Includes 20 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#57 p.22 BRB5 p.300
Cyndy Burton Joshia de-Jonge
▪ Joshia’s classical won high praise during the listening session at the GAL’s 1998 convention, quite an achievement for a 19-year-old woman. But then, just about every member of her family builds guitars. Her free-spirited optimism may be as much a product of her upbringing as her youth. With 3 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#57 p.14 BRB5 p.302
Frank Ford Don MacRostie
▪ The authors believe that hot hide glue is the best adhesive for virtually all construction and most repair jobs. Here’s why they think so and how they handle this ancient material. Includes diagrams of the customized glue pots used by both men, 15 photos, and a hide glue grading chart.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.