2017
AL#130 p.62 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ Jim Mouradian, shown here with his son Jon, ran a guitar repair shop and made electric basses. He was a generous and happy mentor to many.
2017
AL#130 p.60 read this article
Tom Bednark
▪ Tunquist ran the huge circular saw on which most of the wood for Martin guitars was cut in the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. He is remembered by Tom Bednark, an early GAL member.
2017
AL#130 p.59 read this article
R.E. Brune
▪ Cooper was an early member of the GAL as well as a maker of large and detailed airplane models. He wrote what was at the time the only book in English about making a lute, based on the work of the Hauser family. He’s fondly remembered by R.E. Brune, who built lutes from that book in the 1970s.
2017
AL#130 p.52
R.M. Mottola
▪ Did ancient folk know what they were doing? Or did they just have the bad luck to be born too soon? This article can’t settle that question definitively, but it does give some new and helpful information for luthiers. Graphs compare the pitch accuracy of fret scales calculated by the 12th-root-of-2 method vs the Rule-of-18 method. Appropriate string length compensation is considered.
2017
AL#130 p.42
Paul Schmidt Jason Harshbarger
▪ A lot of the makers that we meet in the pages of American Lutherie are grizzled veterans of the early days. Not this one. Harshbarger is a young single father who went to lutherie school in the late 1990s, then survived on cabinet work until he could build a lutherie shop in his basement. His steel-string design work uses Steve Klein’s work as a point of departure, and moves forward boldly from there.
2017
AL#130 p.28
Erick Coleman Evan Gluck Eron Harding
▪ Erick, Evan, and Eron called this workshop “Making Bread with Bread-and-Butter Repairs.” Their emphasis was on tools and techniques to help you get a lot of the usual repair jobs done in a short time and at a high level of quality. from their 2014 GAL Convention workshop.
2017
AL#130 p.22
David Freeman
▪ Freeman has made a number of guitars with varying combinations of off-center soundholes, graduated body depth, rolled-over edges, and adjustable side ports. He gives us his thoughts on how these design factors interact and how they advance his quest for a more erognomic steel string guitar.
2017
AL#130 p.6
Tim Olsen Jason Lollar
▪ Jason Lollar attended the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery way back when founders John Roberts and Bob Venn were still instructors. Jason went on to do a lot of guitar repair and some guitar making, but his early interest in winding pickups eventually grew into a twenty-person shop specializing in reproducing vintage models.
2017
AL#130 p.2
James Condino
▪ James Condino remembers his friend and mentor Eugene Clark.
2017
AL#129 p.68
Charles Fox
▪ List of guitar finishing services.
2017
AL#129 p.68
John Calkin R.M. Mottola
▪ There is no company offering a torrifying service, but maybe you can do something similar in a home oven. I said maybe. Don’t blame the GAL if you make a stinking mess. Or worse.
2017
AL#129 p.68
Mark Dalton Andy Powers John Calkin
▪ Torrified wood has been baked at similar temperatures as baking potatoes, usually in a reduced-oxygen atmosphere. Seems to make the wood lighter in weight, darker in color, and stiffer across the grain.
2017
AL#129 p.68
Pete Daigle Reg Beardsley
▪ Make water-slide decals using specially prepared paper and the right brand of color laser printer. Plus a description of how one could make traditional water-slide decals in the old-school way, that is, by silk screening.
2017
AL#129 p.66
Jeff-Lee Manthos
▪ A trained violin maker takes a thoughtful look at this luxurious picture book cataloging the fine violins of deceased American makers. Mentions Rembert Wurlitzer, Rene Morel, William Salchow, Simone Sacconi, Thomas Metzler, Freelan Stanley.
2017
AL#129 p.64
John Calkin
▪ Calkin’s manifesto of outlaw lutherie. He says real lutherie can be fun, spontanious, quick, and cheap. Relax. It’s good for you.
2017
AL#129 p.63
Paul Neri
▪ This little caliper is made for use in the model-making craft.
2017
AL#129 p.63
Rick Rubin
▪ Use that firm packing foam stuff to clamp a bridge on a flattop guitar. The foam can conform to small transducers that may be glued to the bridge plate.
2017
AL#129 p.63
Kevin-B. Rielly
▪ Simple adjustable jig brings nut and saddle blanks to accurate dimensions in relative ease.
2017
AL#129 p.56 read this article
Cyndy Burton Marc Silber Brian Burns Michael Gurian Jay Hargreaves R.E. Brune Jeffrey R. Elliott Federico Sheppard
▪ Eugene Clark (1934-2016) was one of the earliest and most influential pioneers of the American Lutherie Boom. Mentions Manuel Ramirez, Domingo Esteso, Santos Hernandez, Jon Lundberg, Freddie Mejia, David Rubio, Michael Gurian, David Santo, Lucien Barnes, Freddie Mejia, David Serva, Warren White, Manuel Velazquez, Manouk Papazian.
2017
AL#129 p.52
R.M. Mottola
▪ Grab a piece of paper and a pencil. See if you can find that old plastic triangle. Mottola steps you through the process of actually drawing the outline of an Orchestra Model guitar. Keep a candle handy. If the power goes out you can keep working.
2017
AL#129 p.46
Lisa Hurlong
▪ Lisa Hurlong is an American guitarist who moved to Spain many years ago. The guitar scene in Granada is rich and active. The various guitar makers have deep connections to each other that go back across decades of apprenticeships and partnerships. The young makers she describes here include Jose Marin Plazuelo, Jose Gonzalez Lopez, Juan Antonio Correa Marin, Francisco Javier Munoz Alba, Jose Luis Vigil Pinera, Jesus Bellido, Mauricio Bellido, Juan Manuel Garcia Fernandez, and Juan Miguel Carmona Trapero. Also mentions Manuel Francisco Diaz, Antonio Duran, Rafael Moreno, Antonio Marin, Manuel Bellido, Jose Bellido (Pepe Lopez), Eduardo Ferrer, Victor Diaz, Juan Miguel Carmona, and Rafael Moreno.
2017
AL#129 p.38
Steve Denvir Dave Collins
▪ Dave Collins is a rising star on the guitar repair scene. Take a look at a couple of nice jigs he has developed; one for slotting saddles, one for regluing broken headstocks. Interestingly, he is in the same Ann Arbor third-storey shop previously tenanted by Herb David. Dave counts Dan Erlewine and Bryan Galloup among his mentors.
2017
AL#129 p.34
James Condino
▪ It’s a clean, simple classic from the golden era. These are the working man’s mandos that Gibson was making while Lloyd Loar was busy making the fancy ones in the next room.
2017
AL#129 p.24
James Condino
▪ Condino has developed a clever process by which he can string and play a new mandolin very early in the building process. This makes voicing much more accurate,a nd it reduces the risk of experimental materials and bracing patterns considerably. Must see to believe. Mentions the work of Lloyd Loar at the Gibson company in the 1920s.
2017
AL#129 p.20
C.F. Casey
▪ When a neighbor brought in “Grampa’s old guitar” for Fred Casey to look at, he got a shock. The guitar was a whopper. Or more properly, a monster. That’s what Lyon & Healy called this very wide guitar. It was pretty well smashed, but soon it was back in playing condition. Does this guitar make my hips look big?
2017
AL#129 p.12
John Calkin
▪ Calkin says real lutherie can be fun, spontanious, quick, and cheap. He makes a uke from a lumber-yard 2×4 to drive home the point.
2017
AL#129 p.6
Cyndy Burton Linda Manzer
▪ The prolific maker of high-end flattop and archtop guitars talks about her mentors Jean Larrivee and Jimmy D’Aquisto, the lutherie biz, her collaborations with guitarist Pat Metheny, and a recent project in cooperation with other Canadian luthiers. Also mentions Paul Simon.
2017
AL#129 p.3
Leo Bidne
▪ An electric guitar by pioneering designer Doc Kauffman uses a speaker cone in place of a resophonic cone.
