2024
AL#153 p.3
Harry Fleishman
▪ In his very last writing for the GAL, Harry praises the lutherie work of Todd Cambio and Todd’s lecture published in AL#151. Harry goes on to talk about his own early work renovating and hot-rodding old inexpensive American factory guitars. Mentions Abe Wechter, Harmony Soveriegn, and Ferretta’s vintage guitar shop.
2024
AL#153 p.6
James Condino
▪ Condino has been a sought-after restorer of vintage American plywood bass viols for many years. He has recently developed practical and accessible vacuum-bag techniques for repairing delaminations in the plates, as well as fabricating those extra-large rib sections. Now he applies those same techniques to make laminated ribs for guitars and mandolins, and reports great success. Mentions Kay, American Standard, venturi, Roarocket.
2024
AL#153 p.32
Barry Grzebik
▪ There is a lot of design territory between a solidbody guitar and an electrified archtop guitar. Grzebik explores that spectrum in his work by controlling many factors including unsupported top area, enclosed air, body resonance, asymmetry, weight relief, and physical balance.
2024
AL#153 p.40
Robbie O’Brien
▪ Heres Part One of a three-part series, in which veteran lutherie teacher OBrien follows the construction of an instrument in deep detail. Everything moves right along on an intense and carefully developed schedule; a student starts with a box of wood and strings up a nice classical guitar only six days later.
2024
AL#153 p.66
Steve Kennel
▪ Kennel is a sculptor who usually uses salvaged wood to make his guitars. But for this one, he splurged on some new poplar planks from the home improvement center. He ended up with a nice, simple guitar with a blues-era vibe at a low cost.
2024
AL#153 p.70
Aaron Cash
▪ Heres how to mess up a perfectly good set of tuners without messing them up. Its funny, but this process of distressing part of a new instrument to fit a certain received aesthetic is pretty much what fiddle makers have been doing for a couple centuries and getting paid handsomely for it. I guess were on the right track now.
2024
AL#153 p.90
Michael Bashkin
▪ Were sure gonna miss good ol Harry Fleishman. Luthier, designer, teacher, mentor, raconteur, author, Convention presenter, inventor, and so much more.
2024
AL#153 p.90
Fred Carlson
▪ Were sure gonna miss good ol Harry Fleishman. Luthier, designer, teacher, mentor, raconteur, author, Convention presenter, inventor, and so much more.
2024
AL#153 p.90
Fabio Ragghianti
▪ Were sure gonna miss good ol Harry Fleishman. Luthier, designer, teacher, mentor, raconteur, author, Convention presenter, inventor, and so much more.
2024
AL#153 p.90
January Williams
▪ Were sure gonna miss good ol Harry Fleishman. Luthier, designer, teacher, mentor, raconteur, author, Convention presenter, inventor, and so much more.
2024
AL#153 p.90
Tim Olsen
▪ Were sure gonna miss good ol Harry Fleishman. Luthier, designer, teacher, mentor, raconteur, author, Convention presenter, inventor, and so much more.
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.
2024
AL#152 p.38
Gary Southwell
▪ Bog oak is the ultimate sinker wood. Giant oak trees sank into peat bogs thousands of years ago. Now they are being dug up, sawed into planks, and carefully dried. Innovative traditionalist Gary Southwell loves the stuff.
2024
AL#152 p.41
Kevin Aram
▪ All the native trees on the British Isles yield light-colored wood. And in the case of guitar-making materials, blondes dont have more fun. Thats why Kevin Aram was delighted to find that marinating oak for scores of centuries in an all-natural soup of organic chemicals will turn it black, and that nature already did all the work. He also visits a friend and his wonderful old Stennor bandsaw.
2024
AL#152 p.46
Raymond Bryant
▪ Guitarist Bryant fell in love with an instrument that he tried at a local music store. When he learned to his surprise that it was individually handcrafted just a few miles from his home, he had to make the short pilgrimage. He takes us along to meet Mark Goodman, who has been working alone for decades in his simple and efficient home workshop.
2024
AL#152 p.52
Devon Pessler Alyssa Fernandez Mark French
▪ A lot of people have a rough idea of how it would affect the sound of a flattop guitar to make the sides deeper, or to make the soundhole smaller. But now a college professor and two students have built the test apparatus and quantified the question. Read this article and see if you guessed right.
2024
AL#152 p.58
John Huffman
▪ If you are a guitar maker, Ill bet you know the thrill of adapting some cheap gizmo into a specialized tool for the lutherie trade. Huffman quickly jury-rigs an inexpensive fish scale into a useful jig for measuring individual string tension.
2024
AL#152 p.63
Federico Sheppard
▪ Action matters. It matters to the playability and to the sound. And the height of the strings off the soundboard is no accident on a fine guitar. Sheppard takes a very close look at eighty-nine extraordinary examples in one of the worlds great classical and flamenco guitar collections and gives us the deets. Mentions Shel Urlik.
2023
AL#150 p.65
David Franzen
▪ George Smith was one of that rare breed: A self-starter guitar maker before the American Lutherie Boom. Heres three fond remembrances by people who were glad to have known him well.
2024
AL#151 p.6
Todd Cambio
▪ From his 2023 GAL Convention lecture. For decades, it was received wisdom that the inexpensive steel-string guitars, made in their millions before WWII in American factories using American woods, were crap. Todd Cambio has been taking another look, and finds a lot to like and even to emulate. Hear him out; its a ripping yarn. Mentions Gibson, Martin, Lyon and Healy, Harmony, Sears, Wilhelm Schultz, Oscar Schmidt, Stella, Galiano, poplar, tulip tree, oak, parlor guitar, ladder bracing, bajo sexto, R. Crumb, Lead Belly, John and Alan Lomax, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Blake, Lonnie Johnson, Carter family, Bristol sessions, Ernest Stoneman, Nick Lucas, Eddie Lang, Raphael Ciani, John D’Angelico, Lydia Mendoza, Guadalupe Acosta, Luis Acosta, Mike Acosta, Miguel Acosta, 12-string guitar, Michael Iuchi, mandolin, John Greven.
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.
2024
AL#151 p.34
Joshua-Alexander French
▪ Imagine the fun of attending an intensive seminar where nine builders build fine classical guitars from scratch with an instructor whose strong background qualifies him to carry on the teaching work of Jose Romanillos. Now make the setting an authentic castle in Austria. With a gourmet restaurant. What a wonderful world. Mentions Tobias Braun, Jose Romanillos, Marian Harris Winspear, Santos Hernández, Alberto Martínez, Luise Walker, Miguel Llobet, Jeffrey Elliott.
2024
AL#151 p.40
Jay Anderson
▪ Innocently attending a James Taylor concert, an Art major learns to his surprise that guitars are made by people. Its an epiphany that changes his life. He has a day job as a building contractor, but he transitions to a full-time maker of fully functional musical sculptures. Along the way he finds himself established as the fun uncle of talented group of young musicians. Mentions James Taylor, Jim Olson, Brian Sutherland, Jenn Bostic, Dave Fenley, Pablo Picasso, Emil Ernebro, JLD Bridge Truss System, Don Kendall, pyrography, Harry Fleishman, Kevin Aram, Charles Rufino, Chris Herrod.
2024
AL#151 p.50
Harry Fleishman
▪ As a fourteen-year-old kid, Harry Fleishman was lucky enough to find a kindly and perceptive mentor in Seymour Drugan, an older legit jazz player who was running a guitar store. Although Seymour passed away long ago, Harry imagines a present-day interview in which he expresses his gratitude to Mr. Drugan. Mentions Carol Kaye, Johnny Winter, Fife & Nichols, Milt Owen.
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.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 youve got a sweet tool like the cool kids use. Mentions Chris Alsop.
2023
read this article
Ken Parker Mike Doolin
▪ Ken’s colorful telling of the invention and development of the early archtop guitar was too long to fit in AL#149, so we present it here along with front and side view X-rays of a 1898 Orville Gibson guitar. Mentions Lloyd Loar, John D’Angelico, Thaddeus McHugh, Maybelle Carter, Eddie Lang, Nick Lucas, Raphael Ciani, Charlie Christian, Freddie Green.
2023
AL#150 p.2
Michael Breid
▪
2023
AL#150 p.6
Sjaak Elmendorp
▪ The technology and fashion of wooden instruments move forward inexorably, although whether that forward motion is the same as improvement can be a matter of debate for decades or centuries. Elmendorp made what he calls a faithful impression rather than accurate reproduction of a 1907-style Gibson L1: small body, carved top, floating bridge, round hole.
2023
AL#150 p.14
Sjaak Elmendorp
▪ When you tighten the strings on an archtop guitar, the neck lifts forward and the action height increases. At the same time, the bridge pushes the top down and the action height decreases. Its a win-win! So you can just feel lucky about it and proceed naively along your life path, or you can do what Elmendorp did: get a bucket of water, a piece of wire, and a dial indicator; collect some data; then crunch the numbers.
2023
AL#150 p.16
Mark French
▪ Richard R.E. Bruné was in the GALs very first cohort and was an author and convention presenter from the very beginning. Weve visited him a couple of times over the decades. His son Marshall was born into the business, and into the Guild. Together they run a large workshop and epicenter of classical guitar making, scholarship restoration, appreciation, and dealing.
2023
AL#150 p.24
Lee Herron
▪ A Dobro is good clean fun. And then maybe youll want to expand your lap-steel playing to include an acoustic Hawaiian guitar. Wouldnt 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!
2023
AL#150 p.38
Mark French Devon Pessler Alyssa Fernandez
▪ Ya talk about rabbit holes. Research into guitar intonation just gets deeper and deeper. This article homes in on individual string compensation at the nut, plus small adjustments to the position of the 1st and 2nd frets. Industrial strength data collection. Heed the eggheads.
2023
AL#150 p.64
Maria Gonzalez-Leon
▪ George Smith was one of that rare breed: A self-starter guitar maker before the American Lutherie Boom. Heres three fond remembrances by people who were glad to have known him well.
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#149 p.24
Lee Herron
▪ You know what they say: When you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When you are a luthier, everything looks like it could be made into a fine handmade guitar. Like that chunk of firewood over there. Its way too short to make sides, but well figure something out.
2023
AL#149 p.28
Charlie Price
▪ Guitar intonation exists at the intersection of math, music, and mojo. How good is good enough? Can we ever quite get there? Price brings us one step closer with a money ball approach of adding up all the errors at each string and fret position, then optimizing for the lowest total error.
2023
AL#149 p.36
Rebecca Urlacher Paul Woolson
▪ A conversation is kinda like two interviews happening at the same time. Thats what we have in this article; questions and answers come from both makers, as we meet them and learn about their lutherie lives. Mentions Charles Fox.
2023
AL#149 p.42
John Calkin
▪ One operation at a time, Calkin is showing us how to make ukes in a direct and effective way. Its all done by one worker with simple tools in a small space. Here he shows us how to get the back onto the ribs quickly and accurately, with no cleanup needed.
2023
AL#149 p.46
Robin Connaughton
▪ Lots of materials can work for a flattop guitar bridge saddle. Will they sound different? Connaughton tries several, and collects data with an ingenuously simple plucking technique.
2023
AL#149 p.50
Mark French Eddy Efendy
▪ Putting a tube in the port of a loudspeaker box changes the lower resonances. Makers of classical guitars have known about that for a century and a half. They call that tube a tornavoz. French and Efendy give us the math on how it works.
2023
AL#149 p.64
Graham McDonald
▪ Fourteen years ago, McDonald wrote up a survey of the steel string guitar making books that were available at that time. More books have appeared since then, so hes back with an update. Look up the earlier article in our Premium Online Content.
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 hes 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.
2023
AL#148 p.28
Mark French
▪ If you are like me, you probably think you know what the Helmholtz resonance of a flattop guitar is. And like me, you may be exactly wrong. Turns out it is the note that you don’t hear. Mentions Fender Acoustasonic Stratocaster, tornavoz.
2023
AL#148 p.34
Harry Fleishman
▪ The late Denny Stevens was one of the earliest self-taught guitar makers of the American Lutherie Boom. He was also a mentor to author Harry Fleishman, who goes back in memory and imagination to interview Denny as he never did in life. Mentions Dale Bruning, Paul Killinger, Tony Jacobs, Richie Furay, Johnny Smith.
2023
AL#148 p.44
James Buckland
▪ Beautiful books about the pre-classical guitar, with lush and informative photography, are being published in Europe. Dont worry; they include English text for the benefit of us new-worlders. Mentions Mauro Giuliani, Gennaro Fabricatore, Joseph Pons, Johann Stauffer, Rene Lacote, Wappengitarre.
2023
AL#148 p.58
Brent Benfield
▪ It’s an easy improvement over the traditional old-school 6-hole bridge, but you have to do it right. Brent shows you how. Mentions John Gilbert.
2023
AL#148 p.63
R.M. Mottola
▪ Legit scientist Graham Caldersmith was an early GAL member and a prolific author for us and other journals. Those articles have now been gathered and published in a book. Our reviewer talks about the book, and about Caldersmiths position in the lutherie literature.
2023
AL#148 p.65
John Calkin
▪ Our reviewer has seen a ton of instructional lutherie videos. And he likes this one.
2022
AL#147 p.58
F.A. Jaen
▪ Heres an elegant and sophisticated way to build an adjustable bracket to support the pickguard of an archtop guitar. Most of it is inside the guitar, so it gives a slick, minimal look.
2022
AL#147 p.60
Roger Haggstrom
▪ They say you can improve the sound of a new guitar by attaching a machine that will provide direct vibration to the instrument for a few days, simulating the breaking-in that might occur from months of playing. Not surprisingly, “they” will also sell you such a machine. But what else might work? Ask a luthier who also publishes a magazine for exotic fish fanciers, and he might suggest belting an aquarium air pump to the face of the guitar.
2022
AL#147 p.68
David Bolla
▪ The GAL remembers an early supporter and author, who was also an influencial innovator of electric guitars. Plus he was a super-nice guy and mentor.
2022
AL#147 p.68
Steve Klein
▪ The GAL remembers an early supporter and author, who was also an influencial innovator of electric guitars. Plus he was a super-nice guy and mentor.
2022
AL#147 p.68
Beau Hannam
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.
2023
AL#148 p.6
Dan Alexander
▪ Dan has been a vintage guitar dealer for decades. He avers that there is no such thing as a bad-sounding Martin Guitar made between 1930 and 1944.
2022
AL#147 p.7
George Taylor
▪ In the 1960s, Hart Huttig, a founder of the American Lutherie Boom, had a guitar-playing friend named Chico Taylor. Decades later, Chico’s son has sent us a photo and a remembrance.
2022
AL#147 p.8
Brian Yarosh Beau Hannam
▪ Beau Hannam came up in the productive and innovative shop of Australian luthier Gerard Gilet, then migrated to Colorado to found his own shop making guitars and ukuleles. Hes all over the Interwebs with his generous lutherie advice and his gorgeous instruments.
2022
AL#147 p.24
Robbie O’Brien
▪ Lutherie uber-pedagog Robbie OBrien has taught beaucoup guitar makers and repair techs to set the action of steel string flattops, so his thoughts on the matter are crystal clear. Here he steps us through the process in a relaxed, logical, and concise presentation. From his 2017 GAL Convention workshop.
2022
AL#147 p.28
James Buckland
▪ Baroque guitars were 5-course instruments. That is, they had ten strings in five pairs. Then suddenly here comes the 19th century and guitars had six single strings. Yadda yadda, now its today and everything is normal. The real story is a lot more interesting than that and it actually involves a missing link; the 5-string guitar. Luthier, guitarist, and scholar Buckland lays it all out for us.
2022
AL#147 p.36
James Buckland
▪ This plan may authentically be built either as an early 6-string guitar, or as the “missing link” 5-string guitar.
2022
AL#147 p.52
Michael Burton
▪ What do you do with a guitar that seems beyond repair? Repair it anyway. Why not? After decades of neglect and wildly improper storage, this sturdy Asian-built flattop had developed the mother of all neck warps. Burton ripped into it with clothes iron, heat blanket, router, and neck jig to replace the truss rod and fix earlier disastrous repair attempts. It turned out great.
2022
AL#146 p.71
Geoff Needham
▪ Use a lumberyard laser level to align guitar parts during construction.
2022
AL#146 p.2
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Gives updated info on guitar restoration materials that were mentioned by Elliott in AL#145.
2022
AL#146 p.5
Ted Moniak
▪ Mentions Richard Schneider, Michael Kasha, and how to determine guitar value for appraisal and considerations for purchase. See letter same issue same title from Jeffrey R. Elliott.
2022
AL#146 p.5
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Mentions Richard Schneider, Michael Kasha, and how to determine guitar value for appraisal and considerations for purchase. See letter same issue same title from Ted Moniak.
2022
AL#146 p.6
Flip Scipio
▪ Ten years ago, Flip Scipio attended the last of the summer seminars given by José Romanillos at his base in Sigüenza, Spain. Now, after the recent passing of the Maestro, this review is both informative and poignant.
2022
AL#146 p.14
Max Mclaughlin
▪ Here’s a story that will sound familiar to a lot of us old farts of the Lutherie Boom generation for the decades-old echoes that it evokes. A bold young person wants to do unusual and arty things with guitars, and they find an older mentor in the crowded back room of a New York City guitar store. That takes you back, don’t it Gramps?
2022
AL#146 p.26
John Calkin
▪ David Thormahlen started making many kinds of string instruments in the woodshop in college, and then made a strategic decision to focus his lutherie career on lever harps. It all worked out well, and he still makes guitars, mandolins, and bouzoukis in addition to the harps. He shows us some of his gluing fixtures which involve bicycle inner tubes; some stretched, some inflated.
2022
AL#146 p.34
January Williams
▪ Here’s a quick review of how the slack-key guitar got to be a thing. See GAL Plan #81
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!
2022
AL#146 p.58
Beau Hannam
▪ These simple plywood squares with dowel halves glued to them can replace all the carefully shaped side cauls that thousands of luthiers have been using for decades. Sometimes one size really does fit all.
2022
AL#146 p.62
Aaron Cash
▪ Lutherie is way cool. The guitars that people are making these days are mind-blowing. Standards of craftsmanship and creativity are sky high. And all that can be daunting to a sincere wanna-be. Here’s how to talk yourself into not talking yourself out of it.
2022
AL#146 p.64 read this article
Federico Sheppard Kevin Aram Josep Melo Mónica Esparza
▪ Romanillos was a towering figure in the lutherie field during a long and productive career as a maker and scholar. He was also a generous mentor and friend to many guitar makers. Four of those makers share fond memories of him here. Many more will miss him.
2022
AL#145 p.4
Michael Bashkin
▪ Bashkin ornaments his pegheads and end grafts with marquetry combined with thin, free-flowing veneer lines. He shows us in detail how he accomplishes some of these effects, including scorching decorative pieces in hot sand.
2022
AL#145 p.16
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Elliott is best known for his long career of making classical guitars of the highest quality, but he has also undertaken some major restorations of important historic instruments. Here he reviews three projects and shares thoughts about his approach. Mentions Jose Romanillos, Hermann Hauser Sr., Antonio de Torres, Francisco Tarrega, Francisco Gonzalez, Peter Radcliff.
2022
AL#145 p.25
Evan Gluck
▪ Imagine you were a guitar repair guy, and there was another guitar repair guy in your same town. What would you do about it? If you were Evan Gluck, or any other enlightened, right-thinking luthier, you would march right over there and make him your best friend. These guys have a blast “competing” in the same market, sharing stories, customers, tools, and techniques. And yes, it does help if your hometown has over eight million people in it. Mentions Brian Moore, Dan Erlewine, Michael Bashkin, Ian Davlin, Jimmy Carbonetti.
2022
AL#145 p.32
Mark French
▪ Frequent author Mark French spends a lot of time in the physics lab and the workshop. But here he emerges, blinking, into the Arizona sunshine to visit a fabulous musical instrument museum. In fact, it’s The Musical Instrument Museum.
2022
AL#145 p.38
Roger Haggstrom
▪ Haggstromm uses a commercially-available radiused sanding block, a few scraps of wood, and a handful of parts from the hardware store to make this simple jig. It that lets him quickly and quietly produce a fretboard with the radius and the relief accurately sanded in.
2022
AL#145 p.46
C.F. Casey
▪ We sometimes hear of a luthier who enjoys the challenge of building an instrument from lumber-yard materials rather than from picked and approved tonewoods. but Casey goes one better when he makes two successful instruments from a single softwood two-by-four. And it had a knot in it, just for extra fun.
2022
AL#145 p.48
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola precisely describes his process for slotting a nut. All the spacing work is done on-screen, then printed out to make a template for the bench work.
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.
2022
AL#145 p.60
Federico Sheppard
▪ Our frequent author and online lutherie resource hero RM Mottola has finally gone all the way. He has written Building the Steel String Acoustic Guitar, a comprehensive, detailed construction method for building a flattop guitar. Speaking of frequent authors, Federico Sheppard reviews it.
2022
AL#145 p.60
John Calkin
▪ Our frequent author and online lutherie resource hero RM Mottola has finally gone all the way. He has written Building the Steel String Acoustic Guitar, a comprehensive, detailed construction method for building a flattop guitar. Speaking of frequent authors, John Calkin reviews it.
2022
AL#145 p.70
John Calkin
▪ Calkin thinks about a few things that have changed since he started making guitars nearly 50 years ago. And some things that have not.
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.24
Federico Sheppard
▪ Federico Sheppard completes his uncompromising copy of FE08, the elaborate early opus of the master luthier Antonio Torres Jurado. Beautifully figured wood and excruciatingly detailed marquetry come together and receive a French polish finish. Mentions Jose Romanillos, Marian Romanillos, Eugene Clark, and Robert Ruck.
2021
AL#144 p.44
Mark French Charles Fox
▪ In this concluding episode of the series, the neck is fretted and the frets are filed and polished. Threaded inserts are installed in the heel and the neck is attached. Finally, the bridge is glued on, the nut is set in position, and the guitar is strung and set up.
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#144 p.65
Kevin Aram
▪ Our reviewer Kevin Aram praises this gorgeous book which includes interviews with several luthiers about the methods and ideas of the great Spanish master builder.
2021
AL#144 p.66
John Calkin
▪ Online video lutherie instruction has come of age. Our reviewer John Calkin is a veteran luthier and a fan of lutherie videos from way back in the VHS days. He gives this course a strong reccomendation.
2021
AL#143 p.63
Mike Doolin
▪ The second edition of this book was reviewed in American Lutherie by Linda Manzer in AL#59, 1999.
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#144 p.3
Anya Ezhevskaya
▪ A fancy prototype shred guitar built, then lost, then found. Mentions Russ Lintz, Eric Stadler.
2021
AL#144 p.4
Ron Berge
▪ Berge seeks plans for small classical guitars, suitable for kids. Readers suggest he look at commercially available student models and draw his own plans. Hope that was helpful.
2021
AL#144 p.4
Mark French
▪ Berge seeks plans for small classical guitars, suitable for kids. Readers suggest he look at commercially available student models and draw his own plans. Hope that was helpful.
2021
AL#144 p.4
R.M. Mottola
▪ Berge seeks plans for small classical guitars, suitable for kids. Readers suggest he look at commercially available student models and draw his own plans. Hope that was helpful.
2021
AL#144 p.5
Clifford Wilkes
▪ Details about the timelime of Sheppard’s construction of the replica of Torres’ FE08 are clarified somewhat.
2021
AL#144 p.5
Federico Sheppard
▪ Details about the timelime of Sheppard’s construction of the replica of Torres’ FE08 are clarified somewhat.
2021
AL#143 p.2
Gila Eban
▪ Gila replies to Howard Stephens writing in AL#142. Mentions Tom Higgins, Alan Carruth, and Tom Knatt.
2021
AL#143 p.2
James Buckland
▪ Jim talks about meeting famous guitarists through his teacher Eli Kassner. Mentions John Williams, Leo Brouwer, and the Toronto Guitar Society.
2021
AL#143 p.6
Federico Sheppard
▪ It is a story of mystery, dedication, and destiny. The wide-eyed young novitiate is mentored by oracles, sorcerers, and craftsmen until he finds his great quest and pursues it against all odds. To put it more plainly, but no more truthfully, it is the story of Federico Sheppard constructing a copy of FE08, the astonishingly elaborate early opus of the master luthier Antonio Torres Jurado. Mentions Nick Kukich, Ray Jacobs, Shel Urlik, Jose Romanillos, Richard Brune, Robert Ruck, Robert Lundberg, Abel Garcia Lopez, Nicolo Alessi.
