Category Archives: other

The Historic Solera of Santos Hernández: an Attempted Reconstruction

2024
AL#151 p.24               
Tobias Braun                                                                                           

▪ How do you explain that the glue squeeze-out in some fine old guitars by Spanish masters drips the wrong way? Seems like that could only happen if the top was glued last, face-up. The key to the mystery may be an unusual century-old workboard from the shop of Santos Hernández. Tune in for the rest of the story. Mentions Jose Romanillos, Marian Harris Winspear, Jeffrey Elliott, Richard Brune, Alberto Martínez, Domingo Esteso, Enrique Garcia, Francisco Simplicio, Miguel Simplicio, Marcelo Barbero, Marcelo Barbero (Hijo), Arcangel Fernández Léonard Plattner, Faustino Conde, Mariano Conde, Julio Conde, Felipe Conde, Felipe Conde Crespo, Modesto Borreguero, Hernández y Aguado, José Ramírez III, Julián Gómez Ramírez, Manuel Ramírez, Antonio Torres, Robert Bouchet.

The Double-Neck WeissenBro

2023
AL#150 p.24               
Lee Herron                                                                                           

▪ A Dobro is good clean fun. And then maybe you’ll want to expand your lap-steel playing to include an acoustic Hawaiian guitar. Wouldn’t it be great to have them both on your lap at the same time? Do it. Go on; you are a luthier, you can mash them up. A Dobro… a Weissenborn… a WeissenBro!

The Two-Day Ukulele: Inducting Novice Luthiers

2023
AL#150 p.44               
William-T. Crocca                                                                                           

▪ A group of mature woodworkers set themselves the challenge of designing and presenting a two-day class in which kids and families can build a StewMac uke kit. It involved setting up twenty workstations. The class was a success, and everyone went home with a strung uke “in the white.”

An All-American 7-String Guitar

2022
AL#146 p.38               
Lee Herron                                                                                           

▪ Sometimes you get a customer who just wants you to run wild. Check out the design and build process of this 17.75-inch, 7-string, multiscale black-locust flattop guitar. Fun!

Soundboard Construction of Vinaccia Mandolins Around 1900

2021
AL#143 p.30               
Alfred Woll                                                                                           

▪ The Vinaccia family was at the heart of the development of the Neapolitan mandolin, beginning in the mid-18th century and running well into the 20th. This article follows those developments with changing string technology and musical taste. The author then gives us a step-by-step demonstration of making the distinctive arched-and-canted soundboard.

Tuning a Marimba Bar and Resonator

2021
AL#142 p.55               
Max Krimmel                                                                                           

▪ If you are luthier who does not remember the name of Max Krimmel, you might be under age fifty. Max was a pack leader in the early days of the American Lutherie Boom, before he went on to specialize in a few of his many other artistic interests. Anyway, why and article about marimbas? As Max says, “Think of it as deep background learning.”

Stiffer Guitar Linings

2020
AL#141 p.47               
F.A. Jaen                                                                                           

▪ These linings are something like reverse kerfing, but they are built up in place, starting with an ingeniously aligned set of individual blocks. There’s always a new way to do it.

Chalk-Fitting Guitar Braces

2020
AL#140 p.2               
Stephen Marchione                                                                                           

▪ The braces in an archtop guitar are very similar to the bars in fiddles, and Marchione fits them with the same traditional techniques. The mating surface of the brace is roughed out with a chisel, then refined with a small plane, and perfected with files and scrapers. Chalk shows the whole truth of the fit. Believe the chalk.

Flamenco on the Front Range

2019
AL#138 p.20               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ Author Mark French is walking the lutherie path in the reverse direction of many makers. As a physics prof trained in the crazy magic of CNC and industrial robot processes, he had made a lot of guitars before he did much in the way of traditional low-tech hand-tool work. As part of an intensive effort to fill in those gaps, he attended an eight-day course at Robbie O’Brien’s shop in Colorado to make a flamenco guitar with Spanish luthier and licensed bloodless toreador Paco Chorobo. O’Brien went to Spain and visited Paco’s shop in 2015. Read all about it in AL124.

