2024
AL#151 p.71
Mike Doolin
▪ Using CAD, Mike designs these guides to fit the spacing of the strings and the width of the files. Then he cuts them from plastic using a laser cutter.
2024
AL#151 p.54
Federico Sheppard
▪ An Art-school girl from the UK goes to Spain as a flamenco dancer. There she meets a guy who has a business selling wood to local luthiers. Things go well. The business grows and gets bought by StewMac, and now shes VP of Global Sales. And if you go to their sawmill, you can pick up pelletized fuel of the finest rosewood. Mentions Bob Taylor.
2024
AL#151 p.58
Mark French
▪ Its amazing what you can do with a smart phone these days. Think you would need an anvil, a block-and-tackle, and a bathrom scale to measure the breaking strength of a guitar string? Nope. Theres an app for that. Mentions Fine Chromatic Tuner.
2023
AL#149 p.4
Mike Doolin Ken Parker
▪ Can you believe we have never met this guy? Hes a giant of the American Lutherie Boom, he was at the Guilds 1979 Convention, and he has been a GAL member for over twenty years. The world knows him as the maker of the Fly solidbody guitar, but now he has returned to his first love: the archtop guitar. Mentions Larry Fishman, John D’Angelico, Jimmy D’Aquisto, Scott Chinery, Orville Gibson, Lloyd Loar, Raphael Ciani, Nick Lucas, Michael Greenfield, Sam Zygmuntowicz.
2023
AL#148 p.62
John Calkin
▪ The Lutherie Curmudgeon casts his eye on the lutherie scene, and speaks his truth. He’s kinda grumpy, but you know you love him.
2022
AL#146 p.44
Mark French Alyssa Fernandez
▪ How stiff is that neck blank? You could cut all your blanks to the same dimensions and then set up a rig with a hanging weight to measure deflection and such. But hey, got a smart phone? It can listen while you tap on a bunch of neck blanks, and then tell you how stiff each one is.
2021
AL#144 p.6
Roger Haggstrom
▪ A hundred and some years ago, Swedish folks sat around the house all of a dark winter and sang hymns together, accompanied by the strummings of cheap mass-produced guitars. Those days are gone, but a lot of the guitars are still hanging on the walls of old houses. Roger Häggström has made a business of restoring them to useful condition and modifying them to sound and play better than they ever could have. He restores and modifies. Restomods. Mentions the Levin guitar company.
2021
AL#144 p.52
Jon Sevy
▪ If you are cutting pearl inlays with a benchtop CNC router, then cutting the recesses for them with that same CNC, they ought to fit perfectly, right? Well yes, in the perfect world of math. And even out here in the messy real world of sawdust and bearing slop, you can get pretty close if you understand the forces at play and calculate their effects.
2021
AL#144 p.56
Debbie French Mark French
▪ There is a national movement to teach teachers how to teach STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math) to high-school students; you have them make guitars. Turns out people think it’s fun to make guitars. Who knew?
2021
AL#143 p.66
John Mello
▪ Although the Micro 299 was reviewed, the current model at the time of publication was the Micro 431.
2021
AL#143 p.66
John Calkin
▪ This is a major instructional video from Robbie O’Brien’s school, with a running time of 14 hours.
2021
AL#143 p.5
Mark French
▪ Leo asks what sealer Charles Fox uses on his MDF jigs, noting that they look great in the Guild’s Fox Method series and that Charles says he has been using some of them for twenty years. Author Mark French responds with info straight from Charles. He also comments on the use of MDF as wasteboards for vacuum hold-downs in CNC work.
2021
AL#143 p.48
Mark French
▪ Here’s how to quickly make a frequency-response curve of a guitar on your bench, using a handheld digital recorder and free software. Not cheap and easy enough for you? The author goes on to tell you how to do the whole thing on a smart phone. Mentions Spectroid, MATLAB, and Audacity.
2021
AL#143 p.60
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola gives short, not-too-technical summaries of two articles recently published online by Savart Journal. In the first, Mark French et al. take on the fraught task of “Comparing Subjective and Objective Data from a Pool of Classical Guitars.” In the second, Gabriele Caselli et al. present an “Analysis of Violin Combination Tones and their Contribution to Tartini’s Third Tone.”