2021
AL#143 p.22
Mark French Charles Fox
▪ In this article the fretboard is slotted, crowned, and glued to the neck. The neck is then shaped.
2021
AL#143 p.40
Leonardo Michelin-Salomon
▪ In AL#141 Leonardo showed us how he was building Romantic-era guitars at the craft school in Norway. This time he is taking a deep dive into building with local spruce. Although the trees are not big, the wood is very good. Mentions Gennaro Fabricatore, Johann Anton Stauffer, Josef Pagés, Coffee-Goguette.
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#143 p.62
Bryan Johanson
▪ Contains many colorized historic photos of the great virtuoso and an essay on his career, in addition to the complete full-color facsimilie of his autograph book with notes and translations.
2021
AL#142 p.5
John Calkin
▪ Two luthiers trade cigar-box guitar builds.
2021
AL#142 p.6
Cyndy Burton Jose Romanillos R.E. Brune Jeffrey R. Elliott Kevin Aram Gary Southwell Simon Ambridge
▪ The great classical guitarist Julian Bream was well known for supporting and encouraging contemporary composers and promising young players. Less noticed by the public, but of special importance to luthiers, was Bream’s work with a handful of classical guitar makers from whom he commissioned the fine instruments that he played. In this article, those luthiers offer memories of their interactions with Julian Bream. Mentions Hermann Hauser Sr.
2021
AL#142 p.14
Mark French Charles Fox
▪ In this article the peg head is shaped and drilled, the neck shaft is slotted for the truss rod, the heel is formed, and the neck is fitted to the body.
2021
AL#142 p.30
James Buckland
▪ The terz guitar was a smaller Romantic-era guitar, which played in a higher range and was written in a different key. Knowing this history helps us understand several otherwise-puzzling old instruments.
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.
2021
AL#142 p.52
Terence Warbey
▪ Not only does Warbey make the entire bending form and the outside mold from a single sheet, but the form pops apart like a Swedish Christmas ornament and stores flat in a plastic bag. Mentions Charles Fox and Mark French.
2021
AL#142 p.62
Monica Esparza
▪ A positive review of this elaborate, gorgeous, thorough, and expensive book by Josep Melo. Mentions Pepe Romero.
2021
AL#142 p.64
John Littel
▪ A positive review for this arty book about luthier Freeman Vines. Tintype photos are featured.
2021
AL#142 p.68
Reg Beardsley
▪ Fix finish checking with diluted linseed oil. You have to dilute it with mineral spirits to reduce the viscosity. Some discussion of refractive index.
2020
AL#141 p.65
Chris Sobel
▪ Françoise and Daniel Sinier de Ridder, authors of The Spanish Guitar, will be familiar to American Lutherie readers from their ambitious restoration articles. Our reviewer loves this lavish and informative picture book.
2020
AL#141 p.67
Carl-David Hardin
▪
2020
AL#141 p.70
Federico Sheppard
▪
2020
AL#141 p.70
Todd Cambio
▪
2021
AL#142 p.2
Steve Kennel
▪ A quick and dirty Dobro made partly from yard sale stuff.
2020
AL#140 p.67
Mike Doolin
▪ A positive review. Mentions Martin, Gibson, National, D’Angelico, Selmer, Les Paul, Fender Stratocaster, Danelectro, Vox, Val-Pro.
2020
AL#140 p.69
Stephen Faulk
▪ Describes mounting tap plates with white glue, and with adhesive Mylar transfer sheet. Mentions David Serva, Diego del Gastor, Paco de Lucia.
2020
AL#141 p.7
Charles Fox Mark French
▪ In this episode of the landmark series, the back and top plates are braced and glued to the rim to form the body of the guitar. The body is then bound and purfled using Fox’ distinctive method of fitting everything dry, taping it in place, and running superglue into the seams.
2020
AL#141 p.26
Leonardo Michelin-Salomon
▪ A Uruguayan luthier enrolls in a craft school in Norway to study Romantic-era guitars built by Italian, German, and French makers two hundred years ago. He writes an article about his techniques and discoveries that is published in an American journal with readers in over forty countries. Yes, it’s a big beautiful lutherie world. We are all just leaves on one wide-spreading, figured-maple branch.
2020
AL#141 p.36
Steve Kennel
▪ Here’s a detailed drawing of a straightforward and ubiquitous mid-century, solid-wood, American-made guitar. This inexpensive model was the first instrument of a generation of would-be folkies and rockers. Not a classical, but certainly a classic.
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.
2020
AL#139 p.48
Lee Herron
▪ Check it out: a standard cheeze grater is easily adaptable as a guitar tailpiece. But why would you even want to know that? Because you are crafting an electric lap steel guitar on a kitchen theme, obviously! This instrument uses pots, pans, flatware, everything but the kitchen table. Wait a minute…. Yes, it actually does use the kitchen table.
2020
AL#139 p.58
Roger Bucknall
▪ Can people really hear the difference between different back-and-sides wood? Brittish guitar builder Roger Bucknall is in an excellent position to explore this question. He’s the founder (in 1973) and still head honcho of boutique brand Fylde Guitars. He made a set of identical guitars except for the wood choices, and….. Read the article to see what happened.
2020
AL#139 p.61 read this article
Ronald-Louis Fernandez
▪ Felix Manzanero was a classical guitar maker and collector in Madrid. He spent twelve years in the shop of Jose Ramirez II, starting at age fourteen. Felix was a friend of author Ron Fernandez’ father, and then a lifelong friend of Ron; they visited each other’s homes in Spain and California. Mentions Seiko Sesoko, Laurindo Almeida, Manitas de Plata, Sabicas, Segovia, Paracho, German Vazquez Rubio.
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.
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.
2020
AL#140 p.20
Mark French Charles Fox
▪ Building a Charles Fox guitar reveals the beautifully developed interdependence between the design and the process. In this episode we rough out the neck, work with the unusual neck block and the distinctive two-part lining, and then brace the top and back plates.
2020
AL#140 p.34
Kerry Char
▪ This ornate contraption had seen a lot of use and abuse in almost a dozen decades of service. Long-ago modifications plus the pull of sixteen strings left it in a sorry state. It had to be taken in hand rather decisively to be brought back into playing condition. Two necks, the back, the enormous bridge, and a lot of bracing came off. Content warning: contains lutherie gore.
2020
AL#140 p.48
Federico Sheppard Javier Campos-Tijeras
▪ Many of the fine hand-made guitars that are born in Ganada, Spain, spend a few weeks in the shop of Javier Campos Tijeras receiving a light, thin coating of shellac before they venture out into a cruel world of fingernails, cigarette smoke, and shaky guitar stands. Javi explains his process and holds nothing back about the specific materials and supplies he uses.
2020
AL#140 p.52
Glen Friesen
▪ Some public servants take on challenging tasks that many of us would fear to attempt. I’m not talking about fire fighters or the people who change light bulbs on the tops of suspension bridges. I’m talking about high school shop teachers. And here’s a guy who has been teaching guitar making in public school for twenty years. Hats off to you, sir! And respect to the students. These guitars look pretty good.
2020
AL#140 p.56
Geoff Needham
▪ Bamboo is kinda like wood, right? Ever wonder if you could make a guitar out of it? Nowadays it comes in large panels of edge-laminated strips that are about the right thickness. The author made two nice classical guitars with bamboo sides and backs, and gives the material a big thumbs-up for workability, appearance, and sound. Mentions Miguel Rodriguez and Domingo Esteso.
2020
AL#140 p.60 read this article
Juan-Oscar Azaret
▪ Pioneering guitar maker, guitar designer, acoustics researcher, and author Graham Caldersmith has passed away. If you knew him, perhaps from his attendance at GAL Conventions, read this affectionate remembrance. If you didn’t, read it to find out what we’ve lost. Mentions Carleen Hutchins, Jim Williams, Greg Smallman.
2020
AL#140 p.62
C.F. Casey
▪ Nearly twenty years ago, Casey made a detailed drawing of a 7-string Russian guitar which we published as GAL Instrument Plan #48. Recently, he was called on to make a replica of that instrument. Sure, he had the drawing, but he took a few liberties with the project. He tells us what he did, and why. The original guitar showed some Stauffer inspiration.
2019
AL#138 p.66
Bryan Johanson
▪ Orfeo Magazine represents a new idea in marketing. It is free online, or you can buy it as gorgeous coffee-table books of collected issues. Either way, it sure is pretty. Written and photographed by Alberto Martinez, Orfeo Magazine presents one man’s lavishly illustrated pilgrimages into the world of the classical guitar.
2019
AL#138 p.69
Fan Tao
▪ Can you avoid excessive string tension in a long-scale harp guitar?
2019
AL#138 p.70
Art Robb
▪ How do you take the back off a 19th-century guitar? Carefully, and slowly. The author offers good advice based on long experience.
2020
AL#139 p.2
Dean Coss John Calkin
▪ Does a solid body lap steel guitar need a truss rod? No. Plus a discussion of alernative woods and some appreciation of the virtues of quick-and-dirty lutherie.
2020
AL#139 p.2
Ron Zentz
▪ Ron has been a woodworker for decades and finally maade a guitar after attending a Charles Fox survey course. He’s glad he did.
2020
AL#139 p.6
Federico Sheppard
▪ Here’s a lutherie carreer so wide-ranging, so full of amazing travels and fortuitous connections, that you might be thinking of Baron Munchausen or Forrest Gump. But this is a true adventure, and he left a lot of it out in order to pack the story into a 75-minute lecture. Must read to believe. From his 2017 GAL Convention lecture. Mentions Torres, Simplicio, Garcia, Leo Kottke, Bozo Podunavac, Ray Jacobs, John Fahey, Peter Lang, Norman Blake, Robert Larson, Agustin Barrios, Ray Whitely, Sanfeliu, Enno Voorhorst, Jeffrey Elliott, Cyndy Burton, Richard Brune, Jorge Morel, Pepe Romero, Shel Urlik, Romanillos, Dmitry Zhevlakov, Paracho, Abel Garcia, Antigua Casa Nunez, Cecilio Lopez, Fernando Sor, Francois de Fossa, Cite de la Musique, Santos Hernanadez, Domingo Esteso, Antonio Marin, Eugene Clark, Michael Partington.
2020
AL#139 p.26
Mark French Charles Fox
▪ If, some day, there is a Mt. Rushmore for the American Lutherie Boom, the ruggedly handsome face of Charles Fox will be boldly chisled in a place of honor. For over half a century he has led the way as developer and teacher of guitar-making methods and tooling. He is also a thoughtful and articulate philosopher of the craft, whose words will inspire luthiers yet unborn. Here’s the first in a series of four articles which will cover his process, and his thinking behind it, in detail.
2020
AL#139 p.35
Kerry Char
▪ Vintage guitar restoration specialist Kerry Char runs down the many changes that Gibson’s most popular flattop has gone through over the decades. Then he presents a full drawing of one that falls into the best period of the model: a well-worn example from 1947.
2020
AL#139 p.36
Kerry Char
▪ Reduced image of the full-scale plan.
2019
AL#138 p.3
Bill Garofalo
▪ The author has been a GAL member for many years. Lutherie has always been a hobby for him, not a profession. At age ninety, he continues to produce simple and unpretensious instruments with a considerable element of immediacy.
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.
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.
2019
AL#138 p.36
Tom Blackshear
▪ Arcangel Fernandez was a student of Marcelo Barbero, and he is considered to be one of the best Spanish makers of flamenco guitars in latter half of the twentieth century. This instrument is a blanca, with sides and back of cypress, and has a slotted peghead for tuning machines.
2019
AL#138 p.38
Steve Denvir Jay Lichty Corrie Woods
▪ Jay Lichty was late to the lutherie game, having spent a lot of years in a real job building houses as a general contractor. But he’s deep into instrument making now, and finding success with an eclectic line of ukuleles and small guitars. Jay’s wife, Corrie Woods, is the marketing department, working with photography and online media to make the most of Jay’s work at the bench. Together, they are making it work. From their lecture at the 2017 GAL Convention.
2019
AL#138 p.48
R.M. Mottola
▪ Sometimes when a vintage instrument is being restored, you want to leave a few of the dings and a lttle of the funk, just for authentic flavor. Sometimes you want to leave the big dings and all the funk, and end up with something that is very tasty to a certain sophisticated palate. Mottola takes a century-old beater and ends up with a sweet-playing silk purse disguised as a sow’s ear. Mentions B&J, Buegeleisen and Jacobson, Oscar Schmidt, and Stella. Instrument is ladder-braced.
2019
AL#138 p.54
Harry Fleishman
▪ Harry teams up with the owner of one of his flattop guitars to try some major changes to the bridge and evaluate the results. He reaches conclusions about the relationship between saddle height and bridge beefiness. And speaking og beef, Harry shows how he makes individual tapered saddles out of chopsticks.
2019
AL#138 p.56
Graham McDonald
▪ Rope binding uses contrasting wooden lozenges around the outer edge of a guitar, such that when they are rounded over, the binging seems to be twisted like a rope. The effect was popular in the early 20th century on ukuleles and Hawaiian guitars. The author takes us throught the process of slicing and dicing to produce the binding strips.
2019
AL#138 p.60
Terence Warbey
▪ If you will attach a neck to a body with bolts rather than a dovetail, you will first want the two pieces to fit tightly at the correct angle. This can be done by a process which is sometimes called flossing; sandpaper is pulled between them while they are pushed together. The author presents a simple jig to facilitate this process.
2019
AL#136 p.69
Ken Warmoth
▪ What’s the deal with deep V-shaped necks on old guitars?
2019
AL#137 p.4
Federico Sheppard Todd Cambio
▪ Federico has traveled the world to bring us news of excellent and unusual luthiers and their work. This time he journeyed from Green Bay, Wisconsin all the way to Madison, Wisconsin to meet a guy who keeps his work on the cutting edge of innovation by closely following the century-old work of American guitar factories, and Italian-American luthiers who worked in New York City before WWI. A word to the wise: Tulip poplar is not, and never shall be, banned by CITES or the Lacey Act. Mentions the Acosta family; John D’Angelico; Lydia Mendoza; Lonnie Johnson; Stella; Regal; Oscar Schmidt; Harmony; Lyon & Healy; Lead Belly; Favilla.
2019
AL#137 p.22
Cyndy Burton Joshia de-Jonge
▪ Joshia de Jonge was a sensation at the 1998 GAL Convention when, as a young female luthier, she brought a nicely-made and fine sounding instrument to the classical guitar listening session. It helped to have grown up in a guitar-making family. And now that she has left her parents’ home and shop, she is raising guitar-making sons. Mentions Geza Burghardt; Linda Manzer; Sergei de Jonge; Eric Sahlin.
2019
AL#137 p.26
Tim Olsen Joshia de-Jonge
▪ Here’s Joshia’s method of building an elevated neck with a sophisticated geometry to let the bridge height be constant across its width while the low strings have the necessary clearance over the frets. It is inspired by the work of Eric Sahlin.
2019
AL#137 p.32
Gregg Miner
▪ Ready for an Americana-infused, vintage-lutherie, history-detective-style nerdfest? Yes, that old joker Orville Gibson is still full of surprises, even now, a century after his death. We have a lot to learn about string material, tension, intention, and nomenclature. Not to mention marketing and musical snobbery.
2019
AL#137 p.44
Todd Mylet
▪ As a repairman in a busy guitar shop, Todd Mylet has a lot of Martin-style neck resets under his belt. There is a lot involved in doing it right. Todd presents a detailed account of his well-considered and time-tested method.
2019
AL#137 p.58
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola gives short, not-too-technical summaries of two articles recently published on-line by Savart Journal. The first is an update of frequent author Mark French’s efforts to define stringed instrument body outlines by use of math equations. The second looks at what can be learned about lutherie wood by reading ancient Chinese texts.
2019
AL#137 p.62
Greg Maxwell
▪ Australian luthier Trevor Gore is the co-author of the two-volume book Contemporary Acoustic Guitar, Design and Build. Gore teaches a three-day seminar in which he demonstates his very specific and number-based method of measuring and controlling the resonant frequecies of guitars. Maxwell attended one such seminar, held at Robbie O’Brien’s shop, and gives a brief overview.
2019
AL#137 p.66
Juan-Oscar Azaret
▪ This new book is a thoroughly illustrated step-by-step method for making classical guitars, using mostly inexpensive small power tools. It also takes a luthier’s look at a dozen different instruments by well-known hand-makers. Yes, it is only in Spanish. But even if you do not read Spanish, our reviewer says you will probably still get a lot out of it. The author of the book, Luis Alberto Paredes Rodriguez, is a long-time Guild member, a GAL Convention presenter, and an AL author. He takes a close look at twelve different guitar designs, by Voboam; Stradivari; Grobert; Lacote; Panormo; Torres; Esteso; Hauser; Ramírez; Fleta; Schneider/Kasha; Romanillos; and Smallman. He goes so far as to build one of each.
2019
AL#136 p.66
Peter Tsiorba
▪ It’s called a book, but the format is a box of thirty-four folded sheets, each one a life-size photo poster of a famous guitar. Our reviewer takes a close look. Mentions Antonio Torres.
2019
AL#136 p.69
Walter Carter
▪ What’s the deal with deep V-shaped necks on old guitars?
2019
AL#136 p.69
James Buckland
▪ What’s the deal with deep V-shaped necks on old guitars?
2018
AL#135 p.69
Mark Hatcher
▪ What’s the deal with hardwood tops on steel string guitars?
2019
AL#136 p.4
Federico Sheppard
▪ Robert Ruck was one of the young self-starters who founded the American Lutherie Boom, and he remained a leading light in the movement until the end of his life. Federico Sheppard was an aquaintence and admirer who became closer to Ruck when they spent time together at Federico’s place on the Camino de Santiago in Spain one summer. In this article, Federico presents a photo tour of Ruck’s shop in Eugene Oregon and explains some of the tools and techniques we see. Mentions French polising with hardware-store shellac. Mentions Richard Brune.
2019
AL#136 p.12
Kerry Char
▪ A cool old Gibson-era Epiphone guitar got well and truly smashed in an incident involving large and excited dogs. Better call Char! Kerry Char, that is. He jumps right in to remove the top, take off the braces, and then put the whole thing back together and polish it up nice before you can say “Kalamazoo!” From his 2017 GAL Convention slide show.
2019
AL#136 p.20
Mark French
▪ We all know what “impedance” is, right? It’s that stuff… the force that… well, what is it really? Turns out it’s something like pushing a kid on a swing at the wrong time. And it has a lot to do with the resonances of acoustic instruments, which has a lot to do with how they sound. Anyway, in this largely math-free presentation, Professor Mark gives us the scoop.
2019
AL#136 p.22
January Williams
▪ Before there were cheap Spanish guitars from Asian factories, there were cheap Spanish guitars from hard-working Spanish luthiers using traditional methods. If there was an inexpensive classical guitar kicking around your house or dorm room before about 1965, it might very well have been a Tatay. The family business was in Valencia, Spain, but they had an outpost in New York where one of the brothers turned out instruments at an amazing pace.
2019
AL#136 p.28
January Williams
▪ There are Tatay guitars, and then there are Tatay guitars. They could be from Valencia or New York; from one of four generations of the family; from one maker or his brother, father, son, uncle, or cousin. This article helps you sort them out. Photos of representative guitars, and lots of photos of labels from the various eras.
2019
AL#136 p.36
Mike Gluyas Shaun Newman
▪ Although he had fallen in love with the classical guitar the first time he heard one as a teenager, Shaun Newman was already well along in a career as a language teacher when he first tried to make one. He was lucky enough to find a mentor in his corner of England, and he has been making and restoring an impressive variety of fine instruments for the last thirty years.
2019
AL#136 p.42
Massimo Maddaloni Lizabeth-Jane Hella Giacomo Parimbelli
▪ From the time that the violin was invented, Cremona was the world center for the highest quality string instrument making, until it gradually became known for lower-quality mass production of fiddles. After its dark age, Cremona has more recently seen a renaissance of its lutherie heritage. This article looks at an unusual guitar made by a Cremonese luthier in the 1930s and sees echoes of the old masters in its design. Mentions Stradivari, Panormo, Fibonacci spiral, Archimedean spiral, golden ratio.
2019
AL#136 p.54
Mark French Charles Fox
▪ Author Mark French has made a lot of guitars over the years, but when he wanted to up his game he attended an intensive two-week course by the dean of all American lutherie teachers, Charles Fox. Four students each built a guitar in the white from scratch and strung it up.
2018
AL#134 p.69
Luis-Alberto Paredes-Rodriguez
▪ Is it bad to cut into the lining when routing a binding channel? Paredes says no it’s actually a good thing. He shows how he does it, and says that in this he is a follower of the late Arthur Overholtzer.
2018
AL#135 p.16
Dan Erlewine Erick Coleman Chelsea Clark
▪ “Uncle Dan” Erlewine has been a constant presence in the American Lutherie Boom era, because he personifies the can-do ethos that underlies the whole dang movement: figure something out, and tell everybody about it. As a young man hoping to move from rocker to luthier, he found a generous mentor in Herb David of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dan has paid that forward many times as he has brought young people into his shop and given them a place to grow. Mentions Herb David, Mark Erlewine, Jerry Garcia, Albert King, John O’Boyle, David Surovel, Bryan Galloup, Charlie Longstreth, Tom Erlewine, Gary Brawer, Joe Glaser, Steve Olson, Albert Garcia, Elliot John-Conry, Adam Fox, Exodus Almasude, Johan Powell, Max Feldman, Paul Lampley, Aaron Smiley, Rodrgo Gomez, Chelsea Clark. From his lecture at the 2017 GAL Convention.
2018
AL#135 p.30
Kerry Char
▪ Kerry Char sawed the top off an old Gibson flattop in front of a group of several dozen luthiers at the 2017 GAL Convention. And within the same hour he pried the back off a Knutsen harp guitar. Step by step photos.
2018
AL#135 p.36
Tim Olsen
▪ Martin’s 15-style guitars were the bottom of the line back in the 1940s and ’50s. All the fancy stuff was stripped away, leaving a very respectable all-mahogany guitar with no binding. Here’s a drawing of the smallest, cheapest one in the time-tested series. Hardwood top.
2018
AL#135 p.38
Federico Sheppard
▪ In his youth, before Federico Sheppard found his calling as a luthier, he was a mere physician working for the Olympic Games. One day he heard a classical guitar being played on the radio of his car. It shook him to “his inner core being” as Lord Buckley would say, and changed the course of his life. And now he has finally made the pilrimage to Chile to visit the shop of the man who made that guitar, Rafael Mardones, and his son, Rafa Jr.
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.60 read this article
Federico Sheppard R.E. Brune Peter Oberg
▪ Good ol’ Bob Ruck was part of the dozen or two friends whose talent and commitment formed the basis for the American Lutherie Boom. He was always way ahead of the curve, and as they developed, his fine classical guitars provided inspiration for others of his generation. Three friends who knew him well share their appreciations. Article mentions Hart Huttig, J.R. Beall, John Shaw, Ervin Somogyi, Manuel Barrueco, Neil Ostberg, yoga, tai chi.
2018
AL#133 p.66
Juan-Oscar Azaret
▪ This big new book, written in Italian, is available in English. It’s got some math in it. (Insert your own joke here about still being in an incomprehensible language.) Our reviewer finds a lot of value in it, which he explains in some detail.
2018
AL#133 p.70
Andy Powers
▪ Thoughts about short-scale guitars.
2018
AL#134 p.4
Monica Esparza
▪ There was a party in Spain when luthier, scholar, teacher, and author Jose Romanillos turned 85. Luthiers, musicians, dignitaries gathered to honor him. We get a close-up look through the eyes of his longtime admirer and student Monica Esparza.
2018
AL#134 p.6
Cyndy Burton
▪ Jose Romanillos has been an influential maker for the last fifty years, beginning with his fruitful collaboration with Julian Bream. Here we see a few photos that put his long career in perspective.
2018
AL#134 p.9
Monica Esparza Josep Melo Stefano Grondona Antigoni Goni
▪ Two guitarists and a luthier tell their stories of working with Romanillos.
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.3
Greg Nelson
▪ The writer seeks the guitar that was built by John Natelson for the book Guitarmaking:Tradition and Technology.
2018
AL#133 p.3
Philippe Refig
▪ The writer talks with first-hand knowledge about Robert Bouchet’s earliest guitars.