2017
AL#129 p.3
Ralf Grammel
▪ The author praises Elliott and the GAL.
2017
AL#129 p.3
Clifford Wilkes
▪ This is one of many designs that makes a large steel-string guitar more ergonomic. The back is formed in three large flat facets.
2016
AL#128 p.71
Bob Benedetto
▪ What’s the best way to get better at lutherie?
2016
AL#128 p.70
James Buckland
▪ What can you tell me about this old French guitar?
2016
AL#128 p.70
Alain Bieber James Buckland
▪ What can you tell me about this old French guitar?
2016
AL#128 p.68
John Calkin
▪ Graham McDonald has written books about mandolin-family instrument construction as well as speaking at GAL Conventions and writing for AL. Now he has written a book about mandolin history, and long-time GAL member GD Armstrong likes it. John Calkin gives a good review to a recent addition to Robbie O’Brien’s large and deep online lutherie instruction catalog. This one focuses on Kent Carlos Everett’s fret work techniques.
2016
AL#128 p.68
G.D. Armstrong
▪ Graham McDonald has written books about mandolin-family instrument construction as well as speaking at GAL Conventions and writing for AL. Now he has written a book about mandolin history, and long-time GAL member GD Armstrong likes it. John Calkin gives a good review to a recent addition to Robbie O’Brien’s large and deep online lutherie instruction catalog. This one focuses on Kent Carlos Everett’s fret work techniques.
2016
AL#128 p.67
Harry Fleishman
▪ Make an adjustably-magnetic screwdriver.
2017
AL#128 p.67
Paul Neri
▪ Turn a rat-tail comb into a string wrangler.
2016
AL#128 p.67
C.F. Casey
▪ Locate dot markers on a fretboard. All you need is a short straightedge and a pencil.
2016
AL#128 p.66
Sjaak Elmendorp
▪ Add a straightedge to your shooting board setup.
2016
AL#128 p.66
Terence Warbey
▪ Glue temporary tabs onto your guitar plates to align them during construction.
2016
AL#128 p.65 read this article
James Westbrook John Doan
▪ Guild members knew Jim Forderer as the guy who brought an RV full of important antique guitars to the GAL Conventions and let us play them. Disabilities advocates and Neil Young fans knew him as the co-founder of The Bridge School. Sometimes the angels don’t look like angels. Maybe all the time.
2016
AL#128 p.58
James Blilie
▪ We all have ideas about the stiffness of brace wood, probably based on a combination of intuition, hearsay, and informal flexing. Blilie aims to accumulate more quantitave data. Here he reports on his latest tests. He also describes his methodology and the reasoning behind it. This is Blilie’s second article on this topic. The earlier one is in AL128. A third article appears in AL133.
2016
AL#128 p.48
Cyndy Burton Jeffrey-R. Elliott Gabriel Fleta
▪ His grandfather Ignacio Fleta was a violin maker who started making guitars after repairing instruments by Torres, and his father Gabriel Sr. made guitars for decades as one of the legendary “hijos” of Ignacio who made guitars for Segovia, John Williams, and many others. Gabriel Fleta Jr. has been making guitars since the 1970s and has now inherited the family business. We visit his shop in Barcelona.
2016
AL#128 p.32
Andrew Mowry
▪ Andrew Mowry was a one-man mandolin-making shop known for precise high-quality work. When he made the jump and brought a small but capable CNC mill into the mix, he was not trying to flood the market, but rather to further improve his work. All the tools and methods he shows here are well within reach; you don’t need to be a factory to afford it, and it won’t turn you into a factory if you try it. Mowry still runs a one-man shop known for precise high-quality work. From his 2014 convention workshop.
2016
AL#128 p.22
Pat Megowan Jeff-Lee Manthos
▪ People come to lutherie on many different paths. Some of us were nerdy model-making kids, or spoiled lefty college dropouts. Or maybe the garage band was our gateway into the opium den of guitar making. On the other hand, Jeff Manthos was a helicopter aircrewman and rescue swimmer in the Vietnam era. Then, unexpectedly, he went to the Violinmaking School of America in Salt Lake City. He has made a career of it, first in other shops and now on his own.
2016
AL#128 p.8
Alan Perlman
▪ Perlman runs though a restoration job on a Torres guitar, replacing a side and copying fancy purflings. Then he builds a replica of a Stahl Style 6 flattop. So when you are copying a century-old American guitar, how far do you go in the name of authenticity? Do you match the faded tones of the purfling, or use the nice bright colors that the Larson Brothers liked? Do you let the glue blobs roam free like they did, or get all tidy like a nervous modern maker? From his 2014 convention lecture.
2016
AL#128 p.3
Carl Samuels
▪ You know those new-fangled bevels that make fancy hand-made steel-string guitars more comfy to play? Ever wonder what it would be like to have a guitar that was beveled all the way around the body? American lutherie-boom pioneer Carl Samuels has already done it.
2016
AL#127 p.71 read this article
Deb Olsen Chris Herrod Alan Carruth Fred Carlson
▪ Ouch. It’s tough to lose an old friend like good ol’ Don Bradley. Maker of frequency generators, keeper of llamas, attender of GAL Conventions, super great guy.
2016
AL#127 p.67
Mike Doolin
▪ How do you make and locate pinless bridges for steel string guitars?
2016
AL#127 p.67
R.M. Mottola
▪ Where do you get cases for huge custom flattop basses?
2016
AL#127 p.67
Jamie Unden Chris Herrod Matt Brooker
▪ What are the rules about mentioning certain trade names in instructional videos?
2016
AL#127 p.65
Graham McDonald
▪ Take a photo of a ruler under the strings to duplicate nut spacing.
2016
AL#127 p.65
Rick Rubin
▪ Ironwood works great for bandsaw guides.
2016
AL#127 p.65
Gene Simpson
▪ Big Ziplock bags work for vacuum pressing.
2016
AL#127 p.61
John Littel
▪ Lots of luthiers are doing nice clean, sophisticated, carefully developed work. Yes, our standards of fit and finish are high these days. But have we squeezed the soul out of it? Did we lose the spark of wonder as we chased the phantom of perfection? Nah. But you might like to check out this book about a guy who feels inspired to make some primitive and heartfelt instruments out of whatever the Universe sends him. And the Universe has a sense of humor.
2016
AL#127 p.56
Greg Nelson
▪ What’s stiffer: a spruce brace with vertical grain, or one with flat grain? How about diagonal grain? How would you know? Here’s an attempt to gather some data and present it in a way that makes sense. Challenge your assumptions by reading this article.
2016
AL#127 p.46
Don Bradley Knutson
▪ John Knutson personifies the pioneers of the Lutherie Boom generation; a self-taught, self-confident selfstarter who jumped right into making instruments as a young man. He showed his first mandolin at the GAL’s 1980 convention in San Francisco, and briefly met David Grisman there. Decades later he recorded a CD with Dawg, using guitars and mandolins that he built. There is more to his interesting story.
2016
AL#127 p.38
Kevin Aram
▪ Conventional Wisdom says that rubbed-oil finishes are no good for guitars. Well, once again Conventional Wisdom is wearing a dunce cap, because Kevin Aram has made about 200 world-class classical guitars over the last twenty years using a finishing process that involves nothing but Liberon oil rubbed on with a rag. No sealer, no solvent, no compressor, no filters or exhaust fans. Heck, not even a brush. But it does require excellent surface preparation. He shows us exactly how to do it.
2016
AL#127 p.36
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ In an interview in AL127, Jeffrey Elliott goes into some depth about the development of his classical guitar pattern. That decades-long evolution has produced his current sophisticated and successful design, which is presented here in detail. Of course we offer it as a full-scale two-sheet plan.