2021
AL#142 p.22
Luis Colmenares
▪ The traditional Venezuelan cuatro is a small 4-string instrument with a distinctive flush fretboard and wooden tap plate covering the entire upper bout. See our GAL Instrument Plan #58. The author of this article is a working musician and a member of the Venezuelan diaspora. He has developed an electric version of the instrument for playing the evolving music of the Venezuelan culture.
2021
AL#142 p.40
Doug Hunt Mark French
▪ Two luthiers dare each other to make a useful guitar for a total investment of $75 each. One makes a flattop, the other a solid body. There are rules, and rules are meant to be broken.
2020
AL#141 p.62
R.M. Mottola
▪ Pickguard outlines are like body shapes; you could copy them, or you could sketch them freehand. Or, if you are serious about it, you could construct them geometrically. Mottola gives us step-by-step instructions for drawing a pickguard to fit any size or shape of guitar to get that authentic traditional look.
2020
AL#141 p.41
Erik Wolters
▪ Wolters started his first instrument-making project later in life than some. But with an excellent mentor and years of patient determination, he completed a doozy of a first guitar. Dreams can come true. At least lutherie dreams.
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.
2020
AL#141 p.50
Mark French
▪ Here come the robots. Although CNC routers are not yet at the Jetsons stage, we are far beyond the days when computer-driven tools were only in luthiers’ dreams, not their workshops. Mark French brings us up to date as he selects and installs an inexpensive machine in his home shop.
2019
AL#137 p.71
Andy Birko
▪ Advice for selecting CAD/CAM/CNC software for arched plates. Technology moves fast. Bear in mind this is from 2019.
2019
AL#137 p.64
Steve Dickerson
▪ A regular old laser printer can help you quickly make a fretting template.
2019
AL#136 p.69
R.M. Mottola
▪ Can you still get Bradley signal generators, the kind used for glitter-testing instruments and instrument parts, now that Don Bradley has passed away? No, but there are many more-modern alternatives.
2019
AL#137 p.16
Mark French
▪ CNC Routers are kinda like computers. Once they were huge and cost more than a house. Therefore they were mostly in the domain of large corporations. Now they are far smaller, and the price tag is closer to a few months’ rent. Therefore they will be ubiquitous. This article lets you know what it would take to get on the bus. Mentions Easel; VCarve; BobCAD; Draftsight; AutoCAD; SketchUp; Fusion 360; Rhino3D.
2019
AL#136 p.52
Harry Fleishman
▪ Many years ago, innovative classical guitar maker Richard Schneider made instruments with frets made of rod stock set in wide saw kerfs. Fleishman updates the idea by having round-bottomed slots cut by CNC and laying in Delrin rod.
2018
AL#135 p.45
Juan-Oscar Azaret
▪ Tap on a guitar. Or listen to just the first fraction of a second as you pluck a note. Those tiny samples contain a wealth of information. Our brains already form an impression of the guitar’s sound, long before the first second has elapsed. Computers can reveal the math behind the music and help us understand and visualize what is happening. Good basic info about the FFT, that is, the Fast Fourier Transform, and how the information in a guitar tap can be viewed in the time domain or the frequency domain.
2018
AL#135 p.54
Mark French
▪ Lutherie is changing. Digital tools are transforming factories, and also opening new possibilities to individual shops. This brigs up new issues. Like, what if the normal accuracy gets so high that the instruments sound too similar to each other? Will it become desirable to build in a certain amount of random variation?
2018
AL#135 p.58
Mark French
▪ Want a robot lutherie apprentice? It is here today and it is cheap. But it doesn’t look like something from the Jetsons. It looks like this; a digital readout connected to a lead screw. With a friendly whirr, it will move the saw guide right up to the next fret position for you. But get your own dang coffee.
2018
AL#134 p.16
Tim Olsen
▪ Ken Warmoth is one of the pioneers of the Strat-compatible guitar parts scene, starting small in the 1970s and working up to the sophisticated operation he runs today. He’s a born engineer, constantly refining and rethinking each operation for better accuracy and efficiency. Of course these days that involves CNC machines, and he’s got them. But you may be surprised to see which operations use them and which don’t. Our last visit with Ken was in 1991, so there is some catching up to do.
