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.
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.
2011
AL#108 p.63
Michael Darnton
▪ This 3-book set covers a wide range of topics beyond what the title specifies, in over 142 articles.
2007
AL#92 p.7 read this article
Dale Randall
▪ Randall offers contrasting thoughts to Paul Hill’s article on bow hairing in AL#91.
2007
AL#91 p.56 read this article
Paul Hill
▪ There’s good money out there for the person who can nicely rehair violin-family bows, but it’s not easy to learn. Hill begins with laying out the work bench and methodically illuminates the rehairing process. With 27 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#86 p.18
Jonathon Peterson Bernard Millant
▪ Millant is a violin maker, a bow maker, an appraiser, an author, and a man of high repute within the fiddle world. The depth of training behind many fiddle people will astonish most guitarmakers, and it makes for entrancing reading. With 9 photos.
2005
AL#84 p.59 BRB7 p.535 read this article
Randy DeBey
▪ The reviewer seems ambivalent about the value of this software, claiming that it is frustrating to use and probably of most value to violinists who are searching for an older instrument and need information about the builders.
2005
AL#83 p.10 BRB7 p.362
Jonathon Peterson Pierre-Yves Fuchs
▪ Fuchs went through cabinet making school and violin making school on his way to becoming a gold medal bow maker. He is traditional and opinionated, and will make you believe that there might be cosmic influences involved in making an excellent bow. Intuition, that is. Tradition, experience, and a good feeling about your work in progress. Science guys may pull their hair out, but most of us would rather have good intuition than a good grounding in physics. With 3 photos.
2004
AL#80 p.59 BRB7 p.526 read this article
Bryan Johanson
▪ The reviewer gushes about the detail and quality of research that went into the book, as well as the authors’ enthusiasm for their subjects.
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.61 BRB5 p.502
Michael Breid
▪ A custom bow-tip-gluing jig built out of necessity.
1997
AL#49 p.62 BRB5 p.470
Colin Kaminski
▪ This course, which saves years of learning on your own, is based on jigs and fixtures, and too brief for those who prefer to work by hand. Joseph is very forthcoming with his methods, ideas, and tricks.
1996
AL#45 p.43 BRB4 p.79
Michael Yeats
▪ Attending a seminar or short class is an excellent way to get started making bows.
1995
AL#43 p.52 BRB4 p.442
Michael Darnton
▪ What is Nussbaum? Is there such a thing as irreparable damage?
1995
AL#43 p.24 BRB4 p.212
Jonathon Peterson Jess Wells
▪ Wells specializes in the creation of early stringed instruments. Here he discusses that particular market, his training, and the history of the viola da gamba. With 17 photos.
1995
AL#41 p.58 BRB4 p.490
Antonio Masiello
▪ A tool much like a miniature bandsaw which uses a string of a given size to cut a slot for a string of the same size.
1994
AL#40 p.14 BRB4 p.86
Alan Carruth
▪ Impressions of lectures given on the first day of the GAL 1992 convention in Vermillion South Dakota, held in conjunction with the Catgut Acoustical Society.
1994
AL#38 p.8
George Gorodnitsky
▪
1991
AL#25 p.55 BRB3 p.477
Al Stancel
▪ How Casa Del Sol Violins solves the violin bow hair storage problem.
1991
AL#25 p.60 BRB3 p.462 read this article
David Riggs
▪ A useful how-to book with clear, concise directions on bow making and other lutherie practices.
1990
AL#23 p.30 BRB2 p.412
Gary Fish
▪ Fish converted a sewing machine to wrap bow handles.
1990
AL#21 p.12 BRB2 p.354
Cyndy Burton Michael Yeats
▪ Training, ethics, money—all luthiers face the same dilemmas, but it’s possible that those who face the field of professional classical musicians are tried a little harder. Yeats offers straight talk about all three issues.
1987
AL#11 p.30 BRB1 p.482
George Manno
▪ Manno is an honest man (even when honesty hurts), knowledgeable, and opinionated. An especially strong column that touches upon repair prices, colors for varnish touchups, tonewood sources, Polish white bow hair, and Tetto Gallo violins.
1987
AL#11 p.51 BRB1 p.502 read this article
George Manno
▪ The reviewer finds this to be the one book that every violin shop and instrument appraiser should own. ‘Nuff said.
1987
AL#11 p.51 BRB1 p.501 read this article
Ernest Nussbaum
▪
1987
AL#12 p.5 BRB1 p.481 read this article
William-T. Walls
▪ Walls offers tips about cleaning and polishing violins and bows.
1986
AL#8 p.47 BRB1 p.296 read this article
Al Stancel
▪ Stancel offers an interesting potpourri of violin information concerning steel wool, bow bugs, tuning pegs, appraisers and the IRS, appraiser scams, and the dangers of steel strings to old fiddles.
1985
AL#4 p.27 BRB1 p.126 read this article
Nasser Shirazi
▪ Shirazi offers a history of the Persian bowed instrument as well as plans and construction advice. The kamanche is a four-stringed neck attached to a gourd. The plans are a reduced version of our full-scale Plan #9.
1985
AL#4 p.28 BRB1 p.131
Nasser Shirazi
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1985
AL#3 p.24 BRB1 p.88 read this article
Thomas Snyder
▪ Measured drawings are presented for building a jig to facilitate rehairing bows. A detailed method for using the jig is also presented.
1983
DS#253 LT p.49
Phillip-W. Walker
▪ Simple devise makes it easy to glue an overlay on the tip of a bow.
1976
DS#38 read this article
Tony Pizzo
▪ Plans for a small, simple bow with a shape adapted from an illustration in Lynn Elder’s, ‘How to Play the Bowed Psaltery’.