The Totnes School of Guitar Making

2019
AL#137 p.52               
J.A.T. Stanfield                                                                                           

▪ There are many settings in which one might receive lutherie instruction these days. Looking for a change of scene? This article describes a 12-week course held in a 300-year-old building near the Devonshire coast of southeast England. It has a 40-year history and roots in the legendary London College of Furniture program. Mentions Norman Reed and Phil Messer. Also describes a systematic method of planing a board flat. Discusses doming a flat soundboard with shaped cauls and a go-bar deck.

Setting a Violin Neck Like a Professional

2018
AL#135 p.4               
Charles Rufino                                                                                           

▪ Here’s a close look at the process of setting a violin neck. No innovative tools or new miracle adhesives here; just good old-fashioned methodical, careful work with traditional toos and designs. From his workshop at the 2017 GAL Convention.

Restoration of a Guitar by Thomas Duran made in Seville 1684

2018
AL#133 p.34               
D.-and-F. Sinier-de-Ridder                                                                                           

▪ So you need to restore a guitar that is a third of a millienium old. Of course it was originally a Baroque guitar. A couple hundred years ago somebody chopped it into a Romantic-era 6-string guitar. No prob, you’ll just find a similar authentic instrument for a guide. Except there aren’t any. Spain was packed with them 300 years ago, but now not a single one is known to exist in original condition. Nonetheless, a full and successful restoration is made.

A Field Guide to Mandolins

2017
AL#132 p.30               
Graham McDonald                                                                                           

▪ Mandolins have come in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and styles in over 350 years of history. And while you are not likely to stumble upon the kind of mandolin that Vivaldi wrote for, you may find yourself looking at a century-old American factory-made cutie like this Smurf-head Regal, resplendent in muliple pearloids. This article gives you a quick introduction to the rich diversity in the great Family of Man(dolin).

Let’s Catch Up With Graham Caldersmith

2017
AL#132 p.44               
Juan-Oscar Azaret   Graham Caldersmith                                                                                       

▪ Graham Caldersmith’s articles in GAL publications go back a full thirty-five years, earlier than American Lutherie magazine itself. He’s located in a tiny town in the hinterlands of New South Wales, Australia. He uses his scientific training to develop innovative classical guitars, and has long been a leader in the effort to develop a family of guitars of different sizes and musical ranges. Our globetrotting reporter asks about his latest thoughts and methods, which include carbon-reinforced lattice bracing.

An Inexpensive Resophonic Guitar

2017
AL#132 p.58               
Lee Herron                                                                                           

▪ Take a break from building that replica Joachim Tielke Baroque guitar and step up to this lutherie challenge. Build a fully-functional Dobro from a sheet of 3/4″ construction plywood, a few parts from the plumbing department, and various stuff from the thrift store. OK, you can also have a fretboard, a real set of tuners, and a set of strings. But when it comes to finding a resonator cone, you’ll have to punt. Or Bundt.

The Soundpost Cannon Incident

2017
AL#131 p.50               
James Condino                                                                                           

▪ Pop goes the soundpost! Can this affordable old Kay bull fiddle be saved? Plywood-doghouse bass specialist James Condino shows us how.

The 2×4 Ukulele

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.

Voicing the Modern Mandolin

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.

GAL Instrument Plan #75: 1926 Gibson “Snakehead” A-Model Mandolin

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.

CNC in Small Shop Mandolin Making

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.

Grading on the Curves

2007
AL#91 p.24               
Steve Andersen                                                                                           

▪ This is a very detailed look at how a notable builder of archtop guitars fits tone bars and bridges to his instruments. With 22 photos.