2016
AL#127 p.34
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ In his interview, Elliott goes into some depth about the development of his classical guitar pattern. That decades-long evolution has produced his current sophisticated and successful design, which is presented here in detail. Of course we offer it as a full-scale two-sheet plan.
2016
AL#127 p.22
Chris Sobel Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Jeffrey R. Elliott has been a luthier for about 50 years, and a GAL member for about 40 years. He has over 50 GAL author credits to his name and has been a frequent GAL Convention presenter. The last time we interviewed him about his life and work was about 30 years ago, so there is a lot of catching up to do.
2016
AL#127 p.16
Robbie O’Brien Antonio Tessarin
▪ So you made a nice 6-string classical guitar for your client, and he loves it. Now he wants to play a 7-string. The guitar has a Spanish heel. What do you do? Saw off the neck and graft on a new one. Scary, but it turned out great. We see every gory step along the way.
2016
AL#127 p.4
Charles Rufino Stephen Marchione
▪ A guitar maker and a violin maker team up for a show-and-tell focusing on hide glue, sizing, linen reinforcement, hand-cut dovetail joints, and getting the best out of a spruce top wedge. From their 2014 GAL convention workshop.
2016
AL#127 p.2
Byron Spain
▪ A Guild member built a guitar from GAL Plan #33, which was drawn from Segovia’s famous Hauser. This new guitar was then analyzed and compared to other fine instruments.
2016
AL#126 p.70
Eric Meier
▪ What is Katalox and is it a good substitute for ebony.
2016
AL#126 p.70
Laurent Brondel
▪ What is the sonic relationship between the steel string bridge and bracing placement.
2016
AL#126 p.70
Tim Shaw
▪ Should the bottom surface of the nut on a steel string guitar be parallel with the bottom of the fretboard, or with the peghead?
2016
AL#126 p.69
Ed Smith
▪ Using a 13″ planer instead of a power sander to thin down guitar wood.
2016
AL#126 p.69
Jack-E. Johnston
▪ Repurposing a Rockler steamer.
2016
AL#126 p.68
John Cross
▪ To cut the slot for a truss rod or reinforcement bar in a guitar neck blank.
2016
AL#126 p.68
Todd Rose
▪ Using this sanding block is a simple and quick way to bring offending frets down perfectly level with others without disturbing them.
2016
AL#126 p.66
Bob Gleason
▪ Gleason has been making instruments for a long time and he’s used a lot of different grain fillers. And he has considerable experience with this particular brand. He likes it a lot.
2016
AL#126 p.62
Bryan Johanson
▪ The second edition of this important book is a considerable advance over the original.
2016
AL#126 p.60
R.M. Mottola
▪ RM describes, in plain English, the contents of two new articles of original research. In the first, high-powered microscopes are used to see if strings really do “wear out” or just get gunked up. In the other, a bunch of spruce samples are carefully finished and tested to see if different types of finish have different effects on acoustic damping.
2016
AL#126 p.58
Rick Rubin
▪ The same thing that makes crazy grain figure beautiful can make it hard to work with a plane. So use a sander, right? Well, not everyone finds that to be a helpful or welcome suggestion. For them, toothed planes and scraper planes can be the solution. Rubin argues that excellent antique tools are available at reasonable prices and will do the job well.
2016
AL#126 p.52
R.M. Mottola
▪ These simple jigs and techniques will help you quickly and easily get the alignment of a bolt-on guitar neck just right.
2016
AL#126 p.48
Robbie O’Brien Antonio Tessarin
▪ Robbie O’Brien keeps up a friendly lutherie competition with his old mentor Antonio Tessarin. Robbie is in Colorado and Antonio is in Brazil, but that’s no prob these days, what with the smartphones and the Interwebs and all that. In this article Antonio shows Robbie how he fixed a nasty smash on the edge of one of his own classical guitars. Sweet! What will Robbie do to one-up that?
2016
AL#126 p.38
James Blilie
▪ How strong is glue? Like, is Titebond stonger than hide glue? Aside from forming generalized opinions based on observation or making assumptions based on conventional wisdom, how would you know? Jim Blilie proposes a test method to help us get more organized. It involves breaking a lot of little sticks.
2016
AL#126 p.36
R.E. Brune
▪ In 1992, GAL stalwart R.E. Brune measured and photographed this instrument, which Segovia famously called “the greatest guitar of our epoch” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Technology has changed for the better since then, and we are delighted to present this new edition of the plan, featuring color printing and razor-sharp lines.
2016
AL#126 p.34
R.E. Brune
▪ In 1992, GAL stalwart R.E. Brune measured and photographed this instrument, which Segovia famously called “the greatest guitar of our epoch” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Technology has changed for the better since then, and we are delighted to present this new edition of the plan, featuring color printing and razor-sharp lines.
2016
AL#126 p.32
Sean Barry
▪ So if you did go down to the butcher shop and get a big ol’ cow bone to make saddles and nuts, what would be your next step? Make some soup. No, really. That’s the first step to preparing bone for lutherie use. But it gets less appetizing after that.
2016
AL#126 p.22
Alex Glasser Brian Michael
▪ Brian and Alex cover a number of interesting repair projects including crack repair and finish touchup on satin-finished guitars, cracked heel blocks, magnets, steamers, and even using a parked car as a neck heater. From their 2014 GAL Convention workshop.
2016
AL#126 p.12
Federico Sheppard Sebastian Nunez
▪ Sebastián Núñez was a teenager in a Buenos Aires garage band, making electric guitars and pickups and searching for prog rock records, until he followed his girlfriend to the Netherlands to escape the troubles in Argentina. There he fell in with a historic-house-restoring, Harley-riding, early-music luthier. He read every early-music magazine in the Utrecht University library while commuting to work. Now he’s an old master, making and restoring lutes, Romantic guitars, and harpsichords. Our globetrotting reporter Federico Sheppard drops in on his busy workshop.
2016
AL#126 p.6
Michael DaSilva
▪ DaSilva builds the uke body normally, then rips into it with a saw and a big honkin’ chisel. He fits a bent wood gore, then binds it, which is complicated by the changing angle. He demonstrated the whole process live at the 2014 GAL Convention.
2016
AL#126 p.5
Tomasz Cierpisz
▪ Tomasz says right on to the tonewood article in AL#69, A Heretics Guide to Alternative Lutherie Woods.
2016
AL#125 p.69
Steve Kinnaird Howard Klepper
▪ Thoughts on locating the X bracing when designing 12 fret steel string guitar.
2016
AL#125 p.69
Jose Romanillos
▪ Is a 4 piece spruce top as good as a 2 piece?
2016
AL#125 p.69
Jeffrey Yong
▪ Types of wood found in fancy wood panelling in Chinese hotels.
2016
AL#125 p.64
Mark French
▪ Professor Mark French and his college students attempt to move the first two frets back a little, and push the nut forward a lot for mathematical accuracy.
2016
AL#125 p.48
James Condino
▪ James Condino does sunbursts on archtop mandolins the way they did it back in the 1920s: rubbing water stains directly on the bare wood.
2016
AL#125 p.38
January Williams Patrick Huff
▪ Doc is a self-reliant man, independent thinker, joyful inventor, world traveler, and maker of highly original and unusual frailing banjos using a dizzying selection of gorgeous woods.
2016
AL#125 p.34
R.E. Brune
▪ A detailed plan of a nice Santos flamenco guitar in the personal collection of R.E. Brune. A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2016
AL#125 p.28
Federico Sheppard R.E. Brune
▪ On his quest for the secrets of Santos, Federico visits a permanent exhibit of Santos’ original tools and forms.
2016
AL#125 p.24
Federico Sheppard
▪ Santos Hernandez, universally considered one of 20th century’s Spanish guitar makers, had a reputation for secrecy. Federico Sheppard travels to Madrid to find the truth.
2016
AL#125 p.20
James Blilie Alan Carruth
▪ Blilie and Carruth examine the stiffness and density of individual wood samples, making the process more quantifiable.
