Category Archives: electronics

Electric Guitar Repair: Setups, Frets, and Inspiration

2024
AL#152 p.6               
Evan Gluck   Larry Fitzgerald                                                                                       

▪ Gluck is a beloved repeat presenter at GAL Conventions. This time, he brought along veteran New York repair guy Larry Fitzgerald. In addition to demonstrating fret-leveling techniques, they tell war stories of maneuvering their businesses to survive the recent global pandemic. Mentions Matt Brewster, Sam Ash, John Suhr, Rudy Pensa, Mandolin Brothers, Dan Erlewine, John Patitucci, Flip Scipio, LeRoy Aiello.

Electronic String Action Gauge

2024
AL#151 p.64               
Geoff Needham                                                                                           

▪ A cheap mail-order gizmo for measuring tire tread wear; a pair of nippers; a scrap of plexi; a bottle of superglue. Put them all together and you’ve got a sweet tool like the cool kids use. Mentions Chris Alsop.

Let’s Catch Up with Steve Klein

2023
AL#148 p.16               
Paul Schmidt   Steve Klein                                                                                       

▪ Steve Klein started his lutherie endeavors fifty-five years ago as a teenager in his parents’ house. Today he’s collaborating with Steve Kauffman on dazzlingly decorative acoustic guitars, and continuing to make innovative ergonomic solidbodies in his own shop. Mentions Fibonacci, Carl Margolis, Frank Pollaro, Leonardo DaVinci Steve Kauffman, Larry Robinson, Bob Hergert, Joe Walsh.

It Worked for Me: Saving Old Shielding Paint

2022
AL#147 p.69               
John Jordan                                                                                           

▪ Your bottle of expensive shielding paint is getting old and gloppy. Save it with simple material available at the art supply store.

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!

Making Control-Cavity Jigs

2022
AL#145 p.52               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Using simple, non-dedicated tooling, Calkin steps us through his straightforward, no-nonsense process of routing control cavities in solid guitar bodies.

The $75 Guitar Challenge

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.

A Modern Venezuelan Cuatro

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.

Meet the Maker: John Jordan

2020
AL#140 p.10               
Paul Schmidt   John Jordan                                                                                       

▪ John Jordan was a young guy happily repairing instruments and making guitars when he got a commission to make an experimental electric violin. It turned out well enough to take his career in a new direction. Read his story and see some of his diverse and beautiful work. Mentions Ervin Somogyi, Shelley Rosen, Rolland Colella, Dave Matthews, Boyd Tinsley, nyckelharpa, D’Angelico, D’Aquisto, Neyveli S. Radhakrishna, Miri Ben Ari.

Cheap and Easy Electric Lap Steel

2019
AL#138 p.28               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Got a used humbucker, a wall stud, some extruded aluminum, and a couple other odds and ends? Make a lap steel guitar! Author John Calkin likes to get right down to business. There’s nothing precious or over-thought here. Minimum tooling, maximum lutherie fun. This is how Leo Fender got his start, ya know.

Delrin Frets

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.

It Worked for Me: Foam Caul for Clamping Bridge

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.

Meet the Maker: Jason Lollar

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.

Techniques for Guitar Repair Efficiency

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.

Installing an Acoustic Pickup System in a Flattop Guitar

2009
AL#100 p.14               
Brian Michael   Alex Glasser                                                                                       

▪ Michael and Glasser on how to install a pickup system in an acoustic guitar using a Fishman Matrix blend. From their 2008 GAL convention workshop.

Product Review: Samson Zoom H4 Recorder

2007
AL#92 p.62               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Can you think of uses for a small CD-quality, digital recorder that interfaces with your computer? If not, skip this review. If you’d like to demo your latest guitar on your website, or analyze its tonal spectrum, then maybe this machine is for you. It’s fairly inexpensive, very portable, and Harry likes it. With 1 photo.

Questions: Radius Gauge

2007
AL#90 p.67      ALA2 p.35         
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ A gauge that can measure any radius and be used to directly read the radius of any curve.

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

Product Reviews: Schatten Pickup Winder

2007
AL#90 p.62               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer test drives the Shatten pickup winder as well as the Stewart-MacDonald pickup winding kits and finds the road a bit bumpy until the instructions are consulted, but in the end recommends all the equipment whole-heartedly. With 2 photos.