2018
AL#134 p.34
Greg Byers
▪ So you made a classical guitar, and it sounds good. You want your next one to sound good, too. You want your output to be consistently good. How do you do that? After decades of lutherie experience, Byers has developed a method of recording the frequency responses of the soundboard at each major stage of construction. Does the tap-tone of the raw top set tell the whole story? No, but it can help you steer the project to a successful conclusion.
2018
AL#134 p.42
Michael Bashkin Harry Fleishman
▪ Everybody knows Harry Fleishman, right? We first “Met the Maker” in 2001, but by then Harry had already been an active GAL author and convention attendee for some time. Now we are catching up with him. This recent chapter of his story is a doozy, with major moves, businesses opening and closing, fruitful collaborations, international travel, and new beginnings.
2018
AL#134 p.52
Chris Herrod
▪ You’ll often read article in American Lutherie where scientists explain the sound of guitars in terms of resonant frequencies and onset transients. On the other hand, longtime wood merchant Chris Herrod is here to give the metaphoric pendulum a big old shove back to the right-brain tradition of using evocative adjectives like “dry,” “creamy,” and “poignant.” He also discusses psychoacoustics research and how confident we should be about our “ears.”
2018
AL#134 p.60
Mark French David Zachman
▪ There are times when a luthier may want to draw a good long-radius arch. If jury-rigging a 25-foot compass seems like a hassle, you may have been tempted to just bend a straight stick a little and call it good. Turns out that’s a better solution than you may have thought. This article evaluates several techniques and gives the math that undergirds them.
2018
AL#133 p.22
R.M. Mottola Mark French
▪ Mark French was a kid who took guitar lessons and paid the guy at the music store to change his strings. He went on to be an aerospace engineer, but with all that book learning he still did not know how guitars worked. Now he teaches college courses on guitar making and hangs out with captains of industry at Fender and Taylor.
2018
AL#133 p.54
Edmond Rampen
▪ OK, we are probably some distance yet from pushing a button and 3D-printing a functioning guitar. And if you think that something about that sounds kinda crepy and disappointing, you just might be a luthier. But what we are talking about in this article is entirely different: Using surprisingly inexpensive printers to make templates, tools, and parts for guitars. The future is here, people. Get into this while you wait for your hover car.
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.
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.
2009
AL#99 p.60 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ Do you know why certain parts of our lives can’t be altered? Because smarter people than us are in control. If you are artistic enough, you can lay out a nice guitar shape with just a pencil and paper. If you are smart enough (not that being smart negates the possibility of artistic talent) you can use geometric forms and even a computer to shape a graceful guitar. If you are neither artistic nor smart you’ll have to copy something that’s already been done. This story is for smart people. With 12 drawings.
2009
AL#99 p.52
Ryan Schultz
▪ There’s just enough math here to make our brains cloud over, so most folks should get along fine. It’s still not as easy to build as a spoke-built dish, but if you’re cheap and must have a one-piece dish it should work just fine. With 4 photos, a depth chart, and one drawing.
2009
AL#98 p.46
John Svizzero R.M. Mottola
▪ Both authors made their own CNC machines, which impresses the heck out of us. The coolest thing about CNC fret slotting, aside from the dead certain accuracy, is the ability to cut slots with blind ends. Unbound fretboards can look bound. All the machine specs you’ll need to duplicate their efforts are included, and even us dummies can grasp what they’re about. With 4 photos.
2007
AL#90 p.22 ALA1 p.72
Mark French
▪ Taylor Guitars started out as the sort-of-goofy new kid on the block and has grown into the largest production steel string guitar facility in the country. Maybe you’ll learn something from this factory tour and maybe you won’t, but it’s always fascinating to see how the big guys do things. It’s the state of the art in large production. With 25 photos.
2006
AL#88 p.52 read this article
Mark French
▪ The author discusses the curve fit, a mathematical method of describing a shape that a computer, and thus a CNC machine, can understand. Curve fits have other benefits, too, but computer illiteracy prevents them from being described here. Includes a plethora of charts and graphs.