2016
AL#125 p.12
David Goen Tom Bills
▪ Tom Bill’s journey to a successful guitar maker and lutherie teacher, with some twists and turns along the way.
2016
AL#125 p.4
Jay Lichty
▪ Jay Lichty demonstrates the entire construction process of ukulele fiber sleeve soundports. From his 2014 GAL convention workshop.
2016
AL#125 p.3
James Buckland
▪ Buckland recounts visits to Dejonges home and shop.
2016
AL#125 p.3
James Blilie
▪ The Leonardo Guitar Research Project gathered very many data during their testing, which strengthens the confidence in the findings.
2015
AL#124 p.71
David Cohen
▪ Would a guitar be twice as loud if it to be all strung in double unison courses? The short answer is no. Dr. Dave gives the long answer.
2015
AL#124 p.69
Jeff Jewitt
▪ It’s not easy, but it is possible to spray shellac. Here’s how.
2015
AL#124 p.69
Jeff Jewitt
▪ Working with commercially-branded tung oil can be complicated. It may have unnamed additives, or may contain no actual tung oil at all. But yes, it is possible to produce a gloss finish by wiping tung oil.
2015
AL#124 p.69
Jim Wimmer
▪ Folks who only use Titebond, or who live in comfortably cool countries, may think that traditional hide glue would not hold up in a hot, humid climate. Jim Wimmer has yars of experience as a violin maker and repairer in India. He says hide glue does just fine.
2015
AL#124 p.65
John Calkin
▪ Calkin finds more treasure in the rich mine of Robbie O’Brien’s online lutherie instruction. Instructor Geoff Burghardt covers the process in detail in the 13-hour course.
2015
AL#124 p.62
Robert Miller
▪ Victor Pfeil was an old-school violin maker in the 1920s when he invented and then patented an electric solid body violin using a coil pickup.It did not set the world on fire, and Victor continued to make and repair violins for a few more decades. Author Robert Miller was a young man who knew Pfiel at the end of his career.
2015
AL#124 p.58
Todd Mylet
▪ Pull a couple frets, chip out two hunks of the fretboard, sink a couple screws, and glue the chips back in. You might not want to do this on a fine vintage instrument, but not every guitar that comes through the door is a pre-war D-28. Am I right?
2015
AL#124 p.48
Brian Michael Alex Glasser
▪ Even when an off-the-shelf OEM bridge is available, it might not be the best choice for an older guitar. Brian shows us his method of making a matching Martin-style bridge from the broken original. Alex goes a step further and reproduces a failed bridge from a Gibson SJ-200, which is complicated by pearl inlay and cutout wings. From their 2014 GAL Convention workshop.
2015
AL#124 p.38
Robbie O’Brien
▪ Robbie O’Brien gets around. Among his many lutherie related projects, he recently went to Spain to film an instructional video on making a flamenco guitar. He met up with some great folks over there and brought home lots of great lutherie info. Warning: This article contains brief mentions of food, dance, song, architecture, passion, history, beauty, and cultural richness. There’s a big, wonderful world out there.
2015
AL#124 p.36
Tomas Orellana
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2015
AL#124 p.32
Tomas Orellana
▪ The bandola is many things to many people. Several traditional varients exist in northern South America. They share a deep, pear-shaped body, but the number and tuning of strings differ considerably. Author Orellana describes them, then focuses on one regional version.
2015
AL#124 p.26
Mark Swanson Bryan Galloup
▪ Bryan Galloup was raised in a family of machinists, hot-rod makers, and self-sufficent can-do types. As a teenager he had the good fortune to be mentored by guitar repair guru Dan Erlewine, and he eventually took over Dan’s shop.Today Bryan builds and repairs guitars while also running an active lutherie school.
2015
AL#124 p.23
Jacky Walraet Brian Garston
▪ Everybody loves rosewood. Sounds great, looks great. In fact, it looks so great that we might be “hearing” its lovely, familiar deep color. Would non-tropical woods also make good-sounding guitars? And would they “sound” different if we took off the blindfold? To answer these questions, the Leonardo Guitar Research Project built a matched set of fifteen guitars and compared them under controlled conditions.
2015
AL#124 p.16
Steve Denvir Sergei de-Jonge
▪ It’s one of the founding legends of the American Lutherie Boom: the tale of Jean Larrivee’s original workshop in Toronto over forty years ago and the ragged young crew of would-be luthiers who gravitated there. From that beginning, Sergei de Jonge went on to found a lutherie dynasty in the Canadian back country.
2015
AL#124 p.4
Michael DaSilva Bob Gleason Jay Lichty Woodley White
▪ Four prolific uke makers take us into their shops to talk about how and why they build. From their 2014 GAL Convention panel discussion.
2015
AL#123 p.71
Don MacRostie
▪ When tuners changed from ‘worm under’ to ‘worm over’ and why.
2015
AL#123 p.69
Andy Powers Steve Smith
▪ Wiping with acetone VS not wiping, epoxy VS wood glues, and other contradictory information.
2015
AL#123 p.69
C.F. Casey
▪ More thoughts on the use of the word “chocolaty” to describe guitar sound.
2015
AL#123 p.69
C.F. Casey
▪ Quick info on suggested standard action for ukes.
2015
AL#123 p.66
Peter Yelda
▪ Yelda put a handle on an old block plane blade and finds it has a multitude of uses.
2015
AL#123 p.66
Mark Frazier
▪ Expanding earplugs are perfect for keeping peg holes holes clean of finish material.
2015
AL#123 p.66
Tip House
▪ Making purfling strips by gluing together a sheet of veneers in the shape of a side, then slicing the strips off on the bandsaw.
2015
AL#123 p.64
John Calkin
▪ This online course provides information that an endless and distracting internet search will not yield.
2015
AL#123 p.62
Greg Nelson
▪ Controlling the distance between the pin and the bit is the whole game when cutting circles with a router. Here’s a new way to do it that offers very fine control and no threads. Elegant!.
2015
AL#123 p.58
John Calkin
▪ Calkin has purfled and bound a lot of steel string guitars, both in his own shop and in his day job at Huss&Dalton. Here he shows us his current techniques to do a quick, clean, tight job with the traditional fancy trims.
2015
AL#123 p.52
Peter Rosenbladt
▪ Building an octave guitar, a small guitar tuned one octave higher than a regular guitar, which is common in Germany.
2015
AL#123 p.40
January Williams Ken Altman
▪ Ken Altman is a bow maker living in Silverton Oregon, and is part of the group that produces the Northwest Handmade Musical Instrument Show.
2015
AL#123 p.39
Craig Sullivan
▪ This popular plan gives full-scale views of each of four sizes of ukuleles. Be sure to read the article “A Modern Uke Family” in AL#123.
2015
AL#123 p.34
Craig Sullivan
▪ The organization New England Luthiers puts the challenge to its membership to each build a ukulele and share the finished instruments when complete.
2015
AL#123 p.30
Nupi Jenner
▪ Finding a practical solution for bending the plates of bowed or plucked instruments to the desired arching, before carving. The author approaces the problem from a background in viola da gamba by traditional methods.
2015
AL#123 p.29
Grit Laskin
▪ Larrivee’s bracing pattern might have come from his classical sensibility; the Martin method didn’t make sense to him. Laskin has been doing it Larrivee’s way for forty years.
2015
AL#123 p.24
Steve Denvir Sergei de-Jonge Grit Laskin Linda Manzer David Wren
▪ Remembrances of long-ago days working in Jean Larrivee’s Toronto shop by guitar makers who are now considered some of the best in the world.
2015
AL#123 p.16
D.-and-F. Sinier-de-Ridder
▪ This guitar, built in 1875, is the 2nd instrument made in the second epoch of Antonio de Torres, and was subjected to numerous botched repairs over the years. The authors undertake a thorough restoration to put the guitar in playing condition.