2018
AL#133 p.6
Federico Sheppard
▪ There are luthiers way up in the tributaries of the Amazon River. They have wood galore, and they are teaching large numbers of local kids to make their own instruments. But they are short on good sharp tools and modern information. Our intrepid adventurer Federico Sheppard sets out to address that lack by bring in donated tools and holding master classes. He was multi-tasking; on the same trip he researched and commemorated the 1931 visit of Agustin Barrios to the remarkable Teatro Amazonas, which you might recognize from the Werner Herzog movie Fitzcaraldo. And he got in some fishing.
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.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.
2018
AL#133 p.40
John Armstrong
▪ Many different designs have addressed the problem of making a travel guitar with a full scale length. Here’s one that solves the problem by completely redesigning the tuning mechanism so that it can fit into the body behind the bridge.
2018
AL#133 p.60
Jay Anderson
▪ Here’s a simple device that lets you string, play, and set up a flattop guitar before you glue the bridge on.
2017
AL#131 p.58
Kjell Croce
▪ Everybody has seen them; those cracks on the tops of old Martins that form just south of the soundhole when the pickguard shrinks. Croce shows us how to close and reinforce the crack, and then make a well-behaved modern pickguard.
2017
AL#131 p.66
Paul Eliasson Orn Eliasson
▪ Relax. The clunky Frankenstein of a nut in this photo is not the design to which the article title refers. The Eliasson design is sleek and compact.
2017
AL#131 p.71
R.M. Mottola
▪ How do I find the best compensation angle compromise for a steel string guitar saddle slot?
2017
AL#132 p.5
Federico Sheppard
▪ Federico talks about the possibility of guitar building classes at his 1000-year-old church in Spain.
2017
AL#132 p.6
Brian Yarosh Michael Bashkin
▪ Michael Bashkin came to lutherie after earlier passions and careers in photography and tropical forestry. But for decades now he has been happily Geppettoing it, building beautiful steel string guitars in a cavernous industrial space. Mentions Harry Fleishman and Abe Wechter.
2017
AL#132 p.18
Kevin Aram
▪ Kevin Aram has long been one of the very top classical guitar makers in the United Kingdom. Here he takes us through his process of setting the action on a classical guitar and making sure the frets are shipshape and Bristol fashion.
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.
2017
AL#132 p.50
R.M. Mottola
▪ Louis Panormo was a popular and influential instrument maker in mid-19th-century London. Some of the features of his guitars and the methods he must have used to produce them can be puzzling to 21st-century luthiers raised on the ideas and standards which have come down to us from Antonio Torres and his disciples. Author Mottola builds a Panormo replica and takes the opportunity to speculate on the master’s motivations.
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.
2017
AL#130 p.68
Sebastian Nunez Jan van-Cappelle
▪ How did the old boys make those multi-stave sides on Baroque guitars?
2017
AL#130 p.71
Thomas Bazzolo
▪ How did Thomas Humphrey brace his Millenium guitars?
2017
AL#131 p.3
Samuele Carcagno Chris Plack
▪ A study at Lancaster University seeks luthiers to help with a scientific study of the impact of wood choice on the percieved sound of acoustic guitars.
2017
AL#131 p.6
Federico Sheppard Bernhard Kresse
▪ Bernhard Kresse lives and works in his hometown of Cologne, Germany. He’s one of those guitar-making self-starters who was lured away from college by the siren song of lutherie. He has come to specialize in restoration and new construction of Romantic-era guitars, and also makes a “modern” classical guitar based on their advanced features.
2017
AL#131 p.20
January Williams Peter Tsiorba
▪ Peter Tsiorba began his working life as a teenager making garments in a semi-legit Soviet cooperative. Today he’s a family man and a maker of classical guitars in the lutherie Mecca of Portland, Oregon.
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.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.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#130 p.2
James Condino
▪ James Condino remembers his friend and mentor Eugene Clark.
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.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.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.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.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.
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.70
Alain Bieber James Buckland
▪ What can you tell me about this old French guitar?
2016
AL#128 p.70
James Buckland
▪ What can you tell me about this old French guitar?
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.
2017
AL#129 p.3
Ralf Grammel
▪ The author praises Elliott and the GAL.
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.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?
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.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.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#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.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#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.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.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.62
Bryan Johanson
▪ The second edition of this important book is a considerable advance over the original.
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#125 p.3
James Blilie
▪ The Leonardo Guitar Research Project gathered very many data during their testing, which strengthens the confidence in the findings.
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.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.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.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#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.
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.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#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#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.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.64
John Calkin
▪ This online course provides information that an endless and distracting internet search will not yield.
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.25
Jan-Van Cappelle
▪ An examination of the surviving guitars and guitar forms of Stradivari.
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.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.67
Ed Smith
▪ Bending herringbone by taping it down and ironing.
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.69
John Calkin
▪ Pursuing cheap guitar designs that sound good.
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.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.
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.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.68
Leo Lospennato Mark French John Bogdanovich
▪ Extensive advice on conceiving, structuring, and publishing a book on guitar building.
2014
AL#120 p.5
Dion Costigan
▪ About a 1979 Ted Beringer guitar.
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.64
Pierre Audinet
▪ Audinet gives the thumbs-up to the new book by Jose Romanillos, “Making a Spanish Guitar”.
2014
AL#118 p.66
Jack-E. Johnston
▪ Tools for working through the soundhole to attach a bolt-on neck.
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.69
John Greven
▪ Traditional choices for flattop guitar bridge plate material.
2014
AL#118 p.70
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola translates the arcane jargon of this article for us general readers.
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#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#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.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#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.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.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#118 p.6
Rick Whitaker
▪ An accidental decades-long experiment convices the maker that constant playing really does develop the sound of a guitar.
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.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.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.69
Stephen Sedgwick
▪ Creating a steel string version of an existing classical 10-string guitar.
2013
AL#116 p.71
Alain Bieber
▪ Inquiry on wood for binding to repair a damaged Jerome Thibouville-Lamy French guitar.
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.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.
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.68
Monica Esparza
▪ Creating a mosaic rosette from an original illustration.
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#114 p.58
John Jackson
▪ John Jackson describes building his first hand made guitar.
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.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.36
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2013
AL#113 p.45
John Monteleone
▪ D’Aquisto’s changes to his traditional New Yorker and Excel models in the late 1970s included the adjustable sliding wedge bridge design concept.
2013
AL#113 p.50
Roger-Alan Skipper Dana Bourgeois Frank Ford Charles Freeborn David Freeman Evan Gluck John Greven George Gruhn Arnold M.J. Hennig Bruce Petros Andy Powers Tim Shaw Marc Silber Robert Steinegger
▪ 13 builders discuss various aspects of 12-string guitars.
2013
AL#113 p.56
John Saucier
▪ Antonio De Torres, Guitar Maker: His Life and Work’ catalogs 88 Torres instruments and provides extensive dimensional and frequency data. Saugier attempts to interpret this data.
2013
AL#113 p.67
Jeffrey Yong
▪ A simple jig for the slotting of a guitar nut.
2013
AL#113 p.69
Paul Norman
▪ Finding the precious little documentation on building resonator guitars.
2013
AL#113 p.69
Gary Bray
▪ Making a herring bone purfling curve around the soundhole as a rosette without breaking it.
2013
AL#114 p.3
John Monteleone
▪ John Monteleone clarifies the details of his D’Aquisto wedge bridge article in AL#113 by giving additional credit where credit is due.
2013
AL#114 p.6
John Greven
▪ John Greven on voicing steel string guitars based on the criteria: power, responsiveness, projection, articulation, depth of tone, and sustain. From his 2011 GAL convention workshop.
2013
AL#114 p.14
James Condino Stephen Marchione
▪ Stephen Marchione on his career in building solidbody electrics, acoustic guitars, mandolins, and violins.
2012
AL#112 p.60
Pierre Audinet
▪ This book emphasizes those few decades of the 19th century in the city of Vienna which laid much of the foundations for contemporary guitar building standards.
2012
AL#112 p.61
Michael DeLuca
▪ This extensively illustrated guide to building an electric archtop guitar lays out the process in a sequential progression over 15 chapters.
2012
AL#112 p.70
R.M. Mottola
▪ Identifying pictured Gibson manufacturing molds.
2013
AL#113 p.5
Philippe Refig
▪ Repairing a small crack in a Bouchet guitar #13 from 1950, a period in which Bouchet’s style was not yet defined.
2013
AL#113 p.20
Tom Harper
▪ Harper reviews this DVD set in which Bogdanovich uses a broad repertoire of skills, high end power tools, and a mixture of tightly controlled and freeform processes. DVD set also reviewed in AL#108.
2012
AL#112 p.3
Larry Breslin
▪ Larry Breslin on his first exposure to the Flamenco guitar and building his first instrument.
2012
AL#112 p.3
Joe-D. Franklin
▪ Joe Franklin’s thoughts and investigations on the harmonic aesthetics of the classical guitar.
2012
AL#112 p.28
January Williams
▪ An extensive profile and appraisal of this Stahl style 6 guitar, an authentic instrument built by the Larson brothers Carl and August in Chicago.
2012
AL#110 p.70
James Buckland
▪ Statistics on string tension for typical gut classical guitar strings.
2012
AL#111 p.32
R.M. Mottola
▪ A study of the geometric relationship between the fretboard of the flattop guitar and the top of the instrument.
2012
AL#109 p.71
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Reasons for using wound G classical strings.
2012
AL#110 p.3
Clifford Wilkes
▪ In reference to Salvador Ibanez guitar restoration article in AL#108.
2012
AL#110 p.5
Charles Fox
▪ America’s number one lutherie teacher discusses a series of processes to make guitar building relatively easy, efficient, accurate, and consistent in a production situation.
2012
AL#110 p.22
Erick Coleman Evan Gluck
▪ Erik and Evan talk about fine-tuning brand new electric guitars; addressing typical problems. From their 2011 GAL convention workshop.
2011
AL#108 p.68
R.E. Brune
▪ Sources of information on the builder Luis Reig III.
2011
AL#108 p.70 read this article
Mike Ashley Robert England R.E. Brune David Laplante Charles Vega
▪ Remembering Joseph Wallo (1921-2009) Internationally known maker of the finest in concert guitars.
2012
AL#109 p.61
Veronica Merryfield
▪ A book aimed at the musician, the hobbyist, and luthier who is open to new ideas; divided into 6 sections on beauty, playability, sound, parts, materials, finishes, and completion.
2012
AL#109 p.62
Melanie Heizer
▪ A book aimed at the musician, the hobbyist, and luthier who is open to new ideas; divided into 6 sections on beauty, playability, sound, parts, materials, finishes, and completion.
2012
AL#109 p.63
Veronica Merryfield
▪ The KSM bass bridge has a number of interesting features and is very well made.
2012
AL#109 p.66
Michael Grossman
▪ Securing classical guitar strings with a substitute for ball-ended nylon strings.
2011
AL#108 p.34
James Condino
▪ Studying and researching a one of a kind D’Aquisto guitar, on hand at Dream Guitars, owned by Paul Heumiller.
2011
AL#108 p.35
John Monteleone
▪ Jimmy D’Aquisto’s unique exploration of the building of classical guitars.
2011
AL#108 p.36
James Condino
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2011
AL#108 p.48
Sue Johnson
▪ Repairing this damaged instrument with previously botched repairs including color touch-up, outlandish replacement linings, thick varnish, and nail attached bindings.
2011
AL#108 p.58 ALA2 p.72
Roger-Alan Skipper
▪ The plywood Simpson neck angle jig: simple, versatile and inexpensive, and the aluminum Klumper self adjusting neck jig: accurate, more complex, costly, and allowing for centerline adjustment. Both result in perfectly matched joints.
2011
AL#108 p.62
John Calkin
▪ Bogdonavich’s ultra specific guitar building method is professionally chronicled in this handsomely packaged 10-dvd set.
2011
AL#108 p.63
John Calkin
▪ Kent Everett explains step by step how to set up a guitar in this DVD.
2011
AL#108 p.66
Curtis Daily
▪ Typical combined string tension information for gut classical guitar strings.
2011
AL#107 p.64
Tom Harper
▪ This ambitious book catalogs the work of over 230 luthiers from 19 countries, providing a record of the current state of the art guitarmaking.
2011
AL#107 p.69
Steve Grimes
▪ Methods in dealing with braces that intersect with pickup openings on an archtop.
2011
AL#106 p.31 ALA5 p.93
Monica Esparza
▪ Esparza gives a glimpse of the intense experience of attending two week summer seminars in Spain under lutherie legend Jose Romanillos in 4 different years.
2011
AL#106 p.44 ALA2 p.90
Tom Ribbecke
▪ Ribbecke exhibits versions of more precise and efficient fitting braces, developed throughout his career. From his 2008 GAL convention workshop.
2011
AL#106 p.62
John Calkin
▪ Various tips involving commercial purfled binding.
2011
AL#106 p.65
Tony Karol
▪ Making a baritone guitar roughly OM sized, tuned B-B with a 29″ scale and a strategy for top bracing and bridge reinforcement.
2011
AL#107 p.3
Bill Rayner
▪ Further details on 6-course 12 string classical guitar exhibited at 2011 GAL convention.
2011
AL#105 p.66
John Calkin
▪ Cosmetic alteration to Jesse Winchester’s Alhambra classical guitar.
2011
AL#105 p.67
Michael Grossman
▪ Adding a binding strip to the inside edge of a guitar soundhole.
2011
AL#106 p.5
James Blilie
▪ Blilie talks about Simon’s letter in AL#105, but more importantly about the statistical analysis of data in R.M.Mottola’s article on testing side ports in AL#96.
2011
AL#106 p.8
R.E. Brune
▪ A mini-biography on Enrique Sanfeliu.
2011
AL#106 p.26 ALA5 p.88
Kathy Wingert Monica Esparza
▪ Monica Esparza entered lutherie later in life than most, and now divides her time building with her job as co-owner and operator of a soft drink company.
2010
AL#104 p.61 read this article
Roger-Alan Skipper Dan Kabanuck
▪ The Luthiers Mercantile service rep and heavy metal guitarist on how he became a luthier himself.
2011
AL#105 p.4
Robert Simon
▪ Ported guitar soundboxes debate.
2011
AL#105 p.6
Michael Spalt
▪ Viennese luthier Michael Spalt builds a series of 13 solidbody guitars based on the nouveau designs of Steve Klein.
2010
AL#103 p.60 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ An enhancement to the model for drawing guitar body outline halves presented in AL#97.
2010
AL#103 p.69 read this article
R.J. Klimpert
▪ Where to find a Martin style 5-18 guitar plan.
2010
AL#104 p.8
Cyndy Burton Kevin Aram
▪ Kevin and Alison Aram discuss a life in lutherie from their farm in Devonshire, England where they collaborate to run the Aram Guitars business.
2010
AL#104 p.20
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Ted Megas shows his purfling and binding process and his unique routing setup from.
2010
AL#104 p.26 read this article
Jan Tulacek Alain Bieber James Buckland
▪ An overview of three 19th century lutherie texts, by G.A. Wettengei in 1828, J.C. Maugin in 1834, and Paul Hasiuck in 1907.
2010
AL#102 p.64 read this article
Roger-Alan Skipper
▪ This striking two-book set, ‘The Responsive Guitar’, about the physics, dynamics, acoustics, and construction of the guitar, and ‘Making the Responsive Guitar’, information on the workshop, tools, jigs, wood storage, etc, is a handsome tomb featuring hundreds of stunning color photographs.
2010
AL#102 p.65 read this article
Michael Sanden
▪ A further endorsement of Somogyi’s two-book set.
2010
AL#102 p.68 read this article
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Building considerations for a nylon string baritone guitar.
2010
AL#102 p.69 read this article
James Buckland
▪ Correctly identifying an American guitar made of Brazilian Rosewood with no distinguishing marks or labels.
2010
AL#103 p.16 ALA3 p.28
James Buckland
▪ Buckland on constructing replicas of 19th century guitars. From his 2008 GAL convention workshop. Includes good info on making flat-bottomed fret slots, like for bone frets or metal bar frets.
2010
AL#103 p.28 ALA5 p.42
Don Pilarz
▪ Photos detailing every aspect of the Gonzales Guitar restoration, completed in 300 hours over two years.
2010
AL#103 p.36 ALA5 p.42
Don Pilarz
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2010
AL#103 p.41 ALA5 p.55
Federico Sheppard Nicolo Alessi
▪ Alessi crafts highly sought after tuning machines of artistic beauty and technical sophistication in Luino, Switzerland.
2010
AL#103 p.44
Roger-Alan Skipper Erick Waldron Kevin Waldron Jonathon Waldron David Miller
▪ Waldron, a family business, switched from general contracting to guitar building in 2009, and is now a thriving lutherie company.
2010
AL#101 p.71 read this article
Tom Ribbecke
▪ Tom Ribbecke mourns his friend and respected colleague Taku Sakashta, maker of world class guitars. (1966-2010).
2010
AL#102 p.28 ALA1 p.50
John Greven Charles Freeborn
▪ Greven and Freeborn demonstrate their methods for accomplishing the original complicated and elegant Martin head/neck joint.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2010
AL#102 p.38 ALA6 p.88
Kathy Wingert Gregg Miner
▪ Gregg Miner is dedicated to collecting instruments and restoring them to playing condition and through his research has acquired a wide network of historians, repairmen, and luthiers.
2010
AL#102 p.48 read this article
John Calkin
▪ A Weissenborn is the ultimate dulcimer on it’s way to becoming a guitar. Lamar Scomp demonstrates the building of one.
2010
AL#102 p.58
Michael McCarten
▪ McCarten devises a style with characteristics of both the ‘paper rose’ and single layer soundhole rose, but with an aesthetic not typical of traditional work.
2010
AL#101 p.6
Steve Grimes
▪ Steve Grimes has been experimenting with making lighter-built soundboards for archtop guitars and decreasing the breakover angle. Here he describes his low stress archtop method, which produces a superior tone and another option for customers.
2010
AL#101 p.22
D.-and-F. Sinier-de-Ridder
▪ In the 19th century Baroque guitars were not treasured antiques, they were merely old-fashioned. One that was chopped into a “Spanish” guitar back is restored back to its original configuration by a Parisian lutherie team.
2010
AL#101 p.60
Mark French Eddie Efendy
▪ Imagine a CNC router carving an archtop guitar soundboard in an industrial situation. Quality control would check to confirm that parts are the same thickness. But really, we would like the tops made from stiffer material to be cut thinner. Efendy has an idea for making this happen automatically without any measurement or analysis needed.
2010
AL#101 p.65
Lennis Laviolette
▪ Temporary string anchor on the workbench helps to determine the bridge placement on a baritone guitar.
2010
AL#101 p.66 read this article
Walter Carter
▪ This book showcases Kellerman’s vast instrument collection, presented alphabetically by maker, and each accompanied by information on the model, acquisition, and sound of each instrument.
2009
AL#100 p.38 read this article
Harry Fleishman
▪ Replacing the top on a complicated instrument with as little refinishing and other stress as possible.
2009
AL#100 p.40 ALA5 p.68
Christian Steinert
▪ Building an early period Baroque era guitar replica believed to be the onetime property of Marie Antoinette.
2009
AL#100 p.41 ALA5 p.69
Kent LaRue
▪ Thoughts on the Marie Antoinette guitar from a balladeer for Colonial Williamsburg’ a provider of 18 century music for visitors to the colonial capital.
2009
AL#100 p.54
C.F. Casey
▪ Building a Weissenborn-style instrument with the rope binding and rosette that Weissenborn used on high end models.
2009
AL#100 p.67 read this article
Fred Carlson
▪ Some obvious design choices before building a double neck (6 and 12-string) acoustic guitar: neck, space, body size, design, and bracing.
2009
AL#99 p.36 ALA6 p.84
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2009
AL#99 p.65
Luis Mesquita
▪ In one bundle we are offered a new design in archtop guitar bridge construction, an adjustable neck (no details), and a cool way to hide pickup controls in a side sound port. Way cool!
2009
AL#99 p.67 read this article
John Doan
▪ The reviewer admires this book that takes a serious look at the lyre-guitar, an instrument that most of us—even those with a bent for history—give short shrift.
2009
AL#99 p.68 read this article
Walter Carter
▪ Mystery parlor guitar is from Regal of Chicago, a usual suspect for inexpensive unlabeled instruments of the 20s and 30s.
2009
AL#100 p.6 ALA5 p.60
Gary Southwell
▪ Southwell on using historical influences in contemporary work and design. From his 2006 GAL convention lecture.
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.
2009
AL#100 p.20 ALA3 p.80
John Mello John Gilbert
▪ Gilbert, born in 1922, made his first guitar in 1965 while a tool designer at Hewlett-Packard. He has 120 guitars to his credit.
2009
AL#100 p.30 read this article
James Blilie
▪ A structural engineer and guitar builder gives his two cents on the guitar as a structure.
2009
AL#99 p.7 ALA4 p.52
David Freeman
▪ Some features of guitar construction make the instrument functional for normal humans and tuneful music making, and getting them wrong can/will destroy the guitars usefulness. Other features aren’t necessary but may make the instrument more comfortable to play or offer extended musical capabilities. Freeman addresses both aspects in this article taken from his 2008 GAL convention workshop. He’s not the least bit shy about reconfiguring the guitar’s shape or features to make musicians better and happier. Whether or not you wish to make such alterations, much of this stuff you better know if you wish to make musical instruments rather than guitar-shaped objects. With 5 photos, 3 charts, and a drawing.
2009
AL#99 p.11 ALA1 p.2
John Calkin
▪ It sounds pretty high-falutin’ to talk about the geometry of the guitar, but in the lightest sense it’s a useable conceit. If the angles of the top design and neck joint aren’t right you won’t get an instrument that anybody wants to play, or can play. The author uses a mechanical, rather than mathematical, system to lay out the neck in relation to the body. You don’t have to know the angle involved, you just have to be intelligent. This, if you are a GAL member, is a given. With 6 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2009
AL#99 p.30 ALA6 p.78
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Even if you don’t care much about harp guitars you’ll enjoy the thought processes that went into the string of instruments documented in this article. If you are into harp guitars this is must reading. The initial harp guitar developed by John Sullivan, John Doan, and Jeffrey Elliott owed little to similar instruments of the past other than a basic shape, and the harp guitars that came after the first one have refined the new ideas. With 15 photos of complete and instruments progress, a string gauge and tuning chart, and a mini-plan of 1986 guitar that started the series. Full-size plans are available as GAL Plan #61.
2009
AL#98 p.58 read this article
Graham McDonald
▪ The author rounds up a collection of acoustic guitar making manuals currently available to help us separate the wheat from the chaff. The serious student will no doubt end up with several of these books, but McDonald will help you decide which ones to buy first. Includes jacket photos of all the books discussed.
2009
AL#98 p.66
Patrick Flanning
▪ Building a less traditional second guitar; a large steel string with a ‘wedgie’ body.
2009
AL#97 p.48
Roger-Alan Skipper
▪ Skipper decides to save the life of a Martin D-28 that most of us would use for spare parts and firewood. A new top is made and severely cracked sides and back are restored to usefulness by interesting techniques that offer strength and renewed life rather than cosmetic perfection. In other words, a repair that mere mortals can afford. Good job! With 12 photos.
2009
AL#97 p.68 read this article
Sjaak Elmendorp
▪ Tips on building a guitar with a vaulted back, such as the Baroque guitar in Plan #27.
2009
AL#98 p.6 AL#151 p.72
Steve Grimes Ted Megas Tom Ribbecke Jeffrey R. Elliott
▪ This article is taken from a 2008 GAL convention panel discussion. Seems like these discussions are getting livelier and more interesting, no matter what field of lutherie may draw you the most. The interaction makes the archtop guitar seem more vital and the personal disclosures add depth to the subject. Not that we’re talking about life and death. Well, to the panelists it may be more important than that, and we’ll bet you’ll be drawn in. Perhaps changes are in the air. Nylon strings? Chambered bodies? Oh, they won’t threaten the old jazz box too much, but it’s good to know that nothing remains forever unchanged. With 23 photos.
2009
AL#98 p.18 ALA3 p.58
Tim Olsen Cyndy Burton
▪ Burton has been tenacious in her pursuit of the classical guitar, traveling widely and learning from the likes of William Cumpiano, Eugene Clark, and Jeffrey Elliott, making a name for herself in what has largely been a man’s world. We’re all members of her fan club and rejoice at finally knowing more about her. With 17 photos.