2006
AL#87 p.40 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ Parametric solid modeling is a usable step between computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing. It permits a three-dimensional picture of a part to be made. A CNC machine doesn’t need it, but a designer might in order to better visualize what it is the machine is about to make. If this makes no sense to you, welcome aboard. But CAD/CAM/CNC-made instrument parts are here to stay, even for small shops. Understanding the process will give you an edge over the stick-in-the-muds who can’t be bothered. With 9 illustrations.
2006
AL#86 p.42
R.M. Mottola
▪ Strict traditions have hampered the evolution of musical instrument decoration, but the creativity of some luthiers will not be held back. Make your logos on your computer. Iron your labels right onto the wood. Engrave decorations with a desktop CNC. We haven’t begun to try what might be done, but this article might awaken you to the possibilities. With 21 photos.
2005
AL#84 p.22 BRB7 p.386
R.M. Mottola
▪ Instruments with domed plates must have the rib assembly altered to accept the topography of the plates. This can be done after assembly or before bending. The author offers an overview of how either can be accomplished.
2005
AL#84 p.64 BRB7 p.479
Scott Marckx
▪ Download free CAD (computer assisted drafting software) at www.Emachineshop.com.
2005
AL#83 p.14 BRB7 p.358
Michael Finnerty Bradley Clark
▪ Cole Clark Guitars is an Australian company specializing in computer designed and manufactured flattop and electric guitars. Rather than use CNC machines to duplicate old guitar styles of construction they have modified their designs to suit the potentials of the machinery, which in the end reduces expensive hand labor by as much as half. A sidebar mentions the lutherie uses of 3 Aussie wood varieties. With 10 photos.
2005
AL#83 p.59 BRB7 p.473
R.M. Mottola
▪ Typical instrument dimensions for guitars, mandolins, violins, etc for use in CAD drafting.
2004
AL#80 p.10 BRB7 p.236
Jonathon Peterson Frank Ford
▪ Sometimes an interviewer has to pry information out of a person. Not so with Frank Ford, who unleashes a wonderful account of his life as a repairman in the Bay area. Prominently mentioned are Richard Johnston, Jon Lundberg, Dan Erlewine, Gryphon Instruments, and Mario Martello. Inspirational stuff, including 14 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#80 p.48 BRB7 p.260
John-C. Moore
▪ Spectroscopy turns instrument noise into pictures, or graphs. As the author points out, the equipment for accomplishing this has now left the lab and is available to the home user. It may take some time to find out if these graphs are useful to the builder of instruments, but as Moore states, the only way to find out is to get started. With 12 graphs and 2 photos.
2004
AL#77 p.60 BRB7 p.169
R.M. Mottola
▪ If you are not fascinated by computers you probably don’t want a personal CNC machine of any size. If lutherie is your escape from modern technology, you are also excused. But if computers and robots and programming turn you on you may want to combine your hobbies by investing in and/or building a small CNC machine. (The word hobby seems to connote such a lack of seriousness that we use it hesitatingly, but you know what we mean.) Mottola finds that his little CNC has moved his work beyond what he might attempt without it, as well as speeding up and spiffing up stuff that he used to do by other means. This is not so much a how-to as a why-do, but if it doesn’t charge you up, then computer-aided manufacturing is not for you. With 8 photos.
2003
AL#76 p.16 BRB7 p.116
Mike Doolin John Greven
▪ This wonderful interview has the kind of depth that only happens when friends talk. It takes familiarity to know what to ask and how to answer. Humor permeates this discussion of alternative woods, business ploys, the Internet, and in general living the life of a successful luthier. Greven has been in the business as long as anyone and is generous with his advice and experience. With 22 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#76 p.60 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ This is an episode in the series that even digiphobes will enjoy, taking the file to the CNC man to actually make necks by computer-guided milling machine. This is not a machine that most of us will ever own, or even want to, but it’s obvious how effectively it might add to ones output. With 15 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.62 BRB7 p.33
Dana Bourgeois
▪ A CNC machining company that takes custom CNC neck orders of as little as 30 in quantity / glued on VS bridges on flattop guitars.