2015
AL#123 p.4
Charles Rufino
▪ Why do some instruments made with a rough, crude style have an essence that draws you in, whereas ones meticulously perfect in every degree leave you cold? Rufino examines this question from his point of view as a violin maker with excellent traditional credentials of training.
2015
AL#122 p.70
Daniele Dubois Claudia Fritz
▪ Arguing in favor of defining a tone as ‘chocolaty’ based on multidisciplinary research expertise combining acoustics, psychology, and linguistics.
2015
AL#122 p.70
Chris Herrod
▪ The best quality bone nuts, saddles, and pins come from India.
2015
AL#122 p.70
Guy Rabut
▪ Very little pattern making in wood today eliminates a large demand for these gouges.
2015
AL#122 p.67
Peggy Stuart
▪ Reviewer says the book is a fascinating look at the lives and stories that members of the lutherie community tell about how the current golden age of lutherie came about.
2015
AL#122 p.60
Bob Gleason
▪ Gleason is a subjective builder, everything is tactile, and he gets his signature sound regardless of bracing style. From his 2014 GAL convention workshop.
2015
AL#122 p.48
Juan-Oscar Azaret
▪ Three sister guitars were constructed to study the sonic effects of the very different Kasha, Fleta, and Romanillos bracing designs.
2015
AL#122 p.40
Linda Stuckey Evan Gluck
▪ The life and work of repair-tech role model Evan Gluck, renowned owner of New York Guitar Repair.
2015
AL#122 p.39
Jan-Van Cappelle
▪ A body mold for a tiny guitar exists in the collection of Stradivari’s tools and jigs, but no such guitar has been discovered. This is a thoughtful recreation of what such a guitar may have been, based on the surviving guitars of Stadivari.
2015
AL#122 p.25
Jan-Van Cappelle
▪ An examination of the surviving guitars and guitar forms of Stradivari.
2015
AL#122 p.8
Nick Kukich Cyndy Burton
▪ Nick takes our reporter through the process of making a Franklin OM guitar.
2015
AL#122 p.4
Cyndy Burton Jeffrey-R. Elliott Nick Kukich Jeanne Kukich
▪ Nick and Jeanne Kukich, pop and mom of Franklin Guitars, discuss their 25 plus year partnership in life and work.
2015
AL#122 p.2
Glen Friesen
▪ Friesen checks in about his ongoing efforts to teach lutherie as a woodshop subject in a Canadian public middle school.
2015
AL#121 p.71
Jason Villa
▪ The four traditional sizes of ukuleles and their tuning details.
2015
AL#121 p.71
Walter Carter
▪ The reasons for guitar size increase during the first half of the 20th century.
2015
AL#121 p.69
John Calkin
▪ Pursuing cheap guitar designs that sound good.
2015
AL#121 p.68
R.M. Mottola
▪ Conversion formula for modeling the relationship between the torque on a bolt and the clamping pressure of the bolt in threaded inserts.
2015
AL#121 p.68
Randy Holmes
▪ Information on restoring an old Sunburst Silvertone, in bad shape and missing the pickguard.
2015
AL#121 p.68
Cyndy Burton
▪ Tricks and techniques for finishing slotted headstocks.
2015
AL#121 p.67
Jerry Hoffmann
▪ Slotless nut for ukes and guitars. It uses alignment pins.
2015
AL#121 p.67
Ed Smith
▪ Bending herringbone by taping it down and ironing.
2015
AL#121 p.65
Clifford Wilkes
▪ Wilkes adds binding to the inside edge of a soundhole and avoids clamping damage by using a PVC pipe almost exactly the diameter of the soundhole.
2015
AL#121 p.65
David Freeman
▪ Sanding delicate pierced inserts on two mirror-image ukuleles using a doorstop spring and an L-shaped bracket.
2015
AL#121 p.63
Greg Nelson
▪ Nelson gives a positive review to the Channel Scraper, a simple tool for shaping the edge of a violin plate.
2015
AL#121 p.62
John Calkin
▪ Calkin likes the Edgemate Carbide Knife Sharpener. It’s intended for pocket knives and the like, but it’s also useful for a number of lutherie tools.
2015
AL#121 p.60
John Calkin
▪ Calkin looks at several books on ukulele, guitar, and American history, and finds interesting connections.
2015
AL#121 p.60
Gregory Miller
▪ Miller reviews The Qualities of Craftsmanship, a thoughtful little book self-published by GAL stalwart Kent Everett.
2015
AL#121 p.58
R.M. Mottola
▪ RM Mottola works to build bridges between the dusty bustle of the lutherie shop and the bookish clutter of the egghead’s cubicle. (If the word “math” does not evoke a shuddering fear based on high-school humiliation, check out the Savart Journal, an online research publication hosted by the GAL.) RM describes, in plain English, the contents of two new articles of original research.
2015
AL#121 p.52
Ralph Novak
▪ Ralph has built a lot of multiscale guitars under his “Fanned-Fret” trademark. Here he looks at the advantages and possibilities of the multiscale approach and gives solid technical advice on cutting accurate multiscale fretboards.
2015
AL#121 p.42
Paul Schmidt
▪ Hey all you old hippie guitar makers in the first wave of the American Lutherie Boom: Guess what? Our crazy, beautiful, oh-wow-man dream came true. A generation of young Europeans took a look across the Atlantic and dug our lutherie love-fest. They started an organization to freely share info and encouragement. It only took them four decades, but they finally caught the true religion from us. And they are doing amazing, wild, and wonderful work. I told you this cooperation stuff would work.
2015
AL#121 p.34
Federico Sheppard Manuel Diaz
▪ Manuel Diaz learned lutherie decades ago in a little shop in his hometown. Then he moved across the street and opened his own shop.But what a town, and what a street! This is the Cuesta Gomerez in Granada, Spain.
2015
AL#121 p.28
Woodley White
▪ At the 2014 GAL Convention, each of the four makers on our ukulele panel took the opportunity to present short workshops in which they brought the attendees up close to some of their workbench techniques. Our coverge starts here with Woodley White, who showed six different neck joints for ukes; Spanish, dovetail, spline, domino, barrel-nut, and threaded-insert. He made one of each, and explains the differences.
2015
AL#121 p.16
James Condino Arnold Schnitzer
▪ Arnold Schnitzer was a young and successful working musician in the New York City area. When he found himself with the grown-up responsibilities of a wife and child, he decided to settle down and get a real job. Amusingly, that real job was hand-making string basses. But it has worked out well, so you never know. You’ll be glad you met him in this wide-ranging and lavishly illustrated interview.
2015
AL#121 p.4
James Westbrook
▪ The emergence of the X-braced steel string as the quintessential American guitar was the big pop-music story of the 20th century, as well as the cultural foundation for the American Lutherie Boom a few decades later. The Martin company made the first American X-braced guitars in the 1840s.
2015
AL#121 p.3
John LeClare
▪ John LeClaire builds a hurdy gurdy using GAL plan #49 and makes a few changes.
2014
AL#120 p.71
Graham McDonald
▪ Generalizing the tonal differences among the top woods, redwood, western red cedar, port oxford cedar, and the spruces.
2014
AL#120 p.71
Kevin Aram
▪ A foolproof method to cut the slots in the neck of a classical guitar to accept the ribs with no wedges.
2014
AL#120 p.70
Ralph Charles Tom Thiel
▪ Ponderings on the current plentiful supply of red spruce.
2014
AL#120 p.70
Cyndy Burton
▪ Preventing the impressing of a cloth weave pattern into the not-quite hard shellac following a French polish session.
2014
AL#120 p.70
Fan Tao
▪ Determining whether to use wound or plain strings for odd-sized plucked instruments.
2014
AL#120 p.70
Andrew LaBonte
▪ Information on removing vinegar stains in spruce.
2014
AL#120 p.70
Dave Rauscher
▪ Karin-Rost in Germany is a good source for custom wooden inlays.