2009
AL#98 p.28 read this article
Erick Coleman Elliot John-Conry
▪ Two disciples of Dan Erlewine explain the latest techniques of setting up the electric guitar. All the details and specs are there, as well as a bit of philosophy. OK, not too much philosophy, but this is a chunk of fun taken from their 2006 GAL convention presentation and they function well in front of a crowd. AL doesn’t get a lot of electric input, which makes this piece more important. With 10 photos.
2009
AL#98 p.36 ALA3 p.18
John Calkin James Buckland
▪ Buckland is a classical performer and teacher who also builds guitars, not and unheard of combination but a rare one. He is especially knowledgeable about guitar history and the little known Terz guitar, of which he is an authority. If that sounds dull you should also know that he started as a Canadian lefty who was initially inspired by Jimi Hendrix, among other rockers. He’s still a lefty, but now we have him in America. Canada has probably been sulking ever since. With 10 photos.
2008
AL#96 p.26
David Cohen
▪ There are reasons why you might wish to describe the arch of an instrument mathematically. You might also wish to create an arch template by using math. Here’s a way to go about it. This is not for the math challenged among us. With 4 photos and 9 charts/diagrams.
2008
AL#96 p.42
James Condino Ted Davis
▪ Davis’ lutherie exploits goes back to the ’70s. He was one of the first of the recent red spruce believers, and he harvested many trees to supply himself and a few others who were lucky enough to key into his business. He made guitars, mandolins, and dulcimers to support his hotrod automobile habit. He had strong opinions about wood that run counter to modern beliefs, and had the experience to back them up.Davis died before the interview was published. He will be missed. With 15 photos.
2008
AL#96 p.54 ALA3 p.25
R.M. Mottola
▪ Do you believe that soundports on the side of a guitar make a difference to the sound perception of the guitarist? Do you believe they don’t? Either way, you should consider the facts presented in this article. It may change the way you build guitars, but it won’t give you more faith in the hearing of humans, even of professional musicians. With 1 photo and 3 charts.
2008
AL#96 p.58
David Golber
▪ The author got tired of hard-to-use commercial peg shapers, so he made a better one of his own. He describes it as a tool for actual human beings. With 6 photos and a drawing.
2008
AL#96 p.65 read this article
Don Overstreet
▪ The book is about the Banjo, Mandolin, and Guitar Movement that ended with the Great Depression. While the reviewer admits that there is little here for luthiers, there is a ton of interesting material for the musical history buff. This time is where many of the instrument icons we all copy came from.
2008
AL#96 p.66 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer enjoyed this 14-hour DVD set but advises that it’s not the last word in the construction of a fine guitar.
2008
AL#96 p.68 read this article
Tom Thiel
▪ As high quality exotic woods become precious, domestic alternatives for fingerboards become more valuable. These alternatives must be as hard, abrasion, resistant, stable, and of similar pore structure, density, and color.
2008
AL#96 p.70
Greg Byers
▪ Figuring the placement of the nut and additional fret on extended range classical guitars with additional bass strings.
2009
AL#97 p.18 ALA4 p.42
Jonathon Peterson Michael Dunn
▪ Canadian Dunn studied guitar making in Spain but ended up specializing in Maccaferri-style guitars. He uses an internal soundbox similar to the original design. His use of wood inlay and marquetry, as well as his choice of body woods is original, playful, and stunning. He is also a lutherie teacher of note. Read this and have fun. Mentions Bill Lewis, George Bowden, Jose Orti, jose Pepe Ferrer, Shelley Park, Chuck Shifflet, Bill Rivere, Patrick Olmstead, Sonny Black, Ray Nurse, ted Turner, Tim Hobrough, Bob Brozman.
2009
AL#97 p.28
R.E. Brune Eugene Clark John Park Jeffrey R. Elliott
▪ This is a transcription of a 2006 GAL convention panel discussion. Put a tap plate on a classical guitar; now do you have a flamenco guitar? Differences between the two guitars have largely been accentuated by the modern need to specialize and categorize. But beyond that, this is a fascinating conversation between four of the leading builders in the field and you don’t have to be a maker of nylon strung guitars to enjoy the details they offer and their pleasure in each others company.
2008
AL#95 p.59
John Calkin
▪ Mike Brittain (see previous article) sent a set of Florida rosewood to the GAL office, and the office staff looked around for someone to build a guitar out of it. Calkin answered the call. Well, someone had to scarf up the free wood, didn’t they? That Mike Brittain’s a swell guy, isn’t he? So this is the story of one particular guitar. By the way, the Florida rosewood in question is Dalbergia sissoo, not the Dalbergia latifolia most often used for guitars. But it looks great, works great, and sounds great. With 5 photos.
2008
AL#95 p.64 read this article
John Mello
▪ The reviewer finds this book to be “an impressive achievement, a logical first choice of the available stand-alone methods for classical guitar construction.”
2008
AL#96 p.6 ALA3 p.68
Robert Ruck Jeffrey-R. Elliott Manuel Velazquez Alfredo Velazquez
▪ Manuel Velazquez built his first guitar in 1929. Can you imagine that? His son Alfredo is carrying on the tradition, though Manuel has not retired. He has definite opinions about what woods make the best guitar and how they should be finished. He is a giant in the business and must be admired for his tenacity as much as his ability. And a fun interview to boot. Mentions Bobri, Andres Segovia, Torres, Santos Hernandez, and Hermann Hauser. With 36 photos.
2008
AL#96 p.18 ALA1 p.60
Cyndy Burton Kathy Wingert
▪ Wingert has as extensive a lutherie background as anyone, and even does Chladni glitter tests on her guitars (which, by the way, look exquisite). Her daughter Jimmi has a growing reputation as an inlay artist. How rare is a mother/daughter team in lutherie? Mentions Bob Mattingly, Larry Robinson and Harvey Leach. With 12 photos.
2008
AL#94 p.63 read this article
John Mello
▪ The reviewer finds this book to be a useful addition to the beginning luthier’s library, but that it falls short of being a stand alone teaching text.
2008
AL#94 p.64
R.M. Mottola
▪ The builder followed the work of Greg Smallman in this lattice-braced guitar, though he omitted the carbon fiber used in Smallman’s designs. He found the system to be so successful that he abandoned traditional brace patterns in subsequent guitars. With 4 photos.
2008
AL#95 p.5 read this article
John Mello
▪ John reviewed a book by Alex Willis in AL#94. He criticised a certain technique reccomended in the book. Now he thinks Alex was right.
2008
AL#95 p.8
Alain Bieber
▪ Amateur luthier Bieber and his professional mentor pursue a new direction in classical guitar bracing that spans 10 guitars over the course of the article. Although Greg Smallman is quoted as an inspiration, the Al-Tho designs look nothing like the lattice system we’ve become familiar with. Nor do they look like anything else seen to date. Very interesting stuff. With 11 photos, 2 diagrams, and 2 charts.
2008
AL#95 p.32 ALA5 p.76
Tobias Braun
▪ Braun took on the job of restoring a massively injured Spanish factory guitar made approximately in 1900. This is not only a close look at how such work is done, but an examination of how these guitars were made. It’s not a Torres, but it’s pretty cool. With 41 photos and 4 catalog page reproductions.
2008
AL#95 p.50
Andy Avera Daniel Fobert
▪ Fobert is a Texas builder of archtop guitars who is unusually obsessed with making as many of the parts for his guitar as possible, not including (yet!) the tuners. There are luthiers who worship old guitars and work to reproduce them, and luthiers who can’t be bothered with something that’s already been done. Fobert is one of the latter. With 6 photos.
2008
AL#93 p.56 read this article
Mike Moger
▪ Three luthiers travel to war-ravaged Nicaragua to teach a class in guitar making. Why? It’s an effort to aid job diversity and economic growth to an area often reduced to subsistence farming for a living. With 6 photos.
2008
AL#93 p.64
Peter Vile
▪ The author gives us a quick look at his carbon fiber/balsa, lattice-braced guitars with wingless bridges, and what he achieved with them. He mentions Kasha/Schneider, Greg Smallman, Jurgen Meyer, and Gila Eban. With 3 photos and 6 sketches.
2008
AL#93 p.66 read this article
Tatsuo Miyachi
▪ A brief history of how Morales guitar brand relates to the Zen-On music company, a Japanese sheet music publisher which also sells a wide range of musical instruments. Zen-On goes back to the 1960s and the Hayashi Gakki company.
2008
AL#93 p.66 read this article
Benz Tschannen
▪ Some experimenting on ossification of guitar soundboards.
2008
AL#93 p.67 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The feasibility of constructing a good acoustic guitar made only of wood found in Snasa, Norway.
2008
AL#93 p.68
Mike Doolin
▪ Making kerfed linings out of 3’x9” Mahogany, jointed on one edge and thickness sanded to .250 using a radial arm saw.
2008
AL#93 p.70 read this article
Tom Harper
▪ The reviewer much admires this book that attempts to supply the reader with an emotional appreciation of specific guitars made during the late 18th century to the mid-20th century.
2008
AL#94 p.18
Cyndy Burton Jim Forderer James Westbrook
▪ As presented in this interview, Jim Forderer and Jim Westbrook are both collectors of guitars of the 19th century, a time period which included the development of the classical guitar. But most of their examples are about the evolution of that instrument and not about the finished post-Torres species. They are unique individuals with strange and wonderful tastes in guitars. With 17 photos and a dendrochronological analysis of the top of a very early Martin guitar.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2008
AL#94 p.36 ALA3 p.52
Woodley White Paul Fischer
▪ Fischer has been building guitars for 50 years and has completed over 1000 instruments. He apprenticed as a harpsichord maker, then learned guitar making from David Rubio. As with any good interview, it quickly becomes apparent that who we are is more fascinating than what we do. With 15 photos.
2008
AL#93 p.7 read this article
Marc Connelly
▪ Marc is making a flattop guitar with a large side port and no hole on the top. He likes it.
2008
AL#93 p.8 read this article
Philippe Refig
▪ Refig recounds some stories of techniques used by traditional Spanish makers. Interestingly, some of these directly corroborate information given by Federico Sheppard and R.E.Brune in AL#125 about tools in the shop of Santos Hernandez.
2008
AL#93 p.10
Jonathon Peterson Robert Ruck
▪ Ruck has been one of the bright lights among American classical guitar makers for a long time, and this lengthy interview not only shows him to be a fascinating individual with an interesting history, but dwells at some length on the development of his guitars and the bracing patterns and other features he has evolved. Among his influences are Juan Mercadal, John Shaw, Hart Huttig, Neil Ostberg, and Manuel Barrueco. With 24 photos and a bracing diagram.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2008
AL#93 p.20 ALA6 p.64
Mike Doolin Kerry Char Gary Southwell Fred Carlson
▪ Harp guitars have undergone a renaissance of sorts, in construction alternatives as well as the music that is being invented for them. Players want banks of super treble strings as well as an extended bass range. Luthiers have responded with new designs and different string configurations that make newer harp guitars more user friendly, more graceful, and musically more pertinent. The four members of this panel discussion are among the leading small builders of these interesting mega-guitars. With 53 photos and 2 sketches.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2008
AL#93 p.35 ALA1 p.90
Jeff Liverman
▪ No size designation is given to this Martin, and no dimensions are printed on the scaled down plans reproduced in the magazine. The author’s guess is that the guitar was made in the 1840-1850 period. Though we automatically assume that a flattop guitar uses steel strings, Martin guitars of this period invariably were intended for gut strings and reproductions intended for use with steel strings should use very light strings indeed. With 4 photos. Complete full-size plans for this guitar are available as GAL Instrument Plan #57.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2008
AL#93 p.36
Jeff Liverman
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2007
AL#91 p.66
Benz Tschannen
▪ An archsander stick with an 18′ radius to shape the gluing surfaces of the end block and heel to change the arching of backs.
2007
AL#91 p.69
R.E. Brune James Westbrook
▪ What does one do with a historical instrument that has been badly treated?, in this case a Cypress Spanish guitar made by Santos Hernandez in 1919, given a glossy paint job, then stripped and sanded in the 1970s.
2007
AL#92 p.5
Benz Tschannen
▪ Benz is doing some pretty sophisticated work with classical guitar tops stiffened with graphite threads and epoxy.
2007
AL#92 p.8 ALA5 p.30
Eugene Clark
▪ An American master of the classical guitar explains how he builds using the solera, a workboard with a radius scraped into the body area to provide a slightly arched top.Clark places a strong emphasis on proper layout and hand tools. With 25 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#92 p.20 ALA4 p.36
Steve Wiencrot Scott Baxendale
▪ Baxendale has lived a hyperactive life as a repairman and builder in several parts of America, including a stint working for Stuart Mossman and then as owner of the Mossman company, and repairman for the Hard Rock Cafe chain and Gruhn Guitars, before opening his own shops in Denver. Few luthiers live as hard or cover as much territory. With 14 photos.
2007
AL#92 p.40 ALA6 p.50
Jonathon Peterson Stephen Sedgwick
▪ Harp guitars fascinate a lot more people than actually play them, so it takes a brave luthier to jump into the field. Sedgwick comes off as a delightfully modest man who is determined to make harp guitars or bust. His guitars are smallish and choice. This is yet another interview that makes it clear that life is different in other countries (England, in this case), and understanding that is one of the best reasons to travel. A wonderful interview, with 9 photos. Mentions London College of Furniture, London Guildhall University, London Metropolitan University.
2007
AL#91 p.6 read this article
Cyndy Burton
▪ Burton’s micro history of sideports (holes in the sides, in addition to the front soundhole) in stringed instruments serves as an introduction to the next three articles. Luthiers she mentions include John Monteleone, Robert Ruck, Alain Bieber, Gennero Fabricatore, Kenny Hill, Alan Carruth, Roger Thurman, and Augustino LoPrinzi. With 9 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#91 p.8 read this article
John Monteleone
▪ Ace archtop builder Monteleone is an advocate of side soundports (holes in the sides, in addition to the front soundhole) and has employed them for over a decade. His article includes personal background, developmental work on his sideported instruments, and construction techniques. With 3 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#91 p.11 read this article
Mike Doolin
▪ The author found that a sideport (hole in the side, in addition to the front soundhole) in his guitar changed its voice in an undesirable way. Adding a bass reflex tube to the hole returned the guitar to a tonal range he liked. He remains luke warm to the benefits of side ports. With 5 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#91 p.12 read this article
Robert Ruck
▪ Ruck has been adding sideports (holes in the sides, in addition to the front soundhole) to his classical and flamenco guitars for many years and is a strong advocate of their advantages. The incidents that led him to incorporate ports are very interesting. He mentions Roger Thurman and Augustino LoPrinzi. With 1 photo.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#91 p.14
C.F. Martin-IV
▪ The author is the current chief of the venerable family business. He provides a candid look at Martin Guitar company history as well as a short examination of alternative wood varieties. Highly entertaining, with 5 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#91 p.19 ALA1 p.5
Rob Hoffman
▪ This is a detailed examination of a parlor guitar by Martin that pre-dates the company’s famed X bracing. With 15 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#91 p.24 read this article
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.
2007
AL#91 p.35 ALA1 p.46
Kerry Char
▪ Char presents a hasty but interesting look at Gibson’s L-series guitar while zeroing in on the L-00, probably the most desirable member of the family. Learn how it was made, why they failed structurally, and examine the 2-page version of GAL Plan #55. With 8 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#91 p.36 ALA1 p.46
Kerry Char
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#91 p.52
R.M. Mottola
▪ Using as-identical-as-possible mock guitars and scientific instruments the author concludes that bolt-on necks sustain longer than either neck-through or glued-in necks, but that there was no discernible difference in sustain perceptible to the humans used as test subjects — pretty surprising results. With 7 photos, 2 graphs, and three spectrographs.
2007
AL#90 p.8 read this article
David Hurd
▪ Hurd believes that the fastest way to great instruments is science, and it’s hard to argue with such a rational man. His jigs measure the deflection of top plates while under tension, and once he carves the top and braces to the numbers he wants he’s done. Period. Sort of makes intuition obsolete. This could also be math heavy if he didn’t offer an Internet spread sheet to ease the pain. With 7 photos and 7 figures/charts.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.
2007
AL#90 p.28 ALA1 p.78
Mark French Kendall Brubaker
▪ The authors measured frequency response of dozens of similar Taylor guitars using a hammer and a noncontacting laser displacement sensor. The big surprise was that guitars made of various woods didn’t differ very much. Well, some people were surprised. With 4 photos and 7 graphs.
2007
AL#90 p.32
Cyndy Burton Kenny Hill
▪ Hill is an amazing man who has been a classical performer, a harvester of his own tonewood, a teacher of prisoners, an entrepreneur who has opened guitar factories in three countries, and a really nice guy. And more! Truly a fascinating individual. With 9 photos.
2007
AL#90 p.46 read this article
Rodney Stedall Mervyn Davis
▪ Davis’ South African upbringing inspires a wonderful decorative sense in his instruments. He’s built a ton of different stuff but may end up best known for his wildly unique modular guitars called Smooth Talkers. With 16 photos.
2007
AL#90 p.66 read this article
Mark Swanson
▪ Request for plans for a round-shouldered dreadnought guitar.
2007
AL#90 p.66
C.F. Casey
▪ Looking for a classical guitar mute.
2007
AL#89 p.18 ALA4 p.32
Steve Kinnaird Chris Jenkins
▪ Texas luthier Jenkins has become an inspiration to those who have seen his work, though he drew his own inspiration and instruction from Charles Fox, Harry Fleishman, Ervin Somogyi, and Fred Carlson. He’s a classic example of what can be accomplished by seeking out talented instruction rather than fiddling one’s own way up the learning curve. With 12 photos.
2007
AL#89 p.38 read this article
Federico Sheppard Dmitry Zhevlakov
▪ This is not only the story of a Russian luthier who also makes beautiful rosettes for other builders, but is another example of how the Internet has changed the world — in this case for better. With 9 photos.
2007
AL#89 p.42
Brent Benfield
▪ Lattice bracing in various forms seems here to stay. Norris’ construction method uses graphite fibers in epoxy, and is unique in that it allows the guitar to be strung before the body is officially closed, permitting tuning of the top while the braces are still completely accessible. With 18 photos and a diagram.
2006
AL#88 p.8 ALA3 p.90
Randy Reynolds
▪ Double-top guitars utilize a top made of two thin layers of spruce separated by a honey-comb material called Nomex. So few people have heard such guitars that the jury is still out (way out) concerning double-top benefits, but here’s how they are made and why. One thing seems sure—the guitar market is large enough to absorb every idea, so no facet of guitar evolution is likely to die out before its time. With 13 photos.
2006
AL#88 p.13 ALA3 p.96
Brian Burns
▪ This is a more scientific look at what the double-top might have to offer. With 2 photos.
2006
AL#88 p.16 read this article
Alain Bieber
▪ The lyre guitar goes back centuries. Lyre instruments in general go back millennia. The author couldn’t resist resurrecting the harp guitar, bringing it up to current standards. His research covers a wide look at art history as well a guitar history. Fascinating! With 14 photos and 2 drawings.
2006
AL#88 p.34 ALA6 p.56
Jonathon Peterson Benoit Meulle-Stef
▪ Meulle-Stef is a French harp guitar luthier who lives and works in Belgium. The harp guitar has deep roots in Europe and he is familiar with all of them. His own instruments have a grace that harp guitars often lack (and check out his fan-braced steel-string top!) This is another sign that lutherie has always been a global industry, even though American guitarmakers tend to forget or ignore it. With 22 photos and a drawing.
2006
AL#88 p.42 ALA1 p.68
R.M. Mottola
▪ Have you got design ideas that are radical or just untried? Perhaps you should toss together a trial instrument before you risk squandering valuable time on a master work that doesn’t work. Here’s how, with an emphasis on building with plywood and even Formica. With 10 photos and a drawing.
2006
AL#88 p.63 read this article
Bryan Johanson
▪ No, it wasn’t the 20th century, silly. It was the 19th century in which the classical guitar grew up.The reviewer calls this book wonderful, informative, and generous. There is also a CD available of 19th century guitar music played on restored instruments of the time.
2007
AL#89 p.6 ALA1 p.10
Tim Shaw
▪ Shaw has worked for large guitar companies for decades. Currently with Fender, he runs an independent shop that makes prototype instruments for all the factories that fall under the Fender banner. He also does repairs on discontinued models where the factory equipment has been dismantled. Accomplishing one-off projects or small runs of parts is no different for a big company than for an independent luthier, they just have the luxury of big-budget equipment. Shaw’s methods of jigging up for parts manufacture incorporating speed and safety can be used by many one-off shops to hustle production and instrument development. Good stuff from one of the aces in the business. With 34 photos.
2006
AL#87 p.34 ALA6 p.46
Jonathon Peterson Tom Shinness
▪ Shinness is a harp guitarist who builds his guitars by cutting and pasting—using real instruments! Cool guy! With 4 photos.
2006
AL#87 p.44
Tom Harper Rodney Stedall
▪ Stedall is a South African optometrist/luthier and coordinator of the Guild of South African Luthiers. Are you surprised that South Africa has a guitar scene? Well, these days it can happen anywhere. With 6 photos.
2006
AL#87 p.50
Fabio Ragghianti
▪ The author’s joint uses a simple spline. Steel-string guys may be skeptical but Ragghianti says it works fine on his archtops, too. With 9 photos.
2006
AL#87 p.56 read this article
David Worthy
▪ The Australian author built a beautiful lap steel that looks “stranger than fiction” on the inside.
2006
AL#87 p.67
Jeffrey-R. Elliott Cyndy Burton
▪ Proper way to fix a Manzanero guitar with poorly repaired cracks on the top and back, a pulled up neck, and a poor refinish.
2006
AL#86 p.66
Ellis McMullin
▪ Plans and design principles for making a half scale classical guitar.
2006
AL#86 p.69
George-A. Smith
▪ A templating system for cutting classic guitar pegheads.
2006
AL#87 p.6
Kenny Hill
▪ Hill has made guitars for eons, harvested his own wood, taught lutherie in a prison, and opened shops in Mexico and China. Not to mention that he’s a fine guitarist. The man has been around. This piece is part biography, part how-to, and all interesting. He’s led an interesting life, and he’s not that old. With 9 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#86 p.6
Chris Burt
▪ This segment wraps up Burt’s series on plate carving. Every luthier, but especially beginning luthiers, should read his “Word to the wise” paragraph, the best piece of advice you are ever likely to read. With 19 photos and a drawing.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#86 p.24 ALA1 p.28
Harry Fleishman Mike Doolin
▪ This neck joint should eliminate neck resets. Its pretty complex but within the grasp of any guitarmaker. With 23 photos and a drawing.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.
2006
AL#85 p.30
Chris Burt
▪ Burt’s in-depth examination of plate carving continues. His techniques are old-school, relying on tap tones to define plate stiffness and definite tonal relationships between the top and back plates. With 9 photos and a drawing.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2006
AL#85 p.37
Rodney Stedall
▪ Using the Spanish foot requires that the neck angle of a classical guitar be established before the back is glued to the instrument, which locks all the parts firmly (and hopefully permanently) together. Stedall’s method will further your understanding of this problem and help you achieve the results you seek. With 1 drawing and 1 photo of a jig used to stiffen the body while the ribs are sanded to receive the back.
2006
AL#85 p.38 ALA3 p.40
Woodley White Greg Byers
▪ Byers has been around for a long time. He has an intuitive idea of what sound he is seeking in his guitars and a clinical approach to finding it. That’s quite a combination, and he is quite an interesting fellow. With 7 photos.
2006
AL#85 p.46 AL#151 p.84
John Calkin
▪ Some instruments aren’t valuable enough to warrant extensive repair work but are too interesting to throw away. Enter the resurrectionist. In this case the subject is a ’30s tenor guitar by Regal. Cracks are fixed, braces are replaced, a new bridge is made, and the neck is refitted. With 21 photos.
2006
AL#85 p.63 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ Changing the depth of a guitar’s ribs to modify the manner in which the bindings are fitted to the binding ledge.
2006
AL#85 p.64 read this article
Cyndy Burton
▪ The reviewer enjoyed this DVD, though she seems hesitant to recommend it to anyone seeking solid information about building a harp guitar. It’s a tour of the contemporary harp guitar scene important to anyone who wishes to be part of that society in any guise.
2006
AL#85 p.65
John Hagen
▪ This fixture provides a means for fitting braces to arched plates that is fast, accurate, and fool proof. The brace is held stationary against the soundboard while a strip of sandpaper is moved under it.