2003
AL#73 p.8 BRB7 p.8
Cyndy Burton Kathy Matsushita
▪ Matsushita is a professional teacher and an adventurous luthier, which makes for a fine combination for an interview. Her story is one of the best examples of how the internet has impacted our lives, of how we can teach and learn by electron. Joy and information can be the same thing. With 14 photos.
2002
AL#72 p.50 BRB6 p.420 read this article
David Golber
▪ It’s the difference between a spline and a Bezier curve, but we’re not geeky (read smart) enough to understand it. Bezier curves are good and splines aren’t, but not all CAD software supports their use. Uses 8 plots to make the difference more understandable.
2002
AL#71 p.24 BRB6 p.424
John Calkin Duane Heilman
▪ Heilman builds quirky, imaginative ukes that he auctions on-line. He’s also made hundreds of exotic picks that he sells the same way. With 17 photos.
2002
AL#71 p.58 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Drawing the neck in CAD continues with the headstock design.
2002
AL#70 p.44 BRB6 p.365
R.M. Mottola
▪ With digital recording and spectrographic analysis software a computer can print out a diagram of an instrument’s tone spectrum, reducing the complicated issue of tone comparison to easy-to-read graphs. The scientifically inclined luthier may find that this helps him build better instruments, while others may decide that it’s another case of too much information. If you’ve found that intuition has carried you as far as it can you might check out the usefulness of “tone pictures”. With 5 bass guitar spectrographs.
2002
AL#70 p.52 BRB6 p.347 read this article
Dave Raley
▪ There are a number of reasons you might wish to know the volume of an instrument. Raley uses a spreadsheet program and some careful measuring to determine this figure.
2002
AL#70 p.53 BRB6 p.349
R.M. Mottola
▪ The author has simplified a computer technique for use with graph paper and pencil, and maintains that the system is accurate to about .5%. If you know the area of a plate you can figure out the volume of the soundbox, as in Raley’s article on p.52.
2002
AL#70 p.58 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ This segment begins instruction in drawing a neck using MasterCam Draft, Version 8. If you stumble onto the perfect neck and wish to have it machine reproduced you may have to know this stuff. With 3 drawings.
2002
AL#69 p.40 BRB6 p.301
R.M. Mottola
▪ Not really a computer article, the author uses a CAD-like system of plotting the contours of an arched plate. The result is sort of a topo map of the plate that is used to rout the plate into terraces that are then faired into a finished plate. Mottola explains the drawing, not the machining. With 13 drawings.
2002
AL#69 p.59 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ How to use Mastercam’s Scale function to generate a fret pattern. With 1 diagram.
2001
AL#68 p.62 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Previous columns saw the creation of a 3D wireframe computer image of a dreadnought guitar body. In this installment a 2D profile of a side is extracted from the software, from which the side set can be cut to shape before bending. With 6 diagrams.
2001
AL#67 p.51 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ In the last installment we learned how to make a computerized outline of a guitar body using Mastercam software. In this installment we learn how to make a wireframe image that suggests three dimensions. With 5 diagrams.
2001
AL#66 p.60 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ In this segment the author instructs how to get Mastercam Draft software to draw the outline of a particular guitar body. The one you want, that is, not just any old outline.
2001
AL#65 p.48 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ No doubt many of us pursue lutherie as an escape from an ever-escalating technology that the rest of the world imposes upon us. If that’s you, skip this new column. If, however, you see yourself entering lutherie as a business you may find yourself shut out of future developments if you can’t speak CAD (Computer Aided Design). Bourgeois’ arguments for getting involved are strong, and you may even find a degree of fun in the pursuit. Working with Mastercam software to design guitars and parts will be the focus of future columns.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#62 p.54 BRB6 p.470
Fred Carlson
▪ Carlson examines Frank Ford’s “Frets.Com, A Luthier’s Notebook”, an ongoing CD-ROM project taken from Ford’s website and finds that it offers more information than one reviewer can deal with. The reviewer also looks at the Fret Tang Expander and the Fret Tang Compressor, 2 tools invented by Ford, and finds them a good addition to his tool kit. With 4 photos.
1999
AL#57 p.32 BRB5 p.310
David Hurd
▪ Uke maker Hurd was once a research scientist, and intuitive instrument construction is not his bag. Using his formula luthiers can compare known wood species with unknowns and learn what to expect of the new ones. He also offers some top dimensions for instruments of the ukulele family. With 5 charts and much math.
1998
AL#56 p.44 BRB5 p.285
John Calkin David Hurd
▪ David Hurd’s classical guitar drew accolades at the ’98 convention’s listening session, but he’s better known for his ukes and his info-jammed ukulele website. He’s also had the opportunity to build instruments from species of Hawaiian wood that most of us have never even heard of. Life is different in Hawaii. Still. With 3 photos.
1998
AL#56 p.3
Jon Sevy
▪ Sevy has developed a spreadsheet for calculating the over-all time spent building a lutherie project. He offers the spreadsheet to readers through his website.
1997
AL#49 p.40 BRB5 p.26
Richard Beck
▪ Beck’s theme is to keep the quality but cut the time involved in building acoustic guitars. He shares his jigs for shaping headstocks and arching braces using a router table and heavy aluminum jigs. You may have to get a machine shop in on this job. With 13 photos and a drawing.
1997
AL#49 p.44 BRB5 p.30
Nicholas-Von Robison
▪ Robison describes wood identification as an adventure. You’ll need some reference books and a microscope, and a computer wouldn’t hurt. Ever see an instrument trimmed in smokewood? How do you know, Sherlock? Without a little scientific trickery your guess could be wrong either way. Get with the program. With 6 photomicrographs of softwoods.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1996
AL#46 p.6 BRB4 p.298
Bill Collings Ren Ferguson Richard Hoover Jean Larrivee Bob Taylor
▪ Steel string company honchos Bill Collings, Ren Ferguson, Richard Hoover, Jean Larrivee, and Bob Taylor discuss the development of their guitars, current production techniques, tonewood, amplification, and the immediate future of the instrument. From the 1995 convention panel discussion moderated by Joseph R. Johnson.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1995
AL#44 p.60 BRB4 p.501
Skip Helms
▪ A way to let a router and radial saw do some of the grunt work in building an archtop guitar.
1996
AL#45 p.2 read this article
Gretchen-Weeks Brough
▪ Brough offers her services as a freelance computer drafter to members who would like instrument plans drawn in AutoCAD.
1995
AL#43 p.46
Wayne Kelly
▪ If you have access to a PC (and you obviously do) you can use this article to set up your own fret slotting system. Not about how to cut slots, but where to cut them.
1993
AL#35 p.46
Wayne Kelly
▪ Have a try at laying out rosette tiles with your PC.
1991
AL#28 p.34 BRB3 p.126 ALA4 p.10
Phillip Lea Bob Taylor
▪ Few people in Guitarland are as outspoken and clear-headed as Bob Taylor. Others might say he’s just opinionated. He believes a good guitar is a good guitar, no matter if it was whittled by Gepeto or cranked out by a dozen computer-guided milling cutters. This article offers a peek into the Taylor factory and a guided tour through one man’s thoughts about the contemporary guitar. With 28 photos.
1991
AL#26 p.26 BRB3 p.60
Ken Warmoth
▪ Most in-the-know electric guitar folks consider Warmoth necks and bodies to be the best going. Here’s how they’re made. With 22 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1991
AL#26 p.33 BRB3 p.53
Lynn Ellsworth Ken Warmoth Jay Hargreaves
▪ Hargreaves interviews two giants of the Strat compatible parts industry.
1990
AL#22 p.34 BRB2 p.402
George Manno Hartley Peavey
▪ This is an interview with Hartley Peavey, whose manufacturing empire includes electric guitars, amplifiers, and other electronic gear for musicians. Topics include computerized manufacturing, offshore guitars, artist endorsements, and the Peavey business philosophy.
1974
DS#4 LW p.104 read this article
Bob Petrulis
▪ The author gives you the math to lay out the frets for any scale length and demonstrates how to use a computer spread sheet to do the same operation a lot faster. With a drawing and two charts.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.