Amplifying Acoustic Guitars Update

2005
AL#83 p.36               
Harry Fleishman   Mike Doolin                                                                                       

▪ Two experts in the field of acoustic amplification discuss available equipment as well as why few of them seem to work as well as we might wish. They do not dumb down the technical talk, so be prepared to expand your vocabulary and your mind. With 2 photos and 4 diagrams.

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

Review: Getting a Bigger Sound: Pickups and Microphones for Your Musical Instrument by Bart Hopkin with Robert Cain and Jason Lollar

2003
AL#74 p.60   BRB7 p.523            read this article
Fred Carlson                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer likes this book a lot. It is more concerned with explaining how instrument amplification works and how one might build hisher own gear than in reviewing the many commercial units that are available.

Review: Shoptalk 6

2003
AL#73 p.61   BRB7 p.523            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ This video is a collection of shop tips that the reviewer found to be valuable and entertaining, especially in view of the low price.

Getting Wired: Rick Turner at ASL

2002
AL#71 p.36   BRB6 p.429            
Tom Harper                                                                                           

▪ Turner is an inventor, guitarmaker, and a wireman extraordinaire. Harper attended Turner’s wiring workshop at the American School of Lutherie and reports back what he learned there. With 4 photos.

Battery-Powered Instrument Amplifiers

2002
AL#69 p.22   BRB6 p.296            read this article
Joseph Ennis                                                                                           

▪ Build an amp that matches the resonance of your acoustic instrument. Build it into the instrument if you like. Ennis offers some math, some circuitry, and some advice to beginners who want the most portable amps for their instruments. With 9 photos and a circuit diagram.

Constructing an Under-Saddle Transducer

2001
AL#68 p.50   BRB6 p.314            read this article
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Yes, you can make your own transducer pickups and save big bucks. Here’s how. Including 6 photos and 2 diagrams.

Product Reviews: Fishman Voltage Doubler

2001
AL#65 p.59   BRB6 p.478            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ AL’s Tool Meister reviews a bunch of circuit accessories from Stewart-MacDonald. He rejects the Black Ice crunch-adder but likes the Voltage Doubler, ConducTool, Megaswitch, and Yamaha 5-way switch.

Review: Installing Transducer Pickup Systems by Dan Erlewine

2001
AL#65 p.63   BRB6 p.536            read this article
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer recommends this video about installing under-the-bridge flattop guitar pickups.

It Worked for Me: Portable Amplification System

2001
AL#65 p.65   BRB6 p.456            
Francis Kosheleff                                                                                           

▪ A portable battery powered sound system featuring PA box cabinets designed to visually reflect the instruments played by the Balka quartet for a gig in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Meet the Maker: Rick Turner

2000
AL#64 p.20   BRB6 p.140            
Jonathon Peterson   Rick Turner                                                                                       

▪ Not frequently is one person so often in the right place at the right time with the skills to take advantage of the situation. Turner has “been there and done that” as an inventor and designer of instrument electronics as well as a repairman, designer, and manufacturer of Alembic guitars and basses and Turner-brand electric and acoustic guitars. His story is as colorful as it is informative. With 21 photos.

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

Sources

1999
AL#60 p.52               
Cyndy Burton                                                                                           

▪ This column updates several source lists that have appeared in past issues. If you need it to build instruments, you should find a supplier here.

Product Reviews: Chapin Insight Guitar Inspection Camera

1999
AL#58 p.52   BRB5 p.449            
Fred Carlson                                                                                           

▪ How would you like a video camera that can snoop inside your guitar? Carlson examines the Chapin Insight guitar inspection camera and finds that it’s loads of fun and probably very useful to a repairman who has the $350 to improve his inspection capabilities.

Review: Basic Pickup Winding and Complete Guide to Making Your Own Pickup Winder by Jason Lollar

1998
AL#55 p.63   BRB5 p.477            
Bishop Cochran                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer finds that this book is weak on pickup design considerations but that it will ultimately set the luthier free to customize his sound and escape the high cost of commercial pickups.

Product Reviews: Guitar Cradle, Mirror, Fret Tools, Go-Bars, Guitar Neck Removal Jig, Pro 7A Mike

1998
AL#53 p.56   BRB5 p.442            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Harry ‘fesses up: many luthiers are just too darn serious to grok good humor. But he, himself, is serious about testing new gear. In this issue he sort of likes a Bench Guitar Cradle, isn’t very enthusiastic about the Ultimate Guitar Mirror, is ambiguous about a fret slotting miter box and saw, finds a good mini-mic to combine with piezo pickups for not a lot of money, hates a commercial go-bar deck, and raves about a neck removal jig for dovetail joints. Whew!