2005
AL#84 p.3 BRB7 p.545
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune comments on the restoration of the Torres guitar covered in AL #83. Brune worked on this guitar previous to Elliott’s restoration, and he offers two more photos of the instrument.
2005
AL#84 p.6 BRB7 p.392
Greg Byers
▪ With tools you’ve probably already got in your shop you can make mosaic rosettes that look modern and yet somehow traditional. The techniques differ from the bricks and tiles made of old and are more akin to the processes of making fancy purflings. Cooler than anything, but not for the impatient among us. With 31 photos and a pair of diagrams.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#84 p.18 BRB7 p.402
Mark Swanson Del Langejans
▪ Langejans is a resourceful guitar maker with a big-time clientele. Many of his designs are unique, as is his finishing material and some of the wood he uses. He has strong opinions about how to get started and survive in the business, which have apparently worked for him very well. With 9 photos.
2005
AL#84 p.28 BRB7 p.404
R.E. Brune
▪ This Meet the Maker article focuses on a Spanish luthier who has been in the business since 1949. With 30 photos of four guitars.
2005
AL#84 p.33 BRB7 p.410
Tom Blackshear
▪ One page of notes plus a 2-page spread of GAL full-size plan #53 of a Reyes flamenco guitar.
2005
AL#84 p.34 BRB7 p.411
Tom Blackshear
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2005
AL#84 p.36
Chris Burt
▪ This is an in-depth look at the tools and procedures used in carving the plates of an archtop instrument. The first article in this series appeared in AL#83, and subsequent articles will follow.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#84 p.60 BRB7 p.536 read this article
John Calkin
▪ Though the reviewer found fault with this CD-ROM he decides that for the beginner it is better instruction than any book on the subject.
2005
AL#84 p.61 BRB7 p.537 read this article
John Calkin
▪ This 70 minute video demonstrates building an acoustic guitar from a Stew-Mac kit, and may be a bit misleading in it’s title.
2005
AL#82 p.67 read this article
Cyndy Burton
▪ A source for plans to build a metal dobro and the parts that cannot be made.
2005
AL#83 p.6
Chris Burt
▪ Do you own or have access to archtop instruments that you’d like to duplicate? Ever wonder why they sound so good, or why they don’t? Use this article to map out the plate thicknesses, arch heights, and neck angles. Measure everything you can get your hands on. Become an expert. Tell your friends how they’re going wrong. Be the hero of your lutherie group.With 6 photos.
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.18 BRB7 p.364
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Restoring famous instruments is a tricky business. If they are also old, well-played, and abused by poor storage facilities the work becomes a cross between knowledge, craft, and art. Elliott goes where few of us would care to travel, explaining every step of restoration as he goes. Perhaps as important is what he doesn’t do. The ethics of restoration is a foundation of the story. With 42 photos as well as a 2-page spread of GAL full-size plan #52.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#83 p.32 BRB7 p.378
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
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.
2005
AL#83 p.42 read this article
Johannes Labusch Ermanno Chiavi
▪ Few harp guitars are nylon strung. Fewer still have frets under all the strings. The Chiavi-Miolin is unique, weird, and strangely beautiful. Its goal is to play piano and lute literature without leaving out notes. With 4 photos.
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.
2005
AL#83 p.53 BRB7 p.533 read this article
Tom Harper
▪ This offering includes a pamphlet by R.E. Brune and Don Pilarz that includes 30 color photos of this guitar, a new full-size blueprint by Brune, a CD of music by Segovia, and a poster. The reviewer concludes that “as a builder of classical instruments I really can’t imagine passing up this compilation.” ‘Nuff said.
2005
AL#83 p.55 BRB7 p.533 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer notes that luthiers with a modicum of experience may find this book and CD combination lacking in useful new information. However, he enjoyed the reading/viewing and decides that the beginning electric luthier could do much worse than starting with Koch’s work.
2005
AL#83 p.58 BRB7 p.453
Eugene Clark David Hurd Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Canting the bass side of the fretboard on classical guitars and resulting saddle and string compensation.
2005
AL#81 p.64 BRB7 p.496
Keith Davis
▪ Removing and replacing bridge plates in dreadnought guitars the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid) way.
2005
AL#82 p.5 read this article
National-Music-Museum
▪ After his untimely death, Paul Gudelsky’s wonderful collection of archtop guitars by James D’Aquisto became the basis of a new collection permanent exhibit at the National Music Museum. Paul had previously shown this collection at the 1995 GAL Convention where luthiers were invited to examine and play the instruments.
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.
2005
AL#82 p.44 BRB7 p.350
Aaron Green
▪ As far as looks go, guitars with wooden tuning pegs are the cat’s patoot. Regarding long-term functioning, though… well, maybe you better read Green’s article. His method of installing hidden maple bushings in the headstock should put you way ahead of the game. With 21 photographs.
2005
AL#82 p.51
Ervin Somogyi
▪ So you’ve made a guitar but it’s not all you hoped for. You have the opportunity to discuss it with your peers and they all have a cure. Unhappily the methods of correction don’t jibe. Somogyi finally got a response he could live with. It saved his guitar and eventually turned into an unexpected sale. The whole trick is in lucking into the right guy to talk to.
2005
AL#82 p.56 BRB7 p.356
Philippe Refig
▪ This is a short description of a Hierros classical made in 1845 (no pictures) and of a Garcia from 1920 with 3 photos.
2004
AL#80 p.64 BRB7 p.495
Brent Benfield
▪ Taking the lead from Jose Romanillos in fitting bent sides into slots cut in the sides of the Spanish heel to join the neck to the body.
2005
AL#81 p.8 BRB7 p.274
Steve Kauffman
▪ Kauffman and friend Steve Klein have used carbon fiber (graphite/epoxy) in as many guitar applications as anyone, stopping short (I think) of an entirely graphite instrument. If you’ve only dabbled with graphite truss rods and such you have no idea how hotly some others are pursuing synthetic materials to make wood guitars sound better and last longer. “All natural materials” has been a battle cry for decades, but perhaps the time is ripe for making natural materials better than nature had in mind. You be the judge. With 36 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#81 p.22 read this article
John Calkin Steve Kinnaird
▪ Two luthiers decide to build guitars for each other, a straight across trade and with a minimum of rules. Its wonderful fun if the anxiety doesn’t kill you. With 5 photos.
2005
AL#81 p.36 BRB7 p.296
Jon Sevy
▪ All those cool pre-war Martins not withstanding, many luthiers believe that domed guitar tops are the way to go. But they can complicate construction in unforeseen ways. Sevy offers a mathematical cure, a set of formulas for predicting neck pitch and saddle height. Probably not for the math challenged, but give it a look before you abandon this path. With 4 charts and 5 diagrams.
2005
AL#81 p.46 BRB7 p.306
Bruce Calder Bob Jones
▪ Jones is one of the “big guys” in the New York City instrument repair scene. He owns some very cool collectables. He’s worked for some of the biggest names in the industry. He has definite opinions about how to get into the business. How could you not read this? With 13 photos, including one of a double neck Selmer.
2004
AL#80 p.28 BRB7 p.254
Cyndy Burton Armin Kelly
▪ Meet the dealer? Well, when a dealer has such a strong influence in the lives of the luthiers he represents, why not? If you build, and if you want to sell through a dealer, you need to read this interview. Besides, Kelly’s enthusiasm is so infectious it will send you right back to your workbench. Boutique guitar builders and shops are relatively new to the steel string, but it has always been the way among classical guitar people. This is why. With 3 photos.
2004
AL#80 p.38 BRB7 p.262
Alain Bieber
▪ The author offers a nice history of guitars built with adjustable and/or removable necks and states a variety of reasons why we should build our guitars with this feature today. The benefits of adjustability are pretty irrefutable, and modern adjustable systems are easier to incorporate than the dovetail joint so commonly seen. The effect upon instrument tone seems to be minor or nonexistent. This is a very convincing article. With 10 photos and 5 diagrams. Mentions Fabricatore, Staufer, Scherzer, Lacote, others.
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#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.
2004
AL#80 p.61 BRB7 p.259
Robert Ruck
▪ Sound ports in guitar sides near the neck to help boost the sound for the player, especially the hard of hearing, and even the audience.
2004
AL#80 p.61 BRB7 p.349
R.E. Brune
▪ A highly valued classical guitar from the 60s that has developed a dish between the bridge and the sound hole.
2004
AL#79 p.5 read this article
Keith Watson
▪
2004
AL#79 p.6 BRB7 p.206
R.E. Brune
▪ In a sense Brune is laying down the law for successful classical guitar making. Much of it will be useful to any builder, and all of it is interesting because Brune is an interesting man who has his thoughts together. Not to mention that he’s a heck of a luthier with a deep background in the history of his craft. With 30 photos and 8 diagrams. Mentions Santos Hernandez, Marcelo Barbaro, Ignacio Fleta, Hermann Hauser, Sr.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#78 p.2 read this article
Gerhard Oldiges
▪
2004
AL#78 p.20 BRB7 p.192
Cyndy Burton Lester DeVoe
▪ A maker of flamenco guitars discusses guitarists and instruments. A good interview can be as inspiring as a good how-to, and this is a good interview. Mentions Santos Hernandez, Sabicas, Paco de Lucia.
2004
AL#78 p.45 BRB7 p.199
Michael Darnton
▪ By making a topo map of the spherical arch you wish your top or back to be (in 1/32″ intervals in this example) one only has to lay an outline of the guitar on the map and chart the contour of the sides. So easy. So elegant. So how come it wasn’t more obvious? With one photo and one diagram.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#76 p.8 BRB7 p.110 read this article
Steve Klein
▪ Klein delivers a lecture that asks as many questions as it attempt to answer. Why has guitar design seemed to stall when so many other fields are jumping into the future? What do musicians really want? How can we make musicians want what we want to build? Is there any more to improve on the steel string guitar? A thought-provoking piece, indeed. With 13 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.52 BRB7 p.132
Larry Mills Chris Jenkins
▪ Replacing the conventional guitar tail block with an access panel is an appealing idea whose time has come. Why you should use it and how it is made is the focus of this article. This may be the first article of its kind. Pretty humorous, too. With 15 photos.
2004
AL#77 p.22 BRB7 p.156
John Calkin
▪ Dealing with a store saves you the hassle of dealing with customers but includes the uncertainties of not having access to the customers. The pros and cons are examined. Meanwhile, a Gretsch electric guitar fingerboard is removed, the truss rod swapped out, and the instrument is restored, all in good detail. With 10 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.68 BRB7 p.489
Eric Foulke
▪
2003
AL#75 p.6 BRB7 p.86
Geza Burghardt Cyndy Burton
▪ Geza Burghhardt builds classical guitars on a workboard rather than a mold, but it isn’t just any old workboard. Its carefully jigged up for accuracy and guitar-to-guitar consistency and his jigs are nearly as pretty as his guitars. Well, to another luthier, anyhow. With 17 photos.
2003
AL#75 p.36 BRB7 p.95
C.F. Casey
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2003
AL#75 p.42 BRB7 p.76
Jonathon Peterson Dake Traphagen
▪ For those who really make an impact in lutherie complete immersion in the craft is the rule, not the exception. Long days, few breaks, and a lot of work. Traphagan is a good example. Floating to the top of the heap isn’t a simple matter. Still, one can get there while maintaining a sense of humor and a continuing appreciation for the mysteries of the craft, and Traphagan is also a good example of that, too. A really good interview with 10 photos and three diagrams of guitar tops.
2003
AL#75 p.60 BRB7 p.104
John Calkin
▪ The emphasis of this little article is a Jeff Huss jig for quickly producing bridge plates on the tablesaw. With 7 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.48 BRB7 p.538
John Calkin
▪ The oversize nature of the parts in this kit offers the ability to build guitars that are wider and/or deeper than the standard Martin OM. The author builds one he calls the magnum, a normal OM shape that has the depth of a dreadnought. He finds it to be a thoroughly top-flight instrument. With 18 photos and a sidebar about the author’s Ferrari OM, an attempt to build the lightest possible instrument that will still thrive in the real world.
2003
AL#74 p.61
Kerry Char
▪ Plans for the Orville Gibson style U harp guitar.
2003
AL#74 p.63 BRB7 p.75
Harry Fleishman
▪ Built in guitar effects customization without dealing with the complications of the circuit board.
2003
AL#73 p.62 BRB7 p.34
Pete Barthell
▪ As the title indicates, a nice fixture for finding the proper location of the classical guitar bridge. With 6 photos and a set of diagrams.
2003
AL#73 p.68 BRB7 p.486
David-B. Hawley
▪ Building a guitar entirely out of toothpicks for $127.
2003
AL#74 p.6 BRB7 p.32
Philippe Refig
▪ Bouchet (1898-1986) was one of only a handful of guitar makers that kept the craft alive previous to the “lutherie boom” we are now enjoying. His small output belies the influence he had on the classical guitar. The author knew Bouchet and has written a charming, if too short, biography. With 1 photo.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#74 p.20 BRB7 p.48
Jonathon Peterson Steve Grimes
▪ Grimes is one of the premier archtop builders of our times. His flattops aren’t bad, either. He worked for years in the Northwest before moving to Hawaii, where the slack-key guitar scene has impacted his flattop designs.
2003
AL#74 p.30 BRB7 p.56
Franz Elferink
▪ A variety of forces begun by simple string tension not only make our instruments function but may eventually tear them apart. With a little math we can determine what those forces are and sort of decide if our archtops are beefy enough to withstand them. With 3 drawings.
2003
AL#73 p.40 BRB7 p.2
John Calkin
▪ Everyone develops little work habits or adopts minor tools that together make a big difference in their work and the pleasure they find in it. This is one man’s collection of odds and ends that changed the quality and quantity of his work. With 15 photos.
2003
AL#73 p.46 BRB7 p.18
Steve Regimbal
▪ Take a quick look at three adventurous instruments by archtop builder Ted Berringer. They are a 12-string octave guitar, a 5-string mandolin, and a 6-string archtop made entirely of spruce. With 12 photos.
2002
AL#72 p.62
Bishop Cochran
▪ A manufacturer of guitar amp kits.
2003
AL#73 p.14 BRB6 p.368
Eugene Clark Jonathon Peterson
▪ Clark is one of the old American masters of lutherie. Building an original rosette in the Spanish tradition is way more complicated than routing a channel and poking in some abalone, as steel stringers are apt to do, but with Clark’s instruction you can do it. Includes 22 photos. Part 1 appeared in AL #71.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2002
AL#72 p.18 BRB6 p.400 read this article
Stephen Frith
▪ How would you like to learn guitar making in a Spanish castle? How about under the tutelage of Jose Romanillos? Cool, huh? Frith explains what it’s like. Any organization with a staff member named Big Pep has to be pretty far out. With 19 photos.
2002
AL#72 p.24 BRB6 p.404
Ken Goodwin Edward-Victor Dick
▪ A Canadian now living in Denver, Dick has a long and varied career as a builder, repairman, and teacher. He builds a wide array of instruments, including some fascinating sound sculptures. The 13 photos illustrate his versatility as a builder and artist.
2002
AL#72 p.36 BRB6 p.410
Jonathon Peterson Saul Koll Ralph Patt
▪ Jazz guitarist Ralph Patt and luthier Saul Koll have teamed up to make archtop 8-string electric guitars that are tuned in thirds rather than standard tuning. The guitars look a little strange because there is no taper to the fingerboards. You’ll have to read the article to understand the thinking behind them. Watching Patt play must confuse the heck out of other guitarists. With 14 photos.
2002
AL#72 p.46 BRB6 p.433
Michael Bashkin Michihiro Matsuda
▪ Changing countries and cultures to enhance one’s skills must be a daunting and exhilarating experience. Matsuda came from Japan to learn lutherie in Arizona, then apprenticed in California. His designs are innovative and his guitars lovely to behold. With 9 photos.
2002
AL#71 p.8 BRB6 p.368
Eugene Clark Jonathon Peterson
▪ How deeply do you want to dive into the matter of making rosettes? Here Clark will submerge you until you gasp for air or make a fine rosette, whichever comes first. Designing the rosette and dying the sticks receive deepest treatment, though no words are spared when describing the cutting and sizing of the materials. Everything is here. With 33 photos. Part Two will appear in a future issue of AL.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
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.
2002
AL#71 p.58 BRB6 p.510
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Drawing the neck in CAD continues with the headstock design.
2002
AL#71 p.65 BRB6 p.464
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Small adjustable-width angle gauges for a through-the-soundhole approach to repair a fractured top on a Spanish guitar.
2002
AL#70 p.4 BRB6 p.350
John Calkin Ralph Novak
▪ Novak has been on the guitar scene since the late ’60s, specializing in the creation and repair of electric instruments, though his expertise doesn’t end there. His best-known invention is probably the Novax fanned fret system, though his work with multi-string guitars deserves note. Mentions Charles LoBue. With 17 photos.
2002
AL#70 p.12 BRB6 p.358
Ralph Novak
▪ The author uses neck making in his example of how gearing up to make small runs of like parts can make the small shop more efficient and profitable. With a photo and 9 drawings.
2002
AL#70 p.16 BRB6 p.328
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Returning a historically important guitar to life is not only a painstaking project but also one that must be done with finesse and a respect for the instrument’s value as an historical document. This restoration took several months and much research and investigation, requiring the use of tools not normally associated with guitar repair. With 43 photos and a magazine-size version of GAL Plan #47 of the instrument under discussion.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2002
AL#70 p.34 BRB6 p.343
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
2002
AL#70 p.40 BRB6 p.362
Alain Bieber
▪ Bieber’s classical guitars feature removable, adjustable necks and slight double cutaways to increase fretboard access. They also look quite remarkable. With 8 photos.
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.
2001
AL#68 p.67 BRB6 p.327
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Making a classical baritone guitar so that the 6th string can be tuned to B.
2002
AL#69 p.28 BRB6 p.316
Jonathon Peterson Kerry Char
▪ Char is a guitar maker who also specializes in the restoration of old and odd instruments, particularly harp guitars by Knutsen and others. With 16 photos of vintage instruments.
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.8 BRB6 p.242
Jonathon Peterson Bob Benedetto
▪ Benedetto has had as large an impact on the modern archtop guitar as anyone. He’s also a really nice guy, unpretentious and level-headed. You’re gonna like him. With 11 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#68 p.16 BRB6 p.250
Bob Benedetto
▪ For a builder of orthodox archtop guitars Benedetto certainly has some iconoclastic ideas. His opinions about bridges, tailpieces, guitar setup, and tonewood may turn your head around. With 9 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#68 p.28 BRB6 p.274
Cyndy Burton Tom Blackshear
▪ Blackshear has been building classical guitars since the ’50s. He has been strongly influenced by the work of Miguel Rodriguez. With 15 photos.
2001
AL#68 p.33 BRB6 p.310
Ronald-Louis Fernandez
▪ There are discrepancies in the Rodriguez family history that the author seeks to remedy.
2001
AL#68 p.36 BRB6 p.313
Tom Blackshear
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
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#68 p.66 BRB6 p.326
Robert Steinegger David Freeman
▪ Info on the B-45-12, the best Gibson 12 string ever built, according to chapter 9 of Gibson’s fabulous flat-top guitars, by Whitford, Vinopal, and Erlewine.
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#67 p.60 BRB6 p.539 read this article
John Calkin
▪ This is a picture book of guitars that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, included in a show of artfully conceived instruments. The reviewer loves the style of the photography but gives the project a so-so evaluation.
2001
AL#67 p.62 read this article
Cyndy Burton
▪ A noncomprehensive list of classical guitar dealers who may be interested in a high end classical guitar stand.
2001
AL#66 p.20 BRB6 p.216
Greg Hanson Sebastian Stenzel
▪ Stenzel is a German who specializes in classical guitars. He shares much information about his guitars as well as some opinions that may surprise you. With 5 photos.
2001
AL#66 p.32 BRB6 p.238
Jonathon Peterson Taku Sakashta
▪ Sakashta left Japan to build both archtop and flattop guitars in California. He is definitely not afraid to design away from tradition. With 8 photos.
2001
AL#66 p.47 BRB6 p.198
Steve Newberry
▪ Tatay built guitars in the back room of a music store in WWII-era Manhattan. Newberry hung out then as a teenager. Not many of us have memories of our youth that are this cool. Alas. Or is it just that Newberry tells a really good tale? With 2 photos.
2001
AL#66 p.55 BRB6 p.536 read this article
Benjamin Hoff
▪ The reviewer finds this book too expensive and too incomplete to recommend on any level other than for the nice photography.
2001
AL#66 p.56 BRB6 p.537 read this article
David Riggs
▪ Riggs raves about the detail included in this blueprint of a Benedetto archtop.
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.28 BRB6 p.174
Jonathon Peterson Eugene Clark
▪ Clark began his guitar building over 40 years ago, which makes him one of the true father figures of our craft. His life has been a crooked path, with interesting things at every jog in the road. You’ll like meeting him. With 12 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#65 p.44 BRB6 p.200
Bruce Calder Sergio Huerta-Chavez
▪ Chavez is a builder of guitars and violins from Mexico who has managed to find markets in the US. Lutherie-life south of the border is probably different than you think, especially if Paracho has been your only touchstone. With 5 photos.
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.
2001
AL#65 p.62 BRB6 p.535 read this article
Benjamin Hoff
▪ Hoff seriously doesn’t recommend this book about buying and maintaining a guitar.
2001
AL#66 p.3 read this article
Joe-D. Franklin
▪ Joe Franklin believed that the secret to good sound in classical guitars was the exacting relationship between interior dimensions and the wavelengths of sound.
2001
AL#66 p.6 BRB6 p.186
Ken Goodwin Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman has been a guitar and bass designer/builder, a teacher of lutherie and writing, a longtime member of the GAL, a frequent contributor to AL and its current product reviewer. Harry is as well-known for his outrageous sense of humor as for the outrageous instruments he creates. With 10 photos.
2000
AL#64 p.6 BRB6 p.118
Jeffrey-R. Elliott Greg Byers Eugene Clark Gary Southwell
▪ Four note-worthy builders of the classical guitar talk about their influences, their building philosophies, and some of the their construction techniques in a panel discussion that should inspire anyone interested in the instrument. With 26 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
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.
2000
AL#64 p.56 BRB6 p.534 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer finds this video to be more opinion than explanation, and that the limited amount of information included doesn’t justify its purchase.
2000
AL#64 p.58 BRB6 p.493
John Calkin
▪ The author enjoyed building this kit and decides that it is a fine value as well as a good way to enter guitar making. With 14 photos.
2000
AL#64 p.64 BRB6 p.57
Jay Hargreaves
▪ Patents and use of Kasha/Schneider design.
2001
AL#65 p.3
Ric McCurdy
▪
2001
AL#65 p.5 BRB6 p.204 read this article
Paul Fischer
▪ Born David Joseph Spinks, Rubio was an Englishman who adopted his Spanish nickname. He became a well-known maker of classical guitars, early instruments, and violins.
2000
AL#62 p.62 BRB6 p.531 read this article
Jonathon Peterson
▪ The reviewer recommends this book that traces the history of harp and Hawaiian guitars, focusing sharply of the life and work of Knutsen.
2000
AL#62 p.63 BRB6 p.532 read this article
Woody Vernice
▪ This video is used to explain the design of the new Taylor neck. The reviewer likes it as more than the selling aid that Taylor envisioned, that for him it opened the discussion for the future role of the handbuilder.
2000
AL#62 p.64
David Oppenheim
▪ Guitar binding courses outside of north America and the UK.
2000
AL#63 p.3 BRB6 p.71 read this article
Tim Miklaucic
▪ Current patriarch of a guitar-making dynasty dies at the age of 47.
2000
AL#63 p.10 BRB6 p.72
Cyndy Burton Sheldon Urlik
▪ When a collector becomes a historian his importance to lutherie takes on a new dimension. Urlik’s collection begins with Torres and extends to many important current, and can be examined by anyone in his book A Collection of Fine Classical Guitars, from Torres to the Present. With 19 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#63 p.34 BRB6 p.108
John Calkin
▪ OK, so you’ve got all the parts for your flattop guitar body prepped for construction. How do you get all the pieces to fit together? The author details the construction methods used at the Huss & Dalton Guitar Co, all of which should prove useful to any small shop.With 21 photos.
2000
AL#63 p.40 BRB6 p.130
Gordon Gray Clive Titmuss
▪ Titmuss is a Canadian who builds and performs upon the lute. He’s also a lute historian and a musicologist. It takes an interesting person to make a mostly-forgotten piece of the past come alive, which is what Titmuss does. With 8 photos.