2014
AL#120 p.69
Jack-E. Johnston
▪ A Formica-topped clipboard facilitates the sanding of nuts and saddles.
2014
AL#120 p.69
Lennis Laviolette
▪ Making classic guitar armrests from scrap rosewood.
2014
AL#120 p.67
Jack-E. Johnston
▪ Alternative to holding a 5″ speaker to generate chlandi patterns.
2014
AL#120 p.66
Tom Harper
▪ A small downdraft table for a sanding drum in a drillpress is a handy shop item that can be used for shaping and thicknessing.
2014
AL#120 p.64
Eron Harding
▪ Techy gizmos soon go from being cutting-edge miracles to being commodified trinkets, and that can bring the price down like crazy. Harding ordered a cheap borescope from Amazon. The crazy thing doesn’t even have a brand name on it. But the bang per buck is hard to beat.
2014
AL#120 p.62
David Schneider
▪ Keep it simple. Sketch an outline on a piece of butcher paper. Go down to the Home Depot and get a few boards of that pink stuff that they call “mahogany.” Saw it up, bend it freehand, glue it onto blocks. Pretty soon you have a lap steel, no forms, jigs, or patterns needed.
2014
AL#120 p.54
Jerry Hoffmann
▪ Hoffman’s ukes look like their necks have no heels. They do, he says, but the heels are just on the inside of the body. He gives us a detailed look at building two different styles.
2014
AL#120 p.53
Nasser Shirazi
▪ This plan is for the Tanbour, a traditional Persian instrument which is a long-necked lute with three thin steel strings and tied gut frets.
2014
AL#120 p.50
Nasser Shirazi
▪ Mr. Shirazi has given us articles and plans about other instruments used in Persian classical music in the past. He adds to the collection with GAL Instrument Plan #69, the Tanbour, a long-necked lute with three thin steel strings.
2014
AL#120 p.48
Jayson Bowerman
▪ Bowerman steps us through the process of making an exactly-matching outside template from an existing inside template. The process is useful for making body molds and side-bending jigs from half-patterns.
2014
AL#120 p.40
Tom Harper Jayson Bowerman
▪ Many of us in the Lutherie Boom generation started as pre-teen modelmakers or would-be wood crafters. Not Jayson Bowerman. He was studying manufacturing processes in college when he did his first woodworking in a shop class. Soon he was doing R&D at Breedlove.
2014
AL#120 p.30
David Smith
▪ David Smith is a guitarist and lutenist who has wanted to make guitars and lutes for decades. But he was distracted by school, career, family, and stuff like that. His self-starting lutherie adventures never took off. Recently he signed up for an eight-day one-on-one session with lutherie teacher Robbie O’Brien, and finally got that guitar built.
2014
AL#120 p.21
Evan Gluck
▪ Evan Gluck is doing just great as a one-man guitar repair operation, working out of his apartment in New York City. He has some simple and effective ideas about promotion and customer relations that really hit the spot with his audience at the recent 2014 GAL Convention.
2014
AL#120 p.6
Monica Esparza Josep Melo
▪ Melo has been making guitars since the ’60s. In the ’90s he began to seek out and collaborate with the makers whose work he found the most inspiring. He published a gorgeous coffee-table book about it called Following the Masters. His deepest collaboration has been with fellow Spaniard Jose Romanillos. Ironically, they met at the 1995 GAL Convention in Tacoma.
2014
AL#120 p.5
Dion Costigan
▪ About a 1979 Ted Beringer guitar.
2014
AL#119 p.71 read this article
Ervin Somogyi
▪ Steve was a guitarist, luthier, scholar, author, and experimenter who was a GAL member for twenty years and a regular at our conventions. He will be missed. Steve Newberry (Jan 2, 1928 – Aug 8, 2014).
2014
AL#119 p.68
Leo Lospennato Mark French John Bogdanovich
▪ Extensive advice on conceiving, structuring, and publishing a book on guitar building.
2014
AL#119 p.68
Ken Altman
▪ Creating a violin bow using Arabian mare black horsetail hair.
2014
AL#119 p.67
Charles Freeborn
▪ Adapting the dreadnaught-size Freestyle model to the small dimensions of a parlor guitar.
2014
AL#119 p.67
Rodney Stedall
▪ Cutting, de-furring, and sanding tentellones for insertion.
2014
AL#119 p.64
Kevin-B. Rielly
▪ Developing a cheap, easy to make neck and angle jig to build an instrument based on plans for a 1957 Gibson J-45 instrument.
2014
AL#119 p.64
David Thormahlen
▪ An ebony finger rest for those who rest their fingers while playing the mandolin and wear out the finish on the top.
2014
AL#119 p.60
Manuel Velazquez Cyndy Burton Eugene Clark Armin Kelly Robert Ruck Jeffrey R. Elliott Paul Szmanda
▪ Manuel Velazquez made a lot of friends and fans in his exceptionally long career as a maker of fine classical guitars. Here are a few remembrances a few folks who admired his work and his life.
2014
AL#119 p.58
John Mello
▪ John Mello examines two favorite issues of The Fretboard Journal, #32 and #7, and relates the pleasure of the articles with his own mentorship experiences, in particular with Alvino Rey.
2014
AL#119 p.54
R.M. Mottola
▪ Remember the good old Versa Vise? They don’t make it any more. Boo! But now Garrett Wade makes a similar unit. Yay! Is it any good? Mottola takes a close look and delivers his report.
2014
AL#119 p.50
Harry Fleishman
▪ Multiscale fretboards have been around for centuries. Harry Fleishman has been around for decades. In that time he has built a lot of different permutations of the idea. Here he gives us some thoughts on how to do it accurately, elegantly, and efficiently.
2014
AL#119 p.43
Trevor Gore
▪ How do you pick wood for a guitar? If you stood up and shouted “Science!” this is the article for you. Also see Part 1 in AL #118. This is the second and final episode in the series.
2014
AL#119 p.34
Staff
▪ Another wonderfully successful GAL Convention, packed with information, music, and camaraderie has now passed into the record books. You will be seeing many major articles drawn from its lectures and workshops over the next few years. In the mean time, take a look at a few photos of the fun we had.
2014
AL#119 p.28
D.-and-F. Sinier-de-Ridder
▪ A couple hundred years ago, this Stradivari guitar was not only old, it was old-fashioned. The owner had it modernized from a 5-course Baroque guitar to a 6-string Romantic guitar. That meant making a new neck, removing the rosette, and opening the body to make a lot of changes to the bracing and lining. Nowadays, those changes are not just outdated, they are anachronistic and kind of sacrilegious. Sinier and de Ridder got the job of making a new, original-style neck and returning the instrument to Baroque configuration.
2014
AL#119 p.18
Federico Sheppard Abel-Garcia Lopez
▪ The town of Paracho is the center of guitar making in Mexico. As author Federico Sheppard says, they are known for making a lot of guitars, but not a lot of fine guitars. Well, here’s the guy who makes the good ones, like his father and grandfather before him. Take a close look at Abel’s workspace, tools, techniques, and family.
2014
AL#119 p.6
Stephen Marchione
▪ Marchione offers a semihollow model that is a response to his professional touring clients’ desire for a smaller, tougher guitar with all the fine quality and detail of a full archtop. He steps us through his building process, which gets a little help from a CNC machine. From his 2011 GAL convention workshop.
2014
AL#118 p.71 read this article
Beverly Maher
▪ New-York-City guitar dealer Beverly Maher remembers her old friend and colleague Manuel Velazquez who recently passed away at age 97.
2014
AL#118 p.70
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola translates the arcane jargon of this article for us general readers.
2014
AL#118 p.70
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola translates the arcane jargon of this article for us general readers.
2014
AL#118 p.69
John Greven
▪ Traditional choices for flattop guitar bridge plate material.