Review: Guitar Electronics with Lindy Fralin

1997
AL#51 p.49   BRB5 p.472            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ This video is about designing, making, and repairing pickups, starting at the bottom. The reviewer enjoyed the tape and found that it taught him new material in a manner that didn’t frighten him off.

Stage Acoustic Guitars

1997
AL#49 p.20   BRB5 p.12            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ How to make thin-body guitars intended to be plugged in on stage. The bodies are hollowed from solid stock. Design considerations are emphasized. Production jigs are described, as are a set of jigs for making bridges. With 14 photos.

Meet the Maker: Bishop Cochran

1996
AL#48 p.14   BRB4 p.386            
Jonathon Peterson   Bishop Cochran                                                                                       

▪ Cochran is a player/maker of electric and acoustic/electric guitars who uses machine shop equipment and supplies to create his instruments. The emphasis is on precision work, duplicable procedures, and practical designs. With 26 photos.

Amplifying Acoustic Instruments

1996
AL#47 p.50   BRB4 p.358            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman has worked with all the commercial piezo pickups and has made a bunch of his own. Shop-brewed pickups can be cheap, useful, and instructive, but finding the best use for any piezo can be complicated. Adding microphones or magnetic pickups to the mix can be more confusing than helpful. Fleishman takes a look at all the angles. From his 1995 convention lecture.

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

The Luthiers Have Taken Over the Asylum

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.

Nineteen Stew-Mac How-to Videos 1

1996
AL#45 p.44   BRB4 p.474            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Some videos are worth the money, and some aren’t. It depends more on the depth of your experience and interest than on the quality of these videos, which is generally good. Take a look at a batch of tapes (and one book) from Stewart-MacDonald about building or repairing stringed instruments.

Product Reviews: LMI Adjustable-Radius Sanding Block

1996
AL#45 p.54   BRB4 p.436            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman test drives the adjustable fretboard arching planes from Luthiers Mercantile International, and finds that they handle the curves nicely. Also, an update on Highlander pickups.

Product Reviews: Highlander Transducer

1995
AL#42 p.54   BRB4 p.431            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman examines the Highlander acoustic guitar pickup and decides it’s pretty good, but not perfect. He has never met the perfect pickup, so far.

Electronic Answer Man

1995
AL#42 p.51   BRB4 p.416            
Rick Turner                                                                                           

▪ Turner’s system of tuning an acoustic guitar pickup is elaborate. He also talks about amps for the acoustic guitar.

Electronic Answer Man

1994
AL#40 p.54   BRB4 p.416            
Rick Turner                                                                                           

▪ Have you got a new idea about wiring a guitar or bass? Turner helps you decide if it may be worth the effort of trying it out. The fact that a new wiring system will work doesn’t mean anyone will want to hear it. Or buy it. Or care at all.

Product Reviews: Onboard Preamps

1994
AL#40 p.56   BRB4 p.427            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman tests the L.R. Baggs Micro Drive preamp and the MEQ-932 preamp available from Martin. Both units are for acoustic guitars, and the reviewer found them both to be a good value but not necessarily interchangeable.

Doc and Leo and Me

1994
AL#40 p.8   BRB4 p.90            
Curt Carpenter                                                                                           

▪ Carpenter tells of his VA-sponsored apprenticeship to a legend of the electric guitar industry. A fine string of anecdotes. Carpenter actually moved in with Doc Kauffman and his wife, relived all the old stories, learned to build guitars, visited with Leo Fender, met Rudy Dopera, and made pickups. Carpenter left the army to enter the Guitar Wars.

Product Reviews: Bourgeois Transducer/Mic Combo

1994
AL#38 p.52   BRB4 p.424            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman has made himself an expert in the field of amplifying the acoustic guitar. Here he examines the Transducer/Mic Combo, from Dana Bourgeois Guitars, and decides that it is a “real bargain.”

Electronic Answer Man

1994
AL#37 p.56   BRB4 p.416            
Rick Turner                                                                                           

▪ Turner’s column is all about the essential electronic measuring instruments for the guitar shop.

At the Workbench of the Twelfth Fret

1993
AL#36 p.52   BRB3 p.422            
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ Four repairmen offer a variety of tips about altering mechanical archtop bridges, adding more “pop” to fretless bass necks, soldering and shielding electrics, carbide bandsaw blades, abrasive cord, superglue, cutting saddle slots, double-stick tape, bending plastic binding, beveling pickguard stock, replacing bar frets with T-frets, and restoring headstocks to look old.