A Flattop Mandolin Resurrection

2006
AL#86 p.50               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ This is another of the author’s attempts to save a ruined instrument without ruining the customer’s bank account. The subject this time is a WWI-era Gibson army-navy style mandolin. With 14 photos.

Meet the Maker: Jay Hargreaves

2005
AL#83 p.44   BRB7 p.380            
Todd Rose   Jay Hargreaves                                                                                       

▪ Bass maker Hargreaves is hardly a stranger to AL readers. Here he stands on the other end of the interview as he discusses his work as well as his affiliations with Michael Kasha and Richard Schneider.

Teaching the Dream to Sing

2005
AL#82 p.6   BRB7 p.320            
Fred Carlson                                                                                           

▪ Carlson makes some of the world’s coolest, most graceful, and weirdest stringed instruments. Focusing on a harp guitar he calls the Flying Dream he discusses at length how he designs and builds his creations. There is lots of detailed info here that will help you build the instruments you see in your mind, as opposed to the ones for which you can already buy a blueprint. Truly inspirational. With 42 photos and 10 drawings.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part One

2003
AL#75 p.12   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ The author describes her mandolin making class with Red Diamond mandolin builder Don MacRostie, giving us a photo-heavy series that should be of practical use to anyone in the mandolin field regardless of their experience. The emphasis is on hand tools, though power tools are used to add efficiency. With 68 photos and 4 drawings, this is the first in a four-part series.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

An American in Mirecourt, Part Two

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.

Reconciling Structural and Acoustic Design in Violin Making

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.

The Chainsaw Lutherie of Tom Ribbecke, Part 2

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.

The Modern Mandolin

1998
AL#56 p.6   BRB5 p.248            
Lawrence Smart                                                                                           

▪ The demands of contemporary players has forced many changes in the mandolin family since the fabled Loar family of Gibsons was created in the 1920s. Smart has built mandolins, mandolas, and mandocellos to work together as an ensemble as well as separately, and here he discusses the differences that might be desirable in the family as the setting is changed, as well as the changes that players have asked for in his instruments. Accompanied by charts of Smart’s instrument specs as well as those of Gibson. With 5 photos and 5 drawings.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

The Chainsaw Lutherie of Tom Ribbecke, Part One: The Neck

1998
AL#56 p.36   BRB5 p.262            
Jay Hargreaves                                                                                           

▪ Ribbecke is a renowned maker of archtop guitars. He also opens his shop periodically to small classes that wish to learn his formula for successful and graceful guitars. Hargreaves attended one such week-long session and brought back the straight skinny for American Lutherie readers. Part 1 details the construction of a laminated maple neck and associated details. Part 2 follows in AL#57. With 29 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Meet the Maker: David Gusset

1998
AL#55 p.32   BRB5 p.224            
Jonathon Peterson   David Gusset                                                                                       

▪ Gusset’s early work made him intimately familiar with many fine old Italian violins, and he has used their influence to make his mark in world violin making competitions. With one drawing and 9 photos, including wonderful violin close-ups.

Violin Q & A: Raised Bridges/Fitting New Pegs/Loose Bass Bar/Fingerboard Tan Streaks/Russian String Setup

1997
AL#50 p.56   BRB5 p.458            
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ This time the GAL’s fiddle guru talks about bridge shoes, fitting pegs, detecting a loose bass bar, streaky ebony, and “Russian” string setups.

The Neapolitan Mandolin

1996
AL#46 p.20   BRB4 p.316            
Robert Lundberg                                                                                           

▪ An introduction to the structure and methods of construction of historical instruments, especially the belly. With 12 photos, 2 pages of notes and bibliography, and a family tree of Neapolitan luthiers from the 15th to the 20th centuries.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Alternative Archtop Considerations

1996
AL#46 p.42   BRB4 p.326            
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ Buzz Vineyard builds archtop guitars with pin bridges and strange bracing, and rosewood backs and sides. What’s the result? He tells all to Peterson.