2014
AL#118 p.68
R.M. Mottola
▪ Reading up on the subjects of psychoacoustics, human sensory evaluation, music synthesis, audio electronics, and magic, in order to provide some insight on general guitar acoustics.
2014
AL#118 p.68
Michael Mahar
▪ Luthier-related apps for the Galaxy S3 Smartphone.
2014
AL#118 p.67
Lennis Laviolette
▪ Simple kerfed lining jig using a dedicated saw.
2014
AL#118 p.66
David Thormahlen
▪ Troubleshooting nut slot depth issues using ivory piano key material.
2014
AL#118 p.66
Jack-E. Johnston
▪ Tools for working through the soundhole to attach a bolt-on neck.
2014
AL#118 p.64
Pierre Audinet
▪ Audinet gives the thumbs-up to the new book by Jose Romanillos, “Making a Spanish Guitar”.
2014
AL#118 p.62
Chuck Moore
▪ A big bottle of Superglue and a handful of paper towels gives you a nice flat filler/sealer in no time.
2014
AL#118 p.60
Harry Fleishman
▪ So you are making a neck with a multiscale fretboard. The nut will be at an angle, not the normal perpendicular. How do you deal with that fact when grafting the peghead? Harry shows you a simple and elegant method of cutting a compound angle that matches the nut.
2014
AL#118 p.55
Trevor Gore
▪ How do you pick wood for a guitar? If you stood up and shouted “Science!” this is the article for you. Also see Part 2 in AL #119.
2014
AL#118 p.46
Kent Everett Wade Lowe
▪ Luthier Kent Everett is a prolific guitar maker and teacher. So who was his early mentor? Wade Lowe, that’s who. Wade was a machinist who worked his way into lutherie and had a shop that became the Mecca of a generation of Georgia guitarists and guitar makers.
2014
AL#118 p.38
James Westbrook
▪ So the “Spanish method” is to build a guitar face-down and put the back on last, right? Well, maybe not. Some older Spanish guitars appear to have had the tops put on last, based on clues like glue drips and the fitting of back braces. Also, tiny filled holes indicate that they may have been nailed into molds during construction.
2014
AL#118 p.18 ALA4 p.66
John Greven
▪ John Greven is famous for making a lot of guitars in his basement, all by himself, with a very limited set of tools. Greven gives us the step-by-step rundown. Part One was in American Lutherie #117. Part Two is the final installment and takes us up through the binding, the construction of the neck, inlay, and finishing. From his 2011 GAL convention workshop.
2014
AL#118 p.8
Woodley White Olivier-Fanton d’Andon
▪ Early in his career, French luthier Olivier Fanton d’Andon was asked to restore a Romantic-era guitar for a museum. He was impressed with the guitar’s highly arched plates, and adapted the idea to a classical guitar. He has made a successful career with the resulting design.
2014
AL#118 p.6
Rick Whitaker
▪ An accidental decades-long experiment convices the maker that constant playing really does develop the sound of a guitar.
2014
AL#118 p.6
Michael Gurian
▪ Long-time maker of purfling and marquetry material Michael Gurian ponders retirement and invites contact regarding the future of his business.
2014
AL#118 p.6
Bill Arnold
▪ Arnold shares thoughts on the dignity of the mountain dulcimer, and shares photos of recent instruments.
2014
AL#118 p.6
Alfredo Velazquez
▪ Announcing the death of legendary classic-guitar maker Manuel Velazquez. He lived from Feb 1917 until Apr 2014.
2014
AL#117 p.71 read this article
Harry Fleishman
▪ Remembering Ken Goodwin, luthier and guitarist. 1948-2013.
2014
AL#117 p.69
David Cohen
▪ Breaking in a new steel string guitar and evaluation of the time this takes and the effect this has on the instrument and it’s sales.
2014
AL#117 p.69
R.M. Mottola
▪ Building a guitar in which the neck attaches to the body as a banjo neck attaches to it’s rim and a soundboard bracing to accommodate this.
2014
AL#117 p.68
Bill Kolb
▪ Concert Zither strings are available at www.doctorzither.com, despite the tiny size of the Zither market.
2014
AL#117 p.68
Stephen Marchione
▪ Applying finish by padding rather than brushing, as taught to Stephen Marchione by Guy Rabut.
2014
AL#117 p.68
Burton LeGeyt
▪ Making carbon fiber composite parts.
2014
AL#117 p.67
Greg Nelson
▪ Alternative clamps using rare earth magnets for delicate brace repair jobs.
2014
AL#117 p.66
Jack-E. Johnston
▪ Keeping steel and cast iron chips from tainting instruments by using rare earth magnets.
2014
AL#117 p.66
Carl Samuels
▪ Proof of concept model of underpass suspension bridge is displayed on a 12-string African Blackwood Lutar.
2014
AL#117 p.65
John Calkin
▪ Calkin ponders the phenomenon of how-to-book authors leaving out their most vital information. This may be due to the assumption of the knowledge of basic information often taken for granted.
2014
AL#117 p.60
R.M. Mottola
▪ Guitar-making in Nineteenth Century London by James Westbrook is reviewed by R.M. Mottola, who discusses research and techniques in his own building of 19th century instruments.
2014
AL#117 p.57
Kjell Croce
▪ Kjell Croce reflects on all the glues he uses in repair and the specifics for choosing each one.
2014
AL#117 p.54
Mike Doolin
▪ Mike Doolin on making his own tall plastic mounting rings for a 7-string humbucker.
2014
AL#117 p.52
James Condino John Monteleone
▪ A history of the ellipse soundhole cutter device in lutherie and it’s lineage from D’Angelico to D’Aquisto to John Monteleone.
2014
AL#117 p.48
R.M. Mottola
▪ An examination of varnish techniques to create the illusion of aged instruments and other aesthetic effects.
2014
AL#117 p.40
Brian Yarosh Robbie O’Brien
▪ Luthier and teacher Robbie O’Brien on his career, from his stints as a chiropractor, jeweler, and acupuncturist, to his initial exposure to the guitar during his extended stay in Brazil, to his instruction from Antonio Tessarin and his teaching work in Colorado.
2014
AL#117 p.24
Paul Ruppa
▪ Paul Ruppa traces the largely unknown history of the American F-hole Mandolin, Mandola, and Mandocello to their roots in the Waldo brand; originating with the Barrows Music Company in Saginaw, Michigan.
2014
AL#117 p.16
Federico Sheppard Antonio Marin
▪ One of the masters of Spanish guitar, Antonio Marin answers questions from his humble shop in Granada, Spain, where he has lived and worked since 1979.
2014
AL#117 p.6 ALA4 p.66
John Greven
▪ John Greven discusses the application of his 3 tiered system (rough assembly, finesse, finish) throughout his 50 year career, which involves building 6 to 8 guitars at a time. From his 2011 convention workshop. The second and final part of this series is in AL#118.
2014
AL#117 p.5
Tom Bednark
▪ Raymond Tunquist, sawyer of Brazilian, Indian, Rosewood, Mahogany, and Ebony for many noted guitar makers, passed away on November 7th 2010 at age 93 in New York.
2013
AL#116 p.71
Alain Bieber
▪ Inquiry on wood for binding to repair a damaged Jerome Thibouville-Lamy French guitar.
2013
AL#116 p.71
Charles Fox
▪ Procuring a Wagner Saf-T-Planer, an inexpensive rotary cutter mounted in a drill press.
2013
AL#116 p.69
Brent Cole
▪ Rays in spruce are generally desirable and indicate stiffness.
2013
AL#116 p.69
Alan Carruth
▪ Making mosaic tiles fit the circle when assembling a rosette.
2013
AL#116 p.69
George Gruhn James Buckland
▪ A history of radiused fingerboards, going back as far as the 1820s on gut string guitars.
2013
AL#116 p.69
Stephen Sedgwick
▪ Creating a steel string version of an existing classical 10-string guitar.