Electronic Answer Man

1993
AL#36 p.56   BRB3 p.426            read this article
Rick Turner                                                                                           

▪ Turner warns repairmen not to get in over their heads with custom electronics work, and describes two elaborate jobs that came out right for all concerned.

Electronic Answer Man

1993
AL#35 p.58   BRB3 p.426            read this article
Rick Turner                                                                                           

▪ Turner spends nearly 2 pages talking about electric guitar wiring harnesses, which wire to use, and what pot values to try.

Product Reviews: Dean Markley SST

1993
AL#33 p.54   BRB3 p.437            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman tests the Dean Markley SST acoustic guitar pickup (saddle/transducer) and decides that it may fit certain needs but it doesn’t offer faithful reproduction of the guitar’s acoustic sound.

A New Look at Harp Guitars

1993
AL#34 p.24   BRB3 p.334   ALA6 p.30         
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ In AL#29 Peterson looked back at the harp guitar. This time he takes a forward look. A number of luthiers find fascination and a new potential in the big beast, and this is the best look at their results to date. With 28 photos and 8 detailed drawings. Also available is GAL full-scale Plan #34, the Klein solidbody electric harp guitar.

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

Electronic Answer Man

1992
AL#31 p.62   BRB3 p.426            read this article
Rick Turner                                                                                           

▪ Turner goes deep with information about the effect of wire insulation size on the character of a pickup, and explains the construction of guitar capacitors.

Electronic Answer Man

1992
AL#30 p.51   BRB3 p.426            read this article
Rick Turner                                                                                           

▪ Turner explains how to help quiet a buzzy Silvertone, quick-check pickup phase, and the different characteristics of high and low impedance pickups.

Product Reviews: Mini-Flex Microphone System

1992
AL#30 p.52   BRB3 p.435            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman wrings out the line of Mini-flex guitar mikes and finds them wanting. He also tries out the Radio Shack electret condenser mike #33-1063 and likes it.

Taking the Guitar Beyond Equal Temperament

1992
AL#30 p.56   BRB3 p.469            
Curt Carpenter                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer is disappointed in the chapters about pickup making. The rest of the book is hard to follow and perhaps too deep for beginning luthiers. The book does offer food for thought, but should be used in conjunction with other references.

Electronic Answer Man

1992
AL#29 p.54   BRB3 p.426            read this article
Rick Turner                                                                                           

▪ A new column is born. What is pickup phase and polarity? Why do positions 2 and 4 on a 5-way Strat switch sound funky? Turner knows and tells all.

Birth of the Strat-Compatible Parts Industry

1991
AL#26 p.33   BRB3 p.53            
Lynn Ellsworth   Ken Warmoth   Jay Hargreaves                                                                                   

▪ Hargreaves interviews two giants of the Strat compatible parts industry.

Two Tools for Inside Jobs

1988
AL#14 p.21   BRB2 p.60            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman’s tools are a rubber band-powered jack clamp for regluing braces, and a homemade wrench for tightening output jack nuts inside an acoustic guitar.

Electric Violin: The New Frontier

1987
AL#12 p.50               read this article
George Manno                                                                                           

▪ Manno examines the Zeta JV-205 and the EV-5 Barrett electric violins and finds them exceptional. High marks go to both, but especially to the Zeta.

Harvey Thomas and the Infernal Music Machine

1987
AL#11 p.44   BRB1 p.440            
Tim Olsen                                                                                           

▪ A rollicking, good-time account of a era gone by and a free-spirited maker of outrageous electric guitars who was pretty much unknown outside of his own territory. It’ll make you feel good.

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

An Overview of Pickup Design

1979
GALQ Vol.7#4 p.20   BRB2 p.62            
Tim Shaw                                                                                           

▪ This is just about as good a description of how pickups work as you are going to find. Shaw was a main man at Gibson, and relates several of the design considerations to specific guitars. If pickups are really this easy to understand why do they seem so mysterious? Includes 4 diagrams of how pickups are built.

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

Charlie Christian Pickup

1975
DS#13   BRB2 p.19            
Doc Kauffman                                                                                           

▪ One of the pioneers of the solidbody guitar gives a brief description of one of the first successful pickups, complete with 3 full-scale drawings of the pickup and a sketch of its flux pattern compared to a more contemporary pickup.