Designing and Tuning the Hammered Dulcimer

1995
AL#44 p.26   BRB4 p.238            
Chris Foss                                                                                           

▪ This is one of the most invigorating articles on the hammered dulcimer ever. Foss has made over 1000 instruments, has developed some hard opinions, and has tried a truckload of interesting experiments. Ever carpet the inside of a dulcimer? Foss has. Find out why.

Meet the Maker: Debbie Suran

1995
AL#41 p.26   BRB4 p.134            
Nicholas-Von Robison   Debbie Suran                                                                                       

▪ Suran is a performer/builder of hammered dulcimers.

A Practical Approach to Hammered Dulcimers

1995
AL#41 p.18   BRB4 p.154            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The goal is to make the lightest possible instrument that will stay in tune. Calkin examines bracing, bridge design, scale lengths, wood, and hammer design. With 9 photos and several drawings.

James L. D’Aquisto: Building the Archtop Guitar. A Brief Overview

1994
AL#37 p.6   BRB4 p.2            
Tim Olsen                                                                                           

▪ Nobody built a better archtop than D’Aquisto did. Olsen outlines the procedures and peculiarities of a famous luthier’s work.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

James L. D’Aquisto: Building the Archtop Guitar. The Soundboard

1994
AL#37 p.10   BRB4 p.6            
Tim Olsen                                                                                           

▪ Olsen travels from the general (in the preceding article) to the specific. He zeros in on D’Aquisto’s soundboard work for a detailed examination. With 47 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

Building Hollow Radius Forms

1993
AL#33 p.23   BRB3 p.476            
Colin Kaminski                                                                                           

▪ Kaminski’s form uses two sheets of plywood of different thickness. They are stacked and screwed together down the center, and the thin sheet is curved by placing rows of wedges between them. A wood frame is built around the plywood, then polyester is poured between the sheets to make the radius permanent. It works, but it can be messy.

Violin Q & A: Violin Reconditioning/Bass Bar Springs/Neck Surface

1992
AL#31 p.64   BRB3 p.446            read this article
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ Why don’t the ribs of a broken fiddle fit the top any more? How much spring should be built into a bass bar? Why is there a step in the neck behind the nut on my fiddle. Darnton knows, now you will, too.

Improving the Plywood Bass (Our Great Spherical Friend Part Four)

1987
AL#10 p.60   BRB1 p.202            read this article
Frederick-C. Lyman-Jr.                                                                                           

▪ Lyman’s quest is to build an inexpensive but musically useful string bass. In this episode he tries to improve a Kay plywood bass. The results leave him ambivalent but hopeful.

Building the Vihuela and Viola da Mano From Historical Evidence

1987
AL#10 p.10   BRB1 p.362            
John Rollins                                                                                           

▪ Recreating these instruments required deep research into antique literature and a search of centuries-old woodcuts and tapestries. Many such drawings and sketches illustrate this long article, as well as photos of instruments by the author and Raphael Weisman. A transcription of Rollins’ 1986 convention lecture.

Experimental Violin Acoustics

1986
AL#7 p.6   BRB1 p.232            
George Bissinger                                                                                           

▪ This transcription of a lecture by a professor of physics examines how five variables affect the performance of the violin. The variables are loudness curves and student instruments; free plate tuning and testing; humidity effects on plate modes; bass bar tuning; and coupling between enclosed air and plate vibrations.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

One Way to Make Kerfed Lining

1985
AL#2 p.44               
Richard Ennis                                                                                           

▪ Ennis kerfs wide boards on the table saw, then rips them to twice the desired width. He then rips each of these at an angle with a bandsaw to produce (after they are sliced lengthwise) two lining strips.

Making Lining Strips-Three

1984
DS#266   LW p.94            
William Cumpiano                                                                                           

▪ Yet another way to make your own kerfed lining, with 4 diagrams of the procedure. More sophisticated than the previous two articles, but not necessarily a better way to go about it.