2013
AL#116 p.66
Paul Weaver
▪ Toothed planes can be an alternative to a thickness sander. Info on toothed blades, bevel angles, and blade angles.
2013
AL#116 p.66
Mark Berry
▪ When putting a new fan brace into an existing guitar, these little legs of tape help position it.
2013
AL#116 p.66
Jack-E. Johnston
▪ This simple accessory fits a buffing wheel on the output shaft of a Shopsmith powerhead to save space.
2013
AL#116 p.65
January Williams
▪ Brace jacks made while drawing the Stahl style 6 guitar for GAL instrument plan #66, to measure the height of the braces.
2013
AL#116 p.64
Eron Harding
▪ Repairing frozen pot shafts in a vintage Gibson GA-50T amp.
2013
AL#116 p.63
R.M. Mottola
▪ The second book on guitar technology from Mark French, Purdue mechanical engineering technology professor, presented in a more generally accessible, less math intensive manner than the previous volume.
2013
AL#116 p.60
Byron Spain
▪ Byron Spain attempts a number of processes to match the scroll slot cuts in the top, heel block, and back.
2013
AL#116 p.56
C.F. Casey
▪ Building two related instruments which form the rhythmic foundation of the Mariachi band: the Vihuela and the Guitarron.
2013
AL#116 p.52
Nate Clark
▪ Making a tortoise pickguard from scratch, using a combo of hand and power tools and fresh celluloid.
2013
AL#116 p.51
Mark Berry
▪ The culturally rich history of the Flamenco guitar up to it’s current influences and building methods.
2013
AL#116 p.42
Rick Rubin Tom Cussen
▪ Irish Banjo maker Cussen discusses his career, beginning in the 1960s amidst the popular folk scene.
2013
AL#116 p.34
Don-P. Boivin
▪ New England Luthiers, an association of professionals and amateurs united by the common love of stringed instrument building, collaborate in a yearlong build project and public luthier showcase in Cambridge Massachusetts.
2013
AL#116 p.31
Linda Stuckey
▪ Shopping for an effective dust mask which meets safety, health, and quality standards.
2013
AL#116 p.28
Robbie O’Brien
▪ Creative Solutions to an overlooked, yet pervasive danger in the lutherie shop: wood dust. Four fundamentals for dust collection in the shop setting.
2013
AL#116 p.19
Tom Harper
▪ An appreciation of Carl Samuels and the inception of The Roberto-Venn School of Lutherie in Phoenix, Arizona.
2013
AL#116 p.16
Tom Harper William Eaton
▪ William Eaton (composer, performer, luthier, outdoorsman) on his life and career which has spanned many fields and subject, with particular attention to his work at The Roberto-Venn School.
2013
AL#116 p.9
Tom Harper
▪ Mathematical equations describing vibrating string activity to compliment Gary Magliari and Don MacRostie’s convention lecture, ‘Beyond the Rule of 18’.
2013
AL#116 p.6
Gary Magliari Don MacRostie
▪ Compensating fretted instruments to play equally tempered scales using orthodox and unorthodox methods. From GAL 2011 convention lecture.
2013
AL#116 p.4
Earl Bushey
▪ Praise for Todd Brotherton’s product review: 10″ Cabinetmaker’s rasp in AL#115 and exposure to similar tools in a Tokyo repair shop and other scenarios.
2013
AL#116 p.3
Aaron Green
▪ Praise for Jeffrey R. Elliott’s article on 1930 Santos restoration in AL#115
2013
AL#116 p.3
Glen Friesen
▪ Another successful year at the Waldheim School in Saskatchewan and a description of the guitars constructed since the GAL 2011 convention.
2013
AL#115 p.71 read this article
Staff
▪ Remembering Gene Stephenson; machinist, guitar, mandolin, and violin builder. 1932-2013.
2013
AL#115 p.69
Bruce Sexauer
▪ Building a compound scarf joint to attach the headstock to the neck shaft on a multiple scale length fretboard guitar.
2013
AL#115 p.68
Monica Esparza
▪ Creating a mosaic rosette from an original illustration.
2013
AL#115 p.67
Aaron Grumbacher
▪ 25mm suction cup adapters to permit a fixture’s use when both gluing and scraping the binding.
2013
AL#115 p.67
Tip House
▪ Using a Veritas angle jig to create bevels on the wings of classical guitar bridges for precise control.
2013
AL#115 p.62
Todd Brotherton
▪ Todd Brotherton favorably reviews this delux handmade rasp and provides additional background and information on the tool.
2013
AL#115 p.48
Brian Michael Alex Glasser
▪ Brian and Alex discuss details of various repair jobs, including split pegheads, a severed uke head, and guitar soundboard cracks. From their 2011 GAL convention lecture.
2013
AL#115 p.38
John Calkin Roger-Alan Skipper
▪ Roger Alan Skipper has spent his entire career in Western Maryland where he was first introduced to lutherie through encountering a Mandolin maker at a bluegrass gathering. He is a one man lutherie shop and a writer of novels.
2013
AL#115 p.36
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2013
AL#115 p.30
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Jeff Elliott corrects a botched repair job of a 1930 Hernandez guitar, signed in ballpoint pen by Andres Segovia.
2013
AL#115 p.24
Federico Sheppard Martin de-Witte
▪ Martin DeWitt is a self-taught luthier and machinist from The Hauge, Netherlands.
2013
AL#115 p.6
Stephen Marchione
▪ Stephen Marchione takes us on a voyage through Lutherie history with an emphasis on the Italian experience and heritage. From his 2011 GAL convention lecture.
2013
AL#115 p.3
Steven Pine
▪ Advice regarding water damaged instruments and steps to handle, stabilize, dry, reduce warping, dealing with varnish, and maintaining historical evidence.
2013
AL#114 p.69
Kevin Waldron
▪ The ideal climate for storing tonewood and climate control.
2013
AL#114 p.68
Jason Villa
▪ String breaking problems on a 18″ scale Ashbory style bass which utilizes silicone rubber strings.
2013
AL#114 p.68
Don Overstreet
▪ Poplar, a vague term in the lumber industry, generally referring to species in the two genera Liriodendron and Populus, is discussed in depth.
2013
AL#114 p.67
Greg Nelson
▪ A small jig that removes bits of tang when preparing a fret for a bound fretboard.
2013
AL#114 p.67
C.F. Casey
▪ Gluing back together a set of curly koa sides successfully.
2013
AL#114 p.66
Don Overstreet
▪ The first E-book review in American Lutherie: a comprehensive volume displaying collections of viols. Each instrument is given a thorough description and numerous photos.
2013
AL#114 p.64
Eron Harding
▪ Eron Harding reviews one of Kahler’s latest bass bridge models, a 5 string trem for P-bass bodies; a solid and well made bridge.
2013
AL#114 p.62
R.M. Mottola
▪ Short, not too technical summaries of selected research on violin arching curves, comparing violins to the human voice, and the initial behavior of nylon guitar strings.
2013
AL#114 p.60
Jim Stratton Mark French
▪ This fret slotting machine eliminates human error and accurately guarantees fret location.
2013
AL#114 p.58
John Jackson
▪ John Jackson describes building his first hand made guitar.
2013
AL#114 p.54
John-C. Bartlett
▪ Bartlett walks through the steps to creating a pyramid bridge from scratch.
2013
AL#114 p.51
Tom Harper
▪ Harper discusses his personal learning experiences with wood binding.
2013
AL#114 p.42
Alan Carruth
▪ Carruth examines the guitar wolf, (a ‘bad’ note linked to some feature of the resonant structure of the instrument or strings) where it lurks, and how to deal with it in an organized fashion.
2013
AL#114 p.38
Brian Yarosh Fabio Ragghianti
▪ An update on Fabio Ragghianti’s activities since his Meet the Maker article in AL#61; most notably his travels in Vietnam.