2000
AL#63 p.46 BRB6 p.114
Cyndy Burton
▪ The V joint is an elegant, traditional method of adding a pitched headstock to a classical guitar. This 20-photo essay follows the able hands of Geza Burghardt as he completes the entire operation.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#63 p.50 read this article
John Calkin
▪ The best of these books and videos should put you well on the way to making professional quality electric instruments. You should know about the others, too, if only so you know to avoid them.
2000
AL#63 p.58 BRB6 p.452
Peter Giolitto
▪ A simple way to make a guitar mold using only hand tools.
2000
AL#61 p.62 BRB6 p.530 read this article
Dave Zogg
▪ The reviewer decides that this very pretty book should serve all but the tool-disabled to care for their guitars.
2000
AL#61 p.64 BRB6 p.113
R.E. Brune
▪ Info on typical string clearances at the 1st and 12th frets on a flamenco guitar, based on GAL plan #42 (1951 M. Barbero) by R.E. Brune.
2000
AL#62 p.3 BRB6 p.81
R.E. Brune
▪ Mentions the death of Jim Norris, who “was instrumental in bringing the classical guitar to Chicago in the late 1950s and early 1960s…”
2000
AL#62 p.6 BRB6 p.32
John Monteleone
▪ No one in the field of archtop guitars is more respected than Monteleone. This article represents his full thoughts on the instrument as of 1998. With 12 photos and 4 drawings.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#62 p.18 BRB6 p.42
Jonathon Peterson David Freeman
▪ Freeman is an independent thinker who builds a wide variety of instruments and runs his own lutherie school in Canada. He’s also outspoken and articulate. You’ll be glad you met him here. With 21 photos.
2000
AL#62 p.26 BRB6 p.48
Gary Southwell
▪ The evolution of the guitar was not a straight-line event. Though both the classical and the steelstring have been more or less fixed in form for over a hundred years the century before that has not been well-documented. Here Southwell has begun to repair that oversight. A luthier with a keen sense of history, he has used the guitars of this period to inform and guide his own creations. With 37 photos of historical and Southwell guitars.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#62 p.42 BRB6 p.62
Andrea Tacchi Masaru Kohno
▪ Kohno classicals are ranked with the best of 20th century guitars. His youth in pre-war Japan was an experience unfamiliar to most of us, though his path toward higher standards of craftsmanship is one that many luthiers have traveled. His life was not an ordinary one. With 5 photos.
2000
AL#62 p.58
Peter Giolitto
▪ A method utilizing a go-bar deck as alternative to gluing on a classical bridge using clamps through the soundhole.
2000
AL#61 p.4 BRB6 p.2
Cyndy Burton Geza Burghardt
▪ Burghardt and his family emigrated to Canada from Hungary in 1988 with few worldly goods and little English and proceeded to carve out a niche in a fashion we have grown accustomed to hearing about in these pages. He seems to prefer classical guitars and hand tools. Included is an 8-picture description of the jig he uses to slot the sides into the necks of his guitars, and 7 other photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#61 p.14 BRB6 p.68
Robert Painter
▪ How to cut, bevel, and buff a pickguard using celluloid flat stock. With 6 photos.
2000
AL#61 p.28 BRB6 p.18
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Ten years after the GAL convention lecture that made him a guru to most of the steelstring clan, Bourgeois has new information to offer about the construction and voicing of the flattop guitar. With 2 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#61 p.38 BRB6 p.26
Kevin-B. Rielly
▪ The P-1 is a funky plywood guitar intended for the lowest end of the handmade market. That’s a real tough slot to fill, but Rielly seems curious about the possibilities and not too concerned about staking his livelihood on the little devils. There’s a moral here, though: there is someone hungry for almost anything you can make. Finding that guy may be the hard part. With 5 photos.
2000
AL#61 p.40 BRB6 p.28
Harry Fleishman Fabio Ragghianti
▪ Ragghianti is an Italian luthier. It’s interesting that luthiers from around the world seem to think of their instruments in the same terms. This easily allows them to immediately find a common ground regardless of their cultural background or language. Ragghianti came to America, then Fleishman went to Italy. The terrain didn’t seem to make a lot of difference. With 3 photos.
2000
AL#61 p.61 BRB6 p.448
Peter Giolitto
▪ Making a jig to hold guitar necks while carving them.
1999
AL#60 p.6 BRB5 p.422
Fred Carlson Harry Fleishman William Eaton Saul Koll
▪ The market for flattop guitars probably isn’t evolving away from tried and true designs at all, but individual luthiers are working on instruments that would baffle (and hopefully intrigue) Orville and old C.F. These four groundbreaking guitarmakers got together to discuss their work in front of an audience at the 1998 GAL convention, and if their work and philosophies don’t show you anything you must be hopelessly lost in the nostalgic past. This article is a condensed version of that discussion. With 24 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#60 p.22 BRB5 p.408
Rich Mermer
▪ Are you familiar with the Weissenborn Hawaiian guitars of the ’20s? How ’bout the acoustic lap steel work of David Lindley? Well, Lindley often plays a Weissenborn, which is lap guitar with a sound chamber that includes a hollow neck (think of a guitar whose mother was frightened by a fretted dulcimer). Rich Mermer doesn’t build exact Weissenborn copies, but a very similar design. His good plan is a single-page diagram with a chart of measurements. With 12 photos.
1999
AL#60 p.48 BRB5 p.485 read this article
John Calkin
▪ All it takes to slap together a parts guitar is a screwdriver and some common sense, right? Way wrong! The reviewer decides that this video should be figured into the budget of every first-time guitar assembler.
1999
AL#59 p.18 BRB5 p.386
David Melly Steve Kauffman
▪ Kauffman had been a luthier for sometime before he apprenticed to Steve Klein. Today he builds Klein acoustics in his own shop as well as his personal line of guitars. He’s a thoughtful and thought-provoking man, and you’ll be glad you met him. With 6 photos.
1999
AL#59 p.22 BRB5 p.332
Jonathon Peterson George Majkowski Boaz Elkayam
▪ George Majkowski and Boaz Elkayam complete their work on 10 Kasha guitars to honor the memory of Richard Schneider and to keep his work alive. The hand tools involved, the strange method of fretting, and the cool vacuum clamps, as well as the design philosophy behind the guitars, make this a pair of articles not to be missed. The Old World meets the future here and they blend very nicely. With 58 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#59 p.39 BRB5 p.402
Gordon Gray Grit Laskin
▪ Laskin is a well-known maker of masterful guitars and a groundbreaking artist in inlay concept and design. He’s also a novelist and a recording artist. If the 9 photos of his guitars and inlay work don’t inspire you, you’re certainly from an old school of lutherie.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#59 p.46 BRB5 p.396
Jeff Huss Mark Dalton
▪ Hand carved and compensated bone saddles are a mark of finesse. Fine work is all about the details, and Huss and Dalton discuss a detail that is often overlooked but easy to make. With 8 photos.
1999
AL#59 p.50 BRB5 p.392
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Rhinehart has built Dobro-style guitars for years, and was among the first to furnish custom resonator cones to the industry. Includes a new plan format, a one-page diagram of a square neck guitar with a chart of dimensions. Different methods of seating the cone are discussed, and 8 photos show some of the details of Rhinehart’s work.
1999
AL#59 p.62 BRB5 p.482 read this article
Linda Manzer
▪ The reviewer finds this book about the life and work of John D’Angelico and James D’Aquisto “is a wonderful and carefully prepared book,” though perhaps not free of errors.
1999
AL#60 p.4
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune’s letter gives us an update of the Spanish flamenco scene as he found it during a visit to Spain in May of 1999. With 3 photos.
1999
AL#58 p.20 BRB5 p.332
Jonathon Peterson George Majkowski Boaz Elkayam
▪ Boaz Elkayam and George Majkowski extend the work of Michael Kasha and Richard Schneider in a project that entails the construction of 10 guitars. A wide variety of building techniques involving hand and power tools, as well as vacuum clamping, is necessary to make these complicated instruments. An unlikely pairing of craftsmen contributes to our understanding of one of the most controversial instrument designers of our times, and the memory of a respected luthier and teacher. With 26 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#58 p.38 BRB5 p.366
Cyndy Burton Gary Southwell
▪ Southwell makes gut-strung guitars that may be strange or more-or-less conventional, but always elegant, and he makes them for some high-profile patrons. His specialty is pre-classical or “salon” guitars. He’s an eloquent Englishman whom you’ll be happy to meet. With 6 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#58 p.57 BRB5 p.481
Cyndy Burton
▪ Bream began when the classical guitar world was small, indeed. The reviewer finds this collection of letters about Bream’s early years to be small, expensive, and enjoyable.
1999
AL#58 p.60
Peter Dyer
▪ Universal side bender.
1999
AL#58 p.60 BRB5 p.361
R.E. Brune
▪ Publications on identifying Ramirez guitars by serial number and more info on the 1988 model 1A.
1999
AL#57 p.11 BRB5 p.297
John Calkin
▪ Calkin was hired by Huss and Dalton to take over their guitar binding. His story includes a description of how to make wood binding, and covers the hand tools he uses during the binding procedure. With 6 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#57 p.22 BRB5 p.300
Cyndy Burton Joshia de-Jonge
▪ Joshia’s classical won high praise during the listening session at the GAL’s 1998 convention, quite an achievement for a 19-year-old woman. But then, just about every member of her family builds guitars. Her free-spirited optimism may be as much a product of her upbringing as her youth. With 3 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.
1999
AL#57 p.40 BRB5 p.317
John Calkin
▪ Calkin builds a uniquely shaped travel guitar called the True Companion, and here explains its construction as well as the jigs he devised for production building. The plan is a mini-version of GAL Plan #44. With 14 photos, including one of the sternest luthier of the year. Ya’ll remember to smile when it’s your turn!
1999
AL#57 p.43 BRB5 p.321
John Calkin
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1999
AL#57 p.53 BRB5 p.327
John Calkin Steve Kinnaird
▪ Kinnaird is a minister, luthier, blues guitarist, and all-around nice guy. You’ll be glad you met him. With 4 photos.
1999
AL#57 p.61
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ An inconspicuous way to fix an exposed edge of a truss rod on the neck of a steel string.
1999
AL#58 p.6 BRB5 p.262
Jay Hargreaves
▪ The final installment in the series, parts 1 & 2 were in AL#56 and #57, respectively. In this segment the sides are bent, the body is assembled and bound, the neck is fitted to the body, and attention is given to tuning the plates. Special consideration is given to making the adjustable bridges as well as Tom’s elegant ebony/graphite tailpiece. With 36 photos and a drawing.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1998
AL#56 p.16 BRB5 p.256
Cyndy Burton Linda Manzer
▪ Through her artistic merit, dogged determination, and sheer grit, Manzer has risen to the top ranks of her profession. This interview covers her background and training, work ethic, favorite woods, and other lutherie intimacies. With 10 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1998
AL#56 p.22 BRB5 p.230
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ In every craft the cream inevitably rises, and Elliott is known to make some of the creamiest classical guitars in the world. Though this article offers a complete recipe for building guitars with “allure,” it becomes obvious that the most important ingredient is the artistic sensitivity he has developed. Not to be overlooked if your goal is to cook up fine classicals. With 9 photos, 1 drawing, and a list for further reading.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
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.
1998
AL#56 p.50 read this article
John Calkin
▪ Scott Chinery had 22 luthiers build 22 archtop guitars, all of them blue. Why? And why did the Smithsonian Institute decide to display them? And then throw in a big shindig for luthiers and guitar nuts alike? Calkin treks to Washington D.C. in the name of the Guild to figure out what all the fuss is about and discovers that hardly anything is what it seems. With 3 photos.
1998
AL#56 p.54 BRB5 p.290
Kent Everett
▪ So you hate the way pickguards look but like the job they do? Everett shows how to apply a clear pickguard without bubbles or fingerprints coming along for the ride.
1998
AL#56 p.64 BRB5 p.309
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ The variables that influence the ‘feel’ or playability of instruments with the same scale length, string gauge, and setup.
1999
AL#57 p.3
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Elliott offers a correction to his top brace system as stated in his lecture printed in AL#56.
1999
AL#57 p.6 BRB5 p.292
Jeff Huss Mark Dalton
▪ The H&D Guitar Company builds about 100 guitars per year, the great majority of them bound in wood. Here’s how they do it. With 13 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1998
AL#55 p.48 BRB5 p.243
Cyndy Burton Paul Jacobson
▪ Jacobson is a widely respected builder of classical guitars who considers lutherie to be the equivalent of writing sonnets. They are both exercises in controlled creativity. And both can be beautiful.
1998
AL#55 p.58
Cyndy Burton
▪ Where to get pickups, condenser mikes, electric guitar parts, and general electronics gear.
1998
AL#55 p.60 BRB5 p.208
Tom Blackshear
▪ The relationship of the soundboard to the neck on classical and flamenco guitars.
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.
1998
AL#55 p.65 read this article
Woody Vernice
▪ These are two picture books of guitars made by luthiers who attended the Healdsburg Guitar Festivals in 1996 and 1997. The reviewer finds that the pictures are too little, but that luthiers looking for new ideas may browse through them endlessly.
1998
AL#54 p.54 BRB5 p.474
Cyndy Burton
▪ The reviewer urges the purchase of this pricey book ($119.95) by anyone seriously interested in the history or construction of the classical guitar.
1998
AL#54 p.55 BRB5 p.476
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer finds that this video is a good learning device for anyone wishing to learn how to set up their electric guitar or bass, perhaps less so for acoustic players.
1998
AL#54 p.56 BRB5 p.476
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer finds this set of 5 videos to be useful and complete for those who wish to build an archtop guitar, but that those who lack previous lutherie experience should also have the book by Benedetto.
1998
AL#54 p.58 BRB5 p.444
Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman tries out a tool for puncturing archtop plates to establish depth of cut, likes it, but finds that the standard size tool is for violin makers and guitar makers must special order; the nut files of a lifetime come into his shop; a good tool that Everyman can afford turns out to be nice fret slot cleaning tool.
1998
AL#54 p.65 BRB5 p.193
Tim Shaw
▪ Clay used in the position marker cavities of old fretboards.
1998
AL#55 p.8 BRB5 p.217
R.E. Brune
▪ The story of this astonishing flamenco guitar involves Barbero, Sabicas, Carlos Montoya, and Elektra records. It dropped from sight until showing up at Brune’s for repair. Brune drew up a complete set of plans while the guitar was in his possession. They are printed here, and are also available as a full-size GAL Plan #42. With 12 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1998
AL#55 p.10 BRB5 p.219
R.E. Brune
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1998
AL#55 p.16 BRB5 p.214
Mark Bass Paul McGill
▪ McGill is a thinking-man’s guitar maker with some strong notions that run counter to current lutherie mythology. He also has a big-time clientele who believe he is right. With 6 photos.
1998
AL#55 p.40 BRB5 p.209
Sam Littlepage
▪ Suppose you made a stiff framework that resembled a guitar that was strong enough to resist most of the distortion to which the instrument is prone, and then built a guitar around the framework. Well, Littlepage has beat you to it. He reports that it not only works, but also improves the guitar in every way. With 14 photos and a pair of drawings.
1998
AL#53 p.64 BRB5 p.474
Bryan Johanson
▪ The reviewer finds the book flawed in minor ways but says that it is well worth its price of $75, which is a pretty good recommendation.
1998
AL#54 p.21 BRB5 p.204
Cyndy Burton Judy Threet
▪ Threet is a Canadian builder who specializes in fingerstyle guitars. Her guitars often display an artistic flair that few can match. This interview takes a decidedly philosophic turn, and appropriately so, since Threet used to be a professor of philosophy. With 4 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1997
AL#52 p.60 BRB5 p.473
C.F. Casey
▪ The reviewer came away from Ribbecke’s seminar not only feeling that he now had the foundation needed to build archtops, but felt that his lutherie skills in general had been boosted by his experience.
1998
AL#53 p.8 BRB5 p.168
Paul Gudelsky
▪ An overview of D’Aquisto’s career by a man who studied guitar construction with Jimmy and collected a number of his instruments. It becomes clear how complex an individual D’Aquisto really was. Lots of generalized talk about wood and archtop design, too, but nothing scientific. More of a tribute to a man who died way too soon. With 5 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1998
AL#53 p.9 BRB5 p.172
Paul Schmidt
▪ D’Aquisto’s biographer bids farewell to the man who was called by some the world’s greatest luthier of our time. A touching and very real-world story. With 2 photos.
1998
AL#53 p.14 BRB5 p.172
John Monteleone
▪ A photo-essay of 8 D’Aquisto archtops formerly owned by Paul Gudelsky, set up to show the progression of Jimmy’s designs. With 8 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1998
AL#53 p.18 BRB5 p.176
John Monteleone
▪ A world-renowned maker of archtops who knew D’Aquisto well offers a more technical examination of Jimmy’s design evolution. With 3 photos and a drawing.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1998
AL#53 p.22 BRB5 p.164
Cyndy Burton Shelley Park
▪ Park plays jazz guitar and builds Selmer-style guitars like those designed by Mario Maccaferri and played by Django Reinhardt. She furnishes some interesting thoughts about alternative woods and different finishes. Are women luthiers who survive long enough to become professionals really more interesting than many of the men, or do they just give better interviews? You decide. With 9 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1998
AL#53 p.32 BRB5 p.108
John Calkin
▪ In AL#52 we looked at the tools and jigs Charles Fox uses to build acoustic guitars. In Part 2 we examine how that equipment is put to use as Fox takes us through the procedure of building a classical guitar at his American School of Lutherie. Most of this info will be just as useful to the steel string builder, as well. With 55 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1997
AL#52 p.3
Joe-D. Franklin
▪ Many builders maintain that a guitar top that varies in thickness offers better tone than a uniform top.Franklin offers technical reasons for why it is so.
1997
AL#52 p.12 BRB5 p.108
John Calkin
▪ The main thrust of Fox’s American School of Lutherie lies in teaching lone guitarmakers to make better instruments through more accurate tooling and in helping them become more commercially viable by increasing their production. Calkin attended one of Charles’ week-long Contemporary Guitar Making seminars and documented much of the hard info for American Lutherie readers. This segment concentrates on nearly 3 dozen jigs and fixtures that anyone can add to their lutherie arsenal, most of them adapted to power tools. With 57 photos. Parts 2 & 3 to follow.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1997
AL#52 p.42 BRB5 p.144
Tim Olsen R.E. Brune
▪ Brune was an original founder of the Guild, has been a GAL convention lecturer, and an American Lutherie author. He’s also a world-renowned maker, dealer, and collector of classical guitars. In this interview he offers some personal background as well as what he thinks it will take to stay afloat in the lutherie world that’s coming. His insider’s view of high-buck instrument dealing is especially compelling. With 7 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1997
AL#52 p.46 BRB5 p.148
R.E. Brune
▪ What does it take to restore an important instrument? Skill, research, and a solid feel and appreciation for the time during which the piece was made and played. Skip any of these factors and you could easily screw up an irreplaceable piece. Brune describes his approach to one guitar while at the same time demonstrating the qualities necessary to enter this field.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1997
AL#52 p.50 BRB5 p.138
Jonathon Peterson Augustino LoPrinzi
▪ Augie LoPrinzi has made or overseen the construction of over 8000 guitars. He went from a one-man shop in the back of his barbershop to a factory that employed 30 people and made 80 flattops a month. Now back in a small-shop setting, his enthusiasm for the guitar is as high as ever. Come along for one of the wilder rides in the annals of lutherie.
1997
AL#52 p.53 BRB5 p.141
John Calkin
▪ Augie LoPrinzi has been an accessible luthier who taught or influenced dozens of people as they entered the business. Calkin “knew him when,” back in the ’70s at a time his small shop churned out 25 guitars a month. This is a different look at a man who was also a barber, pool hustler, amateur magician, wannabe classical guitarist, and a storyteller deluxe. Fun.
1997
AL#51 p.13
Kevin-B. Rielly
▪ One guitar, two necks, and two distinct functions: half solidbody with magnetic pickups, half hollow with a piezo pickup.Not to mention a look you haven’t seen before. With 6 photos.
1997
AL#51 p.20 BRB5 p.80
Armin Kelly Hermann Hauser-III
▪ The name Hermann Hauser needs no introduction in the classical guitar world. Here Hauser #3 talks about heritage, learning the craft, wood, and closing in on the perfect guitar. With 6 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1997
AL#51 p.26 BRB5 p.92
Jonathon Peterson Boaz Elkayam
▪ Elkayam grew up as a luthier, built guitars as he traveled half the world on a motorcycle, never stopped learning, and seems never to have met a challenge he didn’t welcome. High-class lutherie skills don’t necessarily make a person interesting. If Boaz quit the trade today he’d still be someone you’d like to seek out. Check out his classical guitar with two fingerboards (but only one neck). With 24 photos of beautiful instruments, beautiful places, and beautiful women.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1997
AL#51 p.38 BRB5 p.100
Fred Carlson
▪ Inspired by his fiddle-building partner, Suzy Norris, Carlson has created a guitar that utilizes a large number of sympathetic strings. The obstacles that had to be overcome were significant, but “angel voices” never come easy to us Earth folks. With 10 photos and a pair of drawings of how things work.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1997
AL#51 p.42 BRB5 p.104
John Calkin Jeff Huss Mark Dalton
▪ Virginia luthiers Huss and Dalton show off their shop and talk about the business of going into business. They make 7 high-end acoustics per month, and they make it sound easy. With 11 photos.
1997
AL#51 p.46 BRB5 p.471
Bryan Johanson
▪ Though taken aback by the ego of the author, the reviewer decides the book is invaluable to his enjoyment of the guitar. “If you care about the guitar, you should own this book.”
1997
AL#51 p.48 BRB5 p.472
Woody Vernice
▪ The reviewer especially raves about the photography included in the book, though his assessment of its value to the working luthier is not so hot.
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.
1997
AL#51 p.52 BRB5 p.491
Buzz Vineyard
▪ A laminated all wood tailpiece to gain more control over the dimensions, weight, and aesthetics of the tailpiece.
1997
AL#50 p.40 BRB5 p.68
Tim Olsen Michael Hornick
▪ Hornick has become renown as the creator of Shanti guitars. In this interview he discusses the road to the top of the lutherie profession as well as tonewood and guitar design. With 3 photos.
1997
AL#50 p.50 BRB5 p.38
John Calkin Kent Everett
▪ Everett is one of those monster craftsmen who can knock out 50 fine instruments a year, alone. This interview not only covers his lutherie background but also explains the shop schedule that keeps the guitar flowing at such a prodigious rate. Featuring five photos and one of Everett’s comic strips.
1997
AL#49 p.6 BRB5 p.2
Woodley White Rene Baarslag
▪ A Dutchman who moved to Spain and learned guitar making with the help of Antonio Marin, Baarslag has carved out a reputation as a fine luthier. The descriptions of his home will make you wonder why luthiers can’t live this well in America. Baarslag’s life must be very pleasant.
1997
AL#49 p.10 BRB4 p.4
Woodley White
▪ Baarslag journeys to the American School of Lutherie to teach a week-long class about building classical guitars. White attended, and gives a full report. With 37 photos.
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.
1997
AL#49 p.28 BRB5 p.18
Tim Olsen Fred Carlson
▪ Carlson grew up on a New England commune and never outgrew the philosophy of sharing. He would rather let his uniqueness bloom than give in to commercial considerations. You’ll be glad you met him here. With 16 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1997
AL#49 p.36 BRB5 p.34
Brent Benfield
▪ So you bought a spherically dished form in which to build your guitars. But how do you go about it? Benfield describes a path notable for its lack of complication. This is a painless way to bring your guitars into the 21st century. Most of the ideas are applicable to flattop guitars as well. With 10 photos and 4 drawings.
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#50 p.4 BRB5 p.60
Frank Ford
▪ Ford has been a preeminent repairman for years, but has recently emerged as a fine teacher of repair topics. Everyone’s refretting tricks are a little different. Even if you have a handle on the general principle you may find that Frank Ford has something to offer you. With 29 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1997
LW p.68
Don Gallagher
▪ Just like it says. With 4 photos and a drawing.
1997
LW p.103
Harry Fleishman
▪ Perhaps Harry didn’t invent the guitar top made from two varieties of wood, but he has certainly made it a trademark of his instruments. The text explains the why of it, and the single photo offers a peek at one of Fleishman’s unique designs.
1997
LW p.124
Tim Olsen
▪ Now that lutherie has boomed, is it best to attend a school to learn the trade? Or does self-education (and self-discovery) still make sense. It depends.
1997
AL#49 p.3 BRB5 p.37 read this article
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ A well-known teacher and maker of controversial classical guitars passes on.
1996
AL#48 p.4 BRB4 p.205
Rudy Walker
▪ Walker sends photos and a description of an electric guitar designed around the Monkees logo of the mid-’60s.
1996
AL#48 p.6 BRB4 p.378
Lawrence-K. Brown
▪ Brown made the elaborate trim for 27 Baroque guitars, then spread the actual construction over a year and a half. All the details are included. He believes that too much patience stands in the way of making a living. This is an article with attitude. With 29 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.
1996
AL#48 p.28 BRB4 p.408
Cyndy Burton John Mello
▪ Mello is a repairperson, guitarmaker, restorer, and instrument dealer. He apprenticed under Richard Schneider and worked with Jeffrey R. Elliott before opening his own shop.Much of the interview dwells upon the restoration of an 1862 Torres guitar. With 11 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1996
AL#48 p.36 BRB4 p.404
Frank Ford
▪ Ford built an elaborate jig for resetting the necks of valuable and delicate guitars where a slip of the chisel can’t be risked. The contrary nature of guitars may dictate that some hand fitting is required after the jig is used, but much of the danger is removed. With 8 photos.
1996
AL#48 p.42 BRB4 p.400
Phillip Murray
▪ Even in this age of the bolted on neck, there are plenty of guitarmakers who’d rather use a dovetail. Murray’s well thought out jigs cut both the male and female portions of the joint. With 14 photos and 7 diagrams.
1996
AL#47 p.6 BRB4 p.332
Jonathon Peterson
▪ So you’ve got a guitar that ought to sound better than it does. What can you do to it to perk up the punch? Experts Marc Silber, Scott van Linge, Robert Steinegger, Dana Bourgeois, Frank Ford, and T.J. Thompson describe how they shave braces, and show that brace shaving isn’t your only weapon.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1996
AL#47 p.30 BRB4 p.346
John Calkin Geoff Stelling
▪ A profile of one of the leaders in high-end banjos, featuring a tour of the shop, production techniques, construction methods, and banjo/motorcycle cross-pollination.
1996
AL#47 p.34 BRB4 p.368
Greg Byers
▪ Finding perfect intonation through deep math and jiggling the string length at both ends. For some luthiers the quest for perfection knows no bounds. The rest of us are just jealous.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1996
AL#47 p.46 BRB4 p.364
Colin Kaminski Marc Silber
▪ Silber is a musician, nomad, repairman, musical historian, guitar designer, dealer, collector, and all around keeper of the flame. How can a man have so much fun and make a living at the same time?
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.
1996
AL#47 p.60 BRB4 p.470
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer generally likes this video for the specific information it offers about Dobro hardware. He also finds that half the tape is too basic to be of real help to seasoned luthiers.
1996
AL#47 p.60 BRB4 p.471
Kenny Hill
▪ This book, printed only in Spanish, describes guitar making in Ecuador. The reviewer finds that the Ecuadorian guitar as described in this book is crudely fashioned, and that the text is incomplete. Nevertheless, he enjoys it as a look into another culture.
1996
AL#45 p.58 BRB4 p.468
Richard Beck
▪ The reviewer finds that this is a “best value in a guitar history and identification book.”
1996
AL#45 p.59 BRB4 p.469
Robert Lundberg
▪ This is a thorough and glowing review of an important book, by a reviewer who is best known for his work in early instruments.
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.
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.
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.4 BRB4 p.258
Debbie Suran
▪ On the trail of S. American luthiers, strange instruments, and unusual wood varieties, in a land where travel is difficult but the people are friendly. Ask your tonewood supplier to start stocking armadillo shells. With 24 photos.
1996
AL#45 p.10 BRB4 p.264
R.E. Brune
▪ This 1995 lecture transcription investigates the history of art applied to lutherie in all its varied forms, and then translates many of them into illustrations of contemporary instruments. Topics include painting, gilding, carving, veneer, inlay, engraving, and varnish work. With 49 photos and illustrations.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1996
AL#45 p.56 BRB4 p.500
John Jordan
▪ A second set of hollow radius forms lined with sandpaper for fitting the sides to the top and back radii when binding acoustic instruments with tops and backs made in hollow-radiused forms.
1995
AL#44 p.8 BRB4 p.222
Robert Desmond
▪ This is a short biography of a luthier who entered the trade before many of us were born, and who has turned classical guitar making into a family business.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1995
AL#44 p.17 BRB4 p.236
David Hill Michael Gurian
▪ Gurian knows much more than he tells in this interview, but it’s good to know he’s still actively part of the guitar scene. He has worked alone, started an informal school of guitarmaking through the apprentices he has trained, owned guitar factories, invented tools, and is currently a supplier of parts and accessories.
1995
AL#44 p.32 BRB4 p.242
Jonathon Peterson Saul Koll
▪ Koll has fashioned a living by creating unique, often bizarre, guitars, both acoustic and electric. For many, ideas often come easy, it’s selling them that’s hard. Koll has found a niche. With 23 photos.
1995
AL#43 p.50 BRB4 p.416
Rick Turner
▪ Turner talks about the Grateful Dead and some of their gear.
1995
AL#43 p.54 BRB4 p.405
Andy DePaule
▪ The pedal steel is an instrument, it is also a precision machine.
1995
AL#43 p.59 BRB4 p.495
Filippo Avignonesi
▪ Adding two fairly stiff but very light braces between the 3 center fan braces between the waist bar and the bridge patch to add a little more kick to a redwood topped classical guitar.
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.
1995
AL#42 p.56 BRB4 p.465
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer is enthusiastic about this picture book but decides that it may have no relevance to the life of a typical luthier.
1995
AL#42 p.57 BRB4 p.466
Don Bradley
▪ The reviewer finds that the authors have made an invaluable reference for studying the vibration of all types of musical instruments.
1995
AL#42 p.64
Martin Dumas
▪ Extracting and printing the outline of an instrument from a photograph.
1995
AL#43 p.8 BRB4 p.202
Todd Brotherton Jim Williams
▪ Australians continue to make a mark in the evolution of the guitar. Williams made his mark as an author, as well. He discusses his background and his instruments.
1995
AL#43 p.11 BRB4 p.206
Jim Williams
▪ Williams discusses the building style he has borrowed from Greg Smallman for classical guitars. With 14 photos, plus drawings.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1995
AL#42 p.3 BRB4 p.151 read this article
Gila Eban
▪ One of the world’s best luthiers passes on.
1995
AL#42 p.12 BRB4 p.174
Robert Ruck
▪ Ruck spends most of his time in this lecture talking about top design and finishing. With 13 photos and several drawings, plus a detailed list of his finish materials and procedures.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1995
AL#42 p.22 BRB4 p.184
Keith Hill
▪ A maker of classical guitars harvests some strange local trees to try out as instruments.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.
1995
AL#41 p.10 BRB4 p.126
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Caldersmith is working to expand the voice range of guitar ensembles, both classical and steel string. With 4 photos and frequency response graphs. The first installment of Caldersmith’s work with a classical guitar family came way back in AL#18.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1995
AL#41 p.40 BRB4 p.144
Ronald-Louis Fernandez
▪ It’s untrue that all the old builders were stodgy old putzes locked into a cold tradition. Some of their guitars were pretty far out. With 21 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1995
AL#41 p.47 BRB4 p.416
Rick Turner
▪ Turner discusses solder, and a pickup pan pot.
1995
AL#41 p.50 BRB4 p.71
Alan Carruth
▪
1995
AL#41 p.52 BRB4 p.463
Tom Ribbecke
▪ The reviewer finds that this book sets a new standard for guitarmaking books in general, and that it should affect the evolution of the archtop guitar for many years to come.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1994
AL#40 p.5 read this article
Chris von-der-Borch
▪
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.
1994
AL#40 p.18 BRB4 p.96
R.E. Brune
▪ There is an undying interest in the Segovia guitars. Brune offers good description as well as 10 photos and a complete set of plans. The plans are a reduced version of our full-scale Plan # 38.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1994
AL#40 p.19 BRB4 p.97
R.E. Brune
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1994
AL#40 p.24 BRB4 p.124
Jonathon Peterson Rossco Wright Larry Roberts
▪ Classical guitarists are too fussy to simply travel with a shrunken guitar. These two luthiers offer instruments that suit the special needs of special guitarists.
1994
AL#40 p.42 BRB4 p.116
Bryan Galloup
▪ Detailed captions for 36 photos explain how to cook the neck out of a flattop and put it back on the way it ought to be.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.
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.
1994
AL#39 p.36 BRB4 p.72
Dan Erlewine
▪ In the last issue Erlewine described how he made a new “old” Tele body. In this installment he attacks the neck, quite literally. With 40 photos.
1994
AL#39 p.49 BRB4 p.461
Kevin Aram
▪ The reviewer finds that his good first impression of the book is dimmed by six months spent in its company. He maintains that the information is inconsistent and not in the best interest of the beginning luthier, nor complete enough for the experienced builder.
1994
AL#39 p.56 BRB4 p.416
Rick Turner
▪ Turner updates the membership on some wire work he has done lately in his own shop.
1994
AL#39 p.60 read this article
Marvin-E. Shaw
▪ Weissenborn guitar.
1994
AL#39 p.4
Paul Gudelsky
▪
1994
AL#39 p.6
Paul Hurley
▪
1994
AL#39 p.7
Lance Carter
▪
1994
AL#39 p.10 BRB4 p.52
Bryan Galloup
▪ Here’s the whole story, with some tools for heat removal of the parts not seen in the magazine before. Pull those worn parts and make your own replacements. With 38 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1994
AL#39 p.25 BRB4 p.70
John Calkin
▪ The focus here is electric guitar pickguards, both wood and plastic. Some tips carry over to acoustic pickguards.
1994
AL#38 p.8
George Gorodnitsky
▪
1994
AL#38 p.18 BRB4 p.28
Dan Erlewine
▪ How do you make a new electric guitar that looks like it spent forty years in the bar wars? Erlewine uses two finishes with incompatible shrink rates, rope, the concrete floor, you name it! Creativity can be harsh, but his Tele certainly looks vintage.
1994
AL#38 p.24 BRB4 p.34
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune made a map of plate dimensions using a new (and expensive) gizzy called the Elcometer. Then he decides that plate thickness probably isn’t so big a deal. Well, at least you have a model to guide you.
1994
AL#38 p.26 BRB4 p.20
David Riggs
▪ Sometimes German instruments can look downright, well, German! Not the ones that Riggs captured on film, though. Perhaps the whole world is now one big melting pot.
1994
AL#38 p.30 BRB4 p.36
Jonathon Peterson Nick Kukich Jeanne Munro
▪ The folks from Franklin Guitars are outspoken and articulate. Are steel string makers really the “bottom feeders” of the guitar world? Kukich was there at the rebirth of the OM guitar.
1994
AL#38 p.34 BRB4 p.42
Francis Kosheleff
▪ A typical bandura looks like a melted acoustic guitar with about a hundred extra strings spread across the body. OK, not that many. A lot, though. Kosheleff knows these Russians well.
1994
AL#38 p.44 BRB4 p.48
Mike Doolin
▪ Anyone willing to dismantle their first guitar deserves a lot of credit, especially if it came out cosmetically pristine the first time. Doolin replaced the top of his first guitar to bring the bass response up to spec. With 9 photos and a lot to think about.
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.”
1994
AL#38 p.54 BRB4 p.484
John Jordan
▪ Options from easiest to most difficult for grounding strings to achieve noise reduction.
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.
1994
AL#37 p.57 BRB4 p.458
Ron Lira
▪ The reviewer says, “I’m so impressed with this book I could just bust!” Apparently America now has a National heaven.
1994
AL#37 p.58 BRB4 p.482
David Riggs
▪ Building a large arched instrument using a 4″ grinder and a Lancelot cutting disc as a gouge alternative.
1993
AL#36 p.16 BRB3 p.396
Ervin Somogyi
▪ Somogyi delves into many of the technical considerations of guitar design and construction. With a large number of drawings.
1993
AL#36 p.40 BRB3 p.405
Jonathon Peterson Scott Tremblay
▪ Trembley is a Canadian luthier who specializes in the guitars of the 19th century, both as a maker and a restorationist. He has studied the subject deeply. With 12 photos and a scale drawing of an 1816 Salon Guitar by Jose Martinez. This plan is a reduced version of GAL full-scale Plan #36.
1993
AL#36 p.41 BRB3 p.409
Scott Tremblay
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
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.
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.
1993
AL#36 p.63
Gene Rhinehart
▪ Drawings of the duolian metal body guitar (12-fret neck).
1994
AL#37 p.4
Kris-D. Pennisten
▪
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.
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.
1993
AL#35 p.24 BRB3 p.370
Nicholas-Von Robison Tom Ribbecke
▪ As an adviser to the trade, a builder of high quality guitars, and teacher, Ribbecke has had a strong influence on the work of many luthiers. This interview sketches his beginnings in lutherie.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1993
AL#35 p.44 BRB3 p.500 read this article
Bruce McGuire
▪ Overholtzer is cussed and discussed, but he had an undeniable influence on the American classical guitar scene. He built Spanish guitars in a very un-Spanish manner.
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.
1993
AL#35 p.60
Paul Hurley
▪ Hurley believes that classical guitars aren’t loud enough, and that if design changes can’t make improvements, perhaps concert halls should be changed or amplification used. He wishes to boost the popularity of guitar concerts.
1993
AL#35 p.63 BRB3 p.503 read this article
John Monteleone
▪ Remembering Mario Maccaferri, creator of guitars made by Selmer of Paris and made famous by Django Reinhardt, major contributor to the field of injection molding plastic, and overall self made man.
1993
AL#34 p.41 BRB3 p.351 ALA3 p.51
R.E. Brune
▪ Is the Met’s Segovia Hauser the famous Hauser? Probably, but maybe not. That such mysteries can remain about the most famous classical guitarist ever is quite heartening.
1993
AL#34 p.42 ALA5 p.8
H.E. Huttig Todd Taggart Tim Olsen
▪ A well-loved man is remembered in his own words. Also see AL#32.
1993
AL#34 p.52 BRB3 p.426 read this article
Rick Turner
▪ This column is dedicated to combining magnetic and piezo pickups.
1993
AL#33 p.50 BRB3 p.426 read this article
Rick Turner
▪ Turner talks about building pickup/microphone systems into an acoustic guitar.
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.
1993
AL#33 p.56 BRB3 p.492
Bill Garofalo
▪ One of a kind solidbody electric tuning mechanism.
1993
AL#33 p.57 BRB3 p.471 read this article
Dave Maize
▪ Videos begin to get their due in the review department. The reviewer decides this tape is a valuable aid for the first-time builder.
1993
AL#33 p.58
Gene Rhinehart
▪ Where to find a ‘quarterman’ cone for building a dobro.
1993
AL#33 p.60 BRB3 p.312
Bill Garofalo
▪ An impromptu tour of a guitar factory in Buenos Aires, mainly making solidbody electrics.
1993
AL#34 p.6 BRB3 p.316 ALA5 p.22
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Elliott believes that top replacements might be far more common in the future than they are now. Instruments with tired tops might have them replaced rather than retire the rare/irreplaceable hardwoods that comprise the rest of the instrument. Anyhow, he tried it out. Here he presents a description of the operation and the ethics involved, with 23 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1993
AL#34 p.20 BRB3 p.330 ALA6 p.24
Jonathon Peterson Michael Sanden
▪ A Swedish guitar maker comes to America for a round of twenty-questions. When non-Americans step out on Lutherie Road the trip isn’t necessarily the one we imagine. Sanden shares a lot of information about his mentor, Georg Bolin.
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.
1993
AL#34 p.30 BRB3 p.340
Steve Klein
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1993
AL#33 p.3
Skip Helms
▪ Doin’ it with a router table.
1993
AL#33 p.6 BRB3 p.272
Cyndy Burton Roberto Gomes
▪ A Brazilian guitar maker comments upon his situation in Brazil and his first trip to America as a luthier.
1993
AL#33 p.12 BRB3 p.278 read this article
Roberto Gomes
▪ Gomes offers a list and short description of some current Brazilian builders.
1993
AL#33 p.14 BRB3 p.280
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune describes a rare 11-string Torres guitar and the manner in which he restored it. With 11 photos and a half-page of drawings. Mentions Romanillos.
1993
AL#33 p.30 BRB3 p.292
Geary Baese
▪ When a violin guy gets on the trail of an old guitar it comes out sounding an awful lot like a violin article. And when Stradivari is involved what else can one expect? Baese makes an educated guess about the materials and techniques that finished a famous guitar. With 8 photos.
1992
AL#32 p.46 BRB3 p.265
Lisa Hurlong
▪ An adopted daughter of Granada describes an up-and-coming Spanish guitar maker. Good local color. Mentions Antonio Marin.
1992
AL#32 p.69 BRB3 p.474
Dake Traphagen
▪ Making baroque guitar roses.
1992
AL#31 p.61 BRB3 p.474
Robert Lundberg
▪ Literature on making Baroque guitar roses.
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.
1992
AL#31 p.67 BRB3 p.501 read this article
R.E. Brune
▪ Remembering Hart Hutting II, an avid aficionado of flamenco and selfless contributor to the GAL since it’s inception.
1992
AL#32 p.8 BRB3 p.242
Jonathon Peterson Ren Ferguson
▪ The shop honcho of Gibson West relates some personal background. Ferguson moved to Montana long before Gibson did. Did Gibson really build a factory there just for him? Probably not. Mentions Rob Ehlers, Steve Carlson, Henry Juszkiewicz.
1992
AL#32 p.11 BRB3 p.244
Jonathon Peterson
▪ As a maker of fine acoustic instruments Gibson was reborn in Montana. The man in charge of creativity and efficiency leads the GAL team through his domain. With 17 photos.
1992
AL#32 p.16 BRB3 p.250 ALA5 p.10
R.E. Brune H.E. Huttig
▪ Huttig began importing guitar parts and European tonewood in the 1950s, and was a hard-core enthusiast of the classical guitar even before that. As a businessman and a friend to musicians and luthiers his life had far-reaching fallout. Mentions Barbero, Bobri, Hauser II, Hernandez, Romanillos, Ramirez, Esteso, and so on.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1992
AL#31 p.7 BRB3 p.203
Jose Romanillos
▪ Romanillos co-authored the catalog for the Exhibition of Spanish Guitars in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and he asks that R. E. Brune elucidate upon his statement that the catalog contained inaccuracies (AL#29).
1992
AL#31 p.7 BRB3 p.203
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune answers Romanillos letter, above.
1992
AL#31 p.8 BRB3 p.212 ALA3 p.44
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune visits with, measures, and draws Segovia’s most famous guitar. The plans offered are a reduced version of GAL full-scale Plan #33. Brune feels that the guitar misses the maestro. With 19 photos.
1992
AL#31 p.21 BRB3 p.9 ALA3 p.48
R.E. Brune
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1992
AL#31 p.30 BRB3 p.224 read this article
John Decker
▪ This alternative to wood is outside the reach of most luthiers. It’s interesting to know how hard some are working to make graphite sound like wood. Graphite might have its own sound to offer, but once again inventors have to deal with what humans are used to, rather than with what they might have if they were more open minded. With 7 photos.
1992
AL#31 p.45
Gila Eban
▪ Eban salutes a man whose generosity helped many persons on their quest for the good life as luthiers.
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.
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.
1992
AL#30 p.56 BRB3 p.469 read this article
Lloyd Zsiros
▪ The reviewer finds that although the book offers no information on playing or building guitars, it is otherwise an excellent resource and a pleasure to read. The photos are excellent and the book covers a lot of ground.
1992
AL#29 p.59 BRB3 p.468 read this article
Lloyd Zsiros
▪ The reviewer likes this video at first, but after repeated viewing finds it comes up short. If you have all the books and still can’t get motivated, perhaps this tape will help.
1992
AL#29 p.62 BRB3 p.434
Harry Fleishman
▪ Harry reviews the Acoustech Dynamic Field Pickup.
1992
AL#30 p.6 BRB3 p.196 ALA4 p.20
Paul Hostetter
▪ AL is one of the few available resources that examines the foreign instrument scene in any detail. Hostetter’s chief interest lies in the Selmer Django guitars designed by Maccaferri, but he peeks into every nook that offers a glimpse of strange instruments. Along the way he meets Francois Charle and Maurice Dupont. With 5 photos of Selmers.
1992
AL#30 p.7 BRB3 p.197 ALA4 p.21
Francois Charle Paul Hostetter
▪ Get the straight skinny about Maccaferri/Selmer guitars from a French expert.
1992
AL#30 p.10 BRB3 p.200 ALA4 p.24
Paul Hostetter Maurice Dupont
▪ Meet a French guitar maker whose specialty is the recreation of Selmer guitars. Dupont even mills his own spruce. He is one of the more accessible foreign luthiers, and his guitars are available in the States. Mentions Maccaferri, Django Reinhardt.
1992
AL#30 p.16 BRB3 p.136 read this article
Alan Carruth
▪ Accessibility and usefulness are the keys to this segment of Carruth’s study. He addresses the archtop, flattop, and classical guitars, and even builds a flattop out of oak to compare its tuning modes to conventional tonewoods. With many mode diagrams and plate graduation charts. Too many scientific studies leave the luthier asking, “So what do you want me to do?” Carruth offers some real-world suggestions. Parts One and Two were in AL#28 and AL#29.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1992
AL#30 p.40 BRB3 p.206 ALA5 p.18
Jonathon Peterson Richard Schneider
▪ Many still have doubts about the merits of the Kasha versions of the classical guitar, but no one questions Schneider’s reputation as a masterful creator of instruments. This interview focuses on his time spent in Mexico learning the trade from Juan Pimentel.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1992
AL#29 p.20 BRB3 p.178 ALA6 p.10
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Most people who even knew what one was thought of the harp guitar as a less-than-useless dinosaur. Then came Michael Hedges. Peterson looks back at a strange instrument whose best music might just lie in the future. With 49 photos and a number of good drawings. Mentions Torres, Hauser I, Scherzer, Staufer, Mozzani, Gibson, Knutsen, Martin, and so on.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1992
AL#29 p.34 BRB3 p.192 ALA6 p.27
Todd Brotherton
▪ This is the guitar into which Michael Hedges breathed new life. A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1992
AL#29 p.42 BRB3 p.136 read this article
Alan Carruth
▪ Carruth tries to keep it light as he describes the glitter dances that should improve your violins, and even sheds light on cello plate tuning. If you feel threatened by the dryness of science just relax and give it a try. Carruth is on your side. Really. With a whole bunch of drawings. Part One was in AL#28. Part Three follows in AL#30. The entire series appears in BRB3.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.
1991
AL#28 p.60 BRB3 p.466 read this article
Gary Frisbie
▪ Books from the 70s written by an Englishman and intended to provide a wealth of info on Gibson guitars built from 1950 to the end of the 70s. Book 1 covers all the major lines of solidbody and hollowbody electrics, jazz and flattop acoustics. Book 2 covers omissions and inaccuracies in book 1, plus Epiphones, Kalamazoos, and Dwight guitars
1992
AL#29 p.6 BRB3 p.194 ALA3 p.2
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune outlines the first major exhibition of Spanish guitars ever mounted in America. With 8 photos, including one of Santos Hernandez. Also mentions Torres, M. Ramirez, Segovia, Simplicio, Barbero, Romanillos, and others.
1991
AL#27 p.60 BRB3 p.465 read this article
Kevin Kobie
▪ The reviewer finds that this book is a well-written, useful reference about all Fender guitars.
1991
AL#27 p.60 BRB3 p.465 read this article
C.F. Casey
▪ The reviewer finds this book to be mostly a rehash of Irving Sloane’s Classic Guitar Construction.
1991
AL#28 p.6
Chuck Shifflett
▪ Shifflett reccomends the lutherie course taught by Michael Dunn at Douglas College in New Westminster, BC.
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.57 BRB3 p.476
David Riggs
▪ Sources of various instructional materials for archtop guitar construction.
1991
AL#26 p.58 BRB3 p.463 read this article
Manny Bettencourt
▪ The reviewer finds that this book is an invaluable resource for the professional repairman and will let the amateur evaluate a potential repair and decide whether or not he has the skill to tackle it.
1991
AL#26 p.58 BRB3 p.463 read this article
David Riggs
▪ The reviewer finds that this book offers good, solid instruction to the person building their first guitar.
1991
AL#26 p.59 BRB3 p.464 read this article
Harry Fleishman
▪ The reviewer admires the beauty of the book’s photography, but seems hesitant to recommend it since so little of it is dedicated to musical instruments.
1991
AL#27 p.4 BRB3 p.80
Chris Brandt R.E. Brune Jeffrey-R. Elliott Richard Schneider Ervin Somogyi David Wilson
▪ A look inside the shops of six professional luthiers, featuring floor plans, tooling descriptions, notes on lighting and specialized machinery, and ideas about how work space can help (or hurt) your lifestyle. With a good Q&A segment and 63 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1991
AL#27 p.34 BRB3 p.108 read this article
Ronald-Louis Fernandez
▪ This instrument is a lovely looking cittern, sort of a big mandolin with 12 strings. The traditional tuners are unique, compact, and distinctly ungraceful, but they allow—indeed, encourage—the use of a wonderfully distinctive headstock. With 16 photos.
1991
AL#27 p.46 BRB3 p.118
Joseph-R. Johnson Hideo Kamimoto
▪ The famous repairman/author discusses his book, his history as a luthier, and his expectations for his own future.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1991
AL#27 p.52 BRB3 p.122 ALA5 p.21
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Richard Schneider discusses his current work at “the most beautifully situated guitar shop in the world.” The Kasha influence upon the classical guitar keeps evolving in the hands of this masterful builder/teacher.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1991
AL#25 p.52 BRB3 p.30 read this article
Michael Keller
▪ Silicon heat blankets are good for more than bending sides. Keller touches upon other uses, but his instructions for making forms and putting them to use is the focus here, and they cover about all you need to know. Once you have the blanket, the forms are cheap to make.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1991
AL#26 p.8 BRB3 p.37 ALA4 p.28
Jean Larrivee
▪ Larrivee has overseen the creation of 15,000 acoustic guitars and 12,000 electrics. Much of what he has to say pertains as strongly to the one-off builder as it does to another industry giant, and he doesn’t hold back on anything.
1991
AL#26 p.22 BRB3 p.72 read this article
Rick Turner
▪ Time management advise from a guy who has done a lot of business.
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.
1991
AL#25 p.5 BRB3 p.505 read this article
Chris Hanlin
▪ Announcing the passing of luthier and mentor Bob Mattingly.
1991
AL#25 p.6 BRB3 p.16
Steve Banchero David Freeman Larry Kirmser David Vincent Donald Warnock
▪ A panel of lutherie teachers talks it over at the 1990 GAL Convention.
1991
AL#25 p.21 BRB3 p.482
C.F. Casey
▪ This is one way to make a rosette when you are tired of simple circle patterns.
1991
AL#25 p.22 BRB3 p.2
Kevin Aram
▪ Aram offers an anecdotal history of one of the most influential classical guitars of our time. With 26 photos. Mentions Hauser I, Torres.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1991
AL#25 p.32 BRB3 p.12
Kevin Aram
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1991
AL#25 p.36 BRB3 p.13
Tim Olsen Dan Erlewine
▪ Is there any doubt that Erlewine is the world’s best-known guitar fixer? He’s also a heck of a nice guy. Editor Olsen nailed Erlewine’s feet to the floor long enough to answer a few questions. With 4 neat snapshots. Mentions Herb David, Mike Bloomfield.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1991
AL#25 p.44 BRB3 p.26
Jonathon Peterson George Gorodnitsky
▪ A Russian luthier moves to L.A. and shows up in Tacoma. He was trained in violins and moved on to electric guitars. This is what it was like, rockin’ in the USSR.
1991
AL#25 p.48 BRB3 p.24
Bill Colgan Greg Bernd
▪ Like many of his generation, eighty-year-old Summerfield led a hard life. He didn’t turn to professional instrument making until he reached what many would call old age, but after that he didn’t waste any time. There’s quite a few Seth Summerfields out there, and their story is always a good one.
1990
AL#24 p.59 BRB2 p.485
Bob Zatzman Jim Morris Ralph Novak Matt Umanov Ron Lira
▪ Wiring information for electric guitars.
1990
AL#23 p.54 BRB2 p.420
Gabriel Petric
▪ AL #23 takes its second glimpse at instrument making in a strange land and finds that the concerns of luthiers are the same the world over. With 7 photos.
1990
AL#24 p.6 BRB2 p.422
Steve Andersen Steve Grimes Ted Beringer Jonathon Peterson
▪ This informal roundtable discussion delves deeply into the background, influences, and work of three builders at a time when the archtop guitar was just coming into its own for the second time. With 7 photos.
1990
AL#24 p.16 BRB2 p.470
Dana Bourgeois
▪ This is perhaps the strongest article ever published in American Lutherie about voicing the top and bracing of the steel string guitar. The fallout from this piece has been very wide spread.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1990
AL#24 p.19 BRB2 p.476
Gila Eban Dana Bourgeois
▪ Dana discusses his favorite top woods and how they compare.
1990
AL#24 p.26 BRB2 p.465
Jonathon Peterson Ivo Pires
▪ America (and indeed, the world) is so deep with people who have had a meaningful life in some phase of lutherie that we should cease being surprised to discover an unknown person who has already racked up 30 or 40 years of experience. Pires is one of those folks, and his story is charming and illuminating. The cream seems to rise wherever it may be.
1990
AL#24 p.38 BRB2 p.460
Bob Gleason
▪ A Hawaiian guitar maker passes on some of his tricks for the successful use of an indigenous wood. With 4 photos of his sidebending procedure.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.
1990
AL#23 p.8 BRB2 p.386
Gila Eban Dana Bourgeois
▪ This interview took place while Bourgeois was designing acoustic guitars for Paul Reed Smith, an enterprise that never came to fruition but which led to Bourgeois starting his own company in Maine. He talks about his early days as a luthier and his association with Eric Shoenberg.
1990
AL#23 p.13 BRB2 p.413
Ralph Novak
▪ Novak finds a simple method of getting electric guitar pickups in phase.
1990
AL#23 p.20 BRB2 p.398
Jonathon Peterson George-A. Smith
▪ Smith is a veteran builder of many instruments who prefers to specialize in guitars and harpsichords.
1990
AL#23 p.24 BRB2 p.414
Roberto Blinder Jose Yacopi
▪ Blinder interviews an Argentine instrument maker about his career, his guitars, wood, and strings. With 4 photos.
1990
AL#22 p.10 BRB2 p.372
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune maintains that strict definitions separating the classical and flamenco guitars were not formulated until the 1950s, before which they often shared many of the characteristics that now separate them.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1990
AL#22 p.18
John Larsen
▪ Larsen built his first guitar in 1950. His article describes the difficult road folks had to follow before the Information Age engulfed lutherie.
1990
AL#22 p.28 BRB2 p.384
Rion Dudley
▪ Dudley adds a 1/10″ layer of spruce between the instrument top and the bridge plate of a 12-string guitar, and under the bridge of a flattop mandolin. He likes the results, but is uncertain what the operation actually does to the performance of the top.
1990
AL#21 p.8 BRB2 p.346
Jose Romanillos
▪ A dedicated person lives a life of joy and frustration. Finding a suitable balance is the tough part. Romanillos aims his thought at the guitar and strikes a much larger target.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1990
AL#21 p.14 BRB2 p.364
Ralph Novak
▪ Novak’s patented fretboard uses slanted frets that alter the scale length from string to string, growing longer toward the bass side. He lists a series of improvements over the normal fretboard.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1990
AL#21 p.15 BRB2 p.365
John Bromka
▪ It seems that some 17th century Elizabethan luthiers beat Novak to the punch with a multiple-scale fretboard.
1990
AL#21 p.32 BRB2 p.358
Jeffrey-R. Elliott Cyndy Burton
▪ The authors make a cross-country pilgrimage to examine two world famous classical guitars, one by Manuel Ramirez and one by Hermann Hauser Sr. The wonder is that there are riddles there yet to be solved.
1990
AL#21 p.36 BRB2 p.352
Robert Lundberg R.E. Brune
▪ Lundberg says that perhaps he’s tracked down Marie’s own luthier. Brune examines the evidence and decides he’s not prepared to jump on board. With 3 fine photos.
1990
AL#21 p.44 BRB2 p.262
Joseph-R. Johnson
▪ A number of non-mandolins were considered to be intrinsic parts of the mandolin orchestras. This installment of the series looks at all the boys in the band (and some girls, too). With 16 photos and a few drawings.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1990
AL#22 p.3
Ralph Novak
▪ An old Harmony guitar may not be a wonderful instrument, but it is well worth rebuilding.
1989
AL#19 p.58
Mike Markure
▪ Except on vintage Ovations, if a top is cracked a whole new body is made rather than replacing the top.
1989
AL#20 p.21 BRB2 p.319
Jonathon Peterson
▪ William McCaw is a builder in pursuit of the $1000, high quality classical guitar.
1989
AL#20 p.58 BRB2 p.482
J.G. Molnar Marc Silber
▪ Cantos work was primitive but his materials good; the flamencos being of real Spanish cypress with fairly good spruce tops.
1989
AL#19 p.3
Brett Borton
▪ Borton sends 2 photos updating his work on crank tops (American Lutherie #17), and an X brace substitute.
1989
AL#19 p.5 read this article
Anthony-D. Blokzyi
▪ Blokzyi furnishes a description of the Gittler guitar, an all stainless steel, skeletonized instrument.
1989
AL#19 p.23 read this article
H.E. Huttig
▪ Farewell to a jazz guitarist/repairman.
1989
AL#19 p.24 BRB2 p.250
R.E. Brune
▪ A guitar that may have belonged to Marie Antoinette is brought back to playing condition. This article gives a good picture of what goes into the restoration of a museum-quality instrument. With 13 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1989
AL#19 p.32 BRB2 p.251
Anonymous
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1989
AL#19 p.34 BRB2 p.262
Joseph-R. Johnson
▪ Mandolin mania in America was a social phenomenon that was inflated to the max by the Gibson Company advertising propaganda. This portion of the series details the rise of the mandolin orchestras and mandolin clubs. With 9 photos and a Gibson cartoon. Part Two and Part Three follow in AL#20 and AL#21.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1989
AL#19 p.56 BRB2 p.496
Jeffrey-R. Elliott Cyndy Burton
▪ The reviewers find this book to be “a significant resource. . .densely packed with information both useful and interesting.” The evolution of the classical guitar, as described by Romanillos, should be of interest to all contemporary builders.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1989
AL#18 p.20 BRB2 p.222
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Caldersmith and the Canberra Guitar Ensemble work toward developing a series of classical guitars to match the range of the violin family.
1989
AL#18 p.38 read this article
Phil Banks
▪ Banks, like many before him, attempts to display on paper the movements of an excited guitar top.He is uncertain of his results, but his illustrations are certainly foxier than a normal graph or oscilloscope printout.
1989
AL#18 p.42 BRB2 p.238
Jonathon Peterson Wes Brandt
▪ Peterson offers a short interview with a luthier who makes small-bodied steel string guitars from alternative woods.
1989
AL#18 p.48 BRB2 p.280
George Manno Les Paul
▪ The long-lived jazzer/inventor/guitar designer talks mostly about his long association with Gibson.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1989
AL#17 p.54 BRB2 p.480
John Monteleone
▪ Top thickness pattern of the D’Angelico guitar compared to that of a mandolin.
1989
AL#17 p.44 BRB2 p.198
John Morgan
▪ Bridge setup must be done after the bridge is glued to the guitar in Morgan’s system. It also requires many little operations, but the intonation should come out perfect and the saddles remain individually adjustable for height. The finished bridge looks pretty cool, too.
1989
AL#17 p.46 BRB2 p.208
Brett Borton
▪ Have you ever seen a mandolin with an intentional crease or sharp bend to the top behind the bridge? That’s a cranked top. Borton describes how to add a cranked top to the steel string guitar, though he’s not too specific about why we should try it.
1989
AL#17 p.52 BRB2 p.495
David Thormahlen
▪ The reviewer has reservations about the repair chapter of this book, but otherwise finds it to be “accessible, innovative, and valuable.”
1988
AL#16 p.29 BRB2 p.139
Steve Andersen
▪ This is a reduced version of our Plan #24. The article also provides an introduction to the particular guitar that was copied for the plans, and 3 photos. Jazzer nirvana on paper.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1988
AL#16 p.30 BRB2 p.141
Steve Andersen
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1988
AL#16 p.52
John Morgan
▪ Morgan uses braces that seem to taper the wrong way, but reports good results. They also stop short of the lining. He lists other distinctions in his design that complement the new bracing system.
1988
AL#16 p.54 BRB2 p.493
Mark Humpal
▪ The reviewer finds that if you just like to look at guitars, and don’t demand art quality photos, you’ll like this book and its 1200 pictures.
1988
AL#16 p.57 BRB2 p.480
Bob Zatzman
▪ Slanted pickups, loosened truss rod, and classified ads.
1988
AL#16 p.57 BRB2 p.480
Hans Larsson
▪ Slanted pickups, loosened truss rod, and classified ads.
1988
AL#15 p.46 BRB2 p.86
R.E. Brune
▪ An intense description of Japanese classical guitar making taken from Brune’s convention lecture. Life in Japan is probably not much like you imagine it to be, it is far more interesting. The Q&A segment deals more with Brune’s own guitar work. With 21 photos inside a Japanese “factory.”
1988
AL#15 p.56 BRB2 p.100
Joseph-R. Johnson
▪ Johnson offers a brief note about the Witten-Rawlins collection that was recently acquired by the Shrine to Music Museum. With photos and a museum checklist.
1988
AL#15 p.69 BRB2 p.492
Joseph-R. Johnson
▪ The reviewer is enthusiastic about the research potential of this updated book, and believes it will be of use to the repairman who may face Larson instruments on his bench.
1988
AL#16 p.3 BRB2 p.80
Beverly Maher
▪ Maher adds corrections to AL # 8 and #13. She mentions that Segovia’s famous Hauser guitar was from 1937, and that it is at home in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1988
AL#16 p.3 BRB2 p.80
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Elliott corrects his own mistake about the year of Segovia’s most famous Hauser guitar.
1988
AL#16 p.8 BRB2 p.115
Jonathon Peterson
▪ This is 9 photos and a small description of the machine that might be the production archtop maker’s best friend.
1988
AL#14 p.59
Richard Jordan
▪ Jordan used spruce of different stiffness to brace three nearly identical classical guitars, and found the differences to be dramatic. His stiffness test was especially easy to run.
1988
AL#14 p.60 BRB2 p.490
Cyndy Burton
▪ This book, which has since become sort of the Bible of guitarmaking, is described by the reviewer as “the book we’ve all been waiting for.”
1988
AL#13 p.7 BRB2 p.5
Richard Schneider
▪ Schneider tells of his first, and rather strange, meeting with Segovia.
1988
AL#13 p.16 BRB2 p.12
Tim Olsen Jean Larrivee
▪ Life inside the Larrivee guitar shop during its electric/acoustic phase. With 19 photos.
1988
AL#13 p.40 BRB2 p.20
J. Jovicic O. Jovicic
▪ This is a scientific analysis of how variations in picking a note change the response of the classical guitar. Translated from the French.
1988
AL#14 p.14 BRB2 p.55
Ed Vande-Voorde
▪ Rhinehart’s Dobro cones have developed a wonderful reputation. In this interview he outlines his material choices and production techniques. With 6 photos.
1988
AL#14 p.17 BRB2 p.37
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Where did Martin buy their spruce from year to year during their vintage days? Bourgeois discovered that there is no way to know, and that guitar experts are forced to guess.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1988
AL#14 p.18 BRB2 p.58
Steve Grimes
▪ A noted maker of archtop guitars offers a detailed description of the method he uses to adjust the tone of his instruments during the carving process. He finds he is willing to sacrifice a little volume in order to attain a precise tonal character.
1987
AL#12 p.14 BRB1 p.402
J. Jovicic O. Jovicic
▪ This article is more technical talk translated from the original French publication in Acustica. With 51 reproductions of laser interferograms. Part 1 was in American Lutherie #10.
1987
AL#12 p.22 BRB1 p.454 ALA3 p.4
Joseph Bacon Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ A lengthy interview with the well-known maker of classical guitars covers such subjects as training, wood seasoning and supply, finishes, and boomerangs. Cyndy Burton participates. Mentions Hauser Sr., Michael Kasha, Richard Schneider, Ralph Towner, and Julian Bream. With 4 photos.
1987
AL#12 p.26 BRB1 p.460 ALA4 p.4
Tim Olsen
▪ Enhanced with 6 photos, this is the tale of one luthier’s connection to famous musicians, the Everly Brothers. Have you ever made a guitar with solid gold frets and binding? Robert Steinegger has.
1987
AL#12 p.52
Paul Hamer
▪ Hamer’s lecture captures the electric guitar in mid-evolution. He mentions retrofit pickups, locking trem systems, and the Roland guitar synth. He is obviously thrilled to be a part of the parade.
1987
AL#12 p.64 BRB1 p.503 read this article
David Macias
▪ The reviewer encourages all students of the guitar to read this book, regardless of their special interests.
1988
AL#13 p.6 BRB2 p.2
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune’s anecdotes help close the gap between the man and the legend.
1988
AL#13 p.7 BRB2 p.4
H.E. Huttig
▪ Huttig relates a story about the instrument that was the center of the classical guitar universe for decades, the Hauser played by Segovia.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1987
AL#11 p.32 BRB1 p.474
Max Krimmel Jean Larrivee Bruce Ross Ervin Somogyi Robert Steinegger
▪ Such panel discussions are always interesting, but this one especially so, mostly because three of the five panelists run one-man shops. The questions (and even many answers) don’t seem to change much from year to year, but it’s good to hear from some smaller voices in the industry for a change.
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.
1987
AL#12 p.8 BRB1 p.448 read this article
Joseph-R. Johnson
▪ Johnson examines a Stradivarius guitar from the Shrine to Music collection. With 8 photos.
1987
AL#10 p.44 BRB1 p.398
Joseph-R. Johnson
▪ This is a checklist of what to look for when you get there. Also, a reason to go.
1987
AL#10 p.48 BRB1 p.402
J. Jovicic O. Jovicic
▪ Serious research using a classical guitar with four different brace patterns. The experiment started with a simplified fan brace pattern, and fan braces were added for subsequent evaluation. Translated from the French. Part Two is in AL#12.
1987
AL#10 p.62 BRB1 p.500 read this article
Cyndy Burton
▪ Workbook format, large, 160 photos and diagrams, and spiral binding are great advantages of this nuts and bolts straight method book.
1987
AL#11 p.8 BRB1 p.416
Steve Klein
▪ Klein’s lecture outlines his aesthetic concerns about the contemporary steel string guitar, and many of the details of his ever-evolving, iconoclastic instruments. With several nice drawings and 2 photos. Mentions Richard Schneider and Michael Kasha.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1987
AL#11 p.8
Steve Klein
▪ The following four articles demonstrate how innovation and individual flair can lead to instruments that don’t resemble the rest of the pack.
1987
AL#11 p.12 BRB1 p.420
Gila Eban
▪ Eban builds Kasha-style classical guitars. She comments at length about how her aesthetic concept for the guitar evolved, and offers many details of her construction procedures. Her descriptions of her work are so entrancing that you will long for more photos than the five that are offered. With rosette drawings.
1987
AL#11 p.14 BRB1 p.427
Fred Carlson
▪ Carlson makes a case for less conformity in lutherie. Only 1 photo of one of his dramatic, asymmetrical guitars, but it’s quite inspiring.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1987
AL#9 p.52 BRB1 p.344
William Conrad
▪ A Patron is the workboard used to build a guitar in the Spanish style. Conrad explains how to build one, and the reasoning behind it.
1987
AL#9 p.56 BRB1 p.498
C.F. Casey
▪ The reviewer believes that the book may help an experienced luthier adjust his “attitude” toward his craft and thereby make a better instrument. The beginner may not find it so useful.
1987
AL#9 p.56 BRB1 p.499 read this article
Joseph-R. Johnson
▪ The reviewer finds that the book “falls short of being a thorough international bibliography, but will prove valuable to guitar and vihuela teachers, students, and luthiers.”
1987
AL#9 p.57 BRB1 p.500 read this article
Tim Olsen
▪ The reviewer has high praise for this 28-minute film about famed archtop builder Jimmy D’Aquisto. As well as being a “valentine” to D’Aquisto, this film offers a tasty repast for information-hungry luthiers. (AL#9 p.57).
1987
AL#10 p.3
Gila Eban
▪ Eban adds a correction to her article in AL#8.
1987
AL#10 p.6 BRB1 p.358
H.E. Huttig
▪ Bobri was an artist and a patron of the arts, a composer and transcriber of guitar music, president of the New York Guitar Society, and editor of Guitar Review. Huttig’s admiration for the man is obvious in this salute following Bobri’s death by fire.
1987
AL#9 p.14 BRB1 p.312
Steve Grimes
▪ Grimes’ pantograph for routing archtop plates is heavy duty and not real cheap if you have to job out the welding, but it accurately removes 90% of the excess wood. Several drawings accompany the detailed description.
1987
AL#9 p.18 BRB1 p.316
Richard Ennis
▪ Ennis’ carving machine is not as straight forward in use as Grimes’, but its construction should be within the reach of most luthiers. A router mounted in a carriage rides over template rails to cut the contours into the plates of an archtop instrument.
1987
AL#9 p.32 BRB1 p.330
H.M. Kolstee
▪ Kolstee’s adjustable bridge saddle is made of bone, except for the locking set screw. It is easily adjustable for intonation and uses shims to adjust the string height.
1987
AL#9 p.34 BRB1 p.332
Dave Schneider
▪ A ’68 paisley Tele is reborn, complete with Parsons B and E benders and a complete refinishing from the foil on up.
1987
AL#9 p.36 BRB1 p.334 read this article
H.E. Huttig
▪ Have you ever wondered how cat gut strings were named? This article suggests an answer as it delves into some string facts and fictions.
1987
AL#9 p.42 BRB1 p.336
Richard Jordan
▪ Jordan’s article outlines all the steps he uses to shape a classical headstock. He cuts the slots with Dremel router, router base, and fence, and they come out very clean.
1987
AL#9 p.44 BRB1 p.201
Tim Olsen Robert Steinegger
▪ Here’s the low down on a trick Washburn bridge from 1897. A photo and drawing explain the plot line, but the mystery remains.
1986
AL#8 p.8 BRB1 p.266
Gila Eban
▪ Eban charts the design evolution of the Kasha system of classical guitars as applied to her own instruments. With many drawings, glitter tests, and a discussion of different materials.
1986
AL#8 p.16
William Conrad
▪ Conrad finds that spruce tops can be graded for density by the color of the light that shines through them, and uses a camera light meter to calibrate them.
1986
AL#8 p.18 BRB1 p.274 ALA3 p.8
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ This lecture transcription presents a chronological overview of the work of Hermann Hauser Sr. 26 photos and 3 drawings complete the article. A major investigation of some important guitars.
1986
AL#8 p.28 BRB1 p.283 ALA3 p.16
Jeffrey-R. Elliott
▪ Elliott offers a scale drawing, dimensions list, and a bill of materials for a Hauser guitar. The drawing is a reduced version of our full-scale Plan #12.
1986
AL#8 p.30
Graham Caldersmith Jim Williams
▪ This interview covers the evolution of Smallman’s guitars as he worked his way toward the lattice bracing system for which he has become famous. Classical guitar lore from the outback of Australia.
1986
AL#8 p.35 BRB1 p.463
Francis Kosheleff
▪ Kosheleff changes the treble quality of his classical guitars by using three steel strings run through the standard bridge and then attached to a tailpiece.
1986
AL#8 p.36 BRB1 p.290
Michael Kasha
▪ Kasha firmly maintains that science has much to offer instrument design, but also claims that the best tone may be simply what the public is used to, and that this interesting variable can be tracked but not predicted. He believes that tone perception is as important as tone production.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1986
AL#8 p.38 BRB1 p.292 ALA5 p.7
Jose Ramirez-III
▪ Ramirez expounds upon his experiments with classical guitar top thickness and bracing patterns and size to achieve the best tone and stability.
1986
AL#8 p.44
David Macias
▪ Macias describes a pleasant festival of lectures, discussion, and music.
1986
AL#8 p.49 BRB1 p.298
Denny Rauen
▪ Rauen corrects an action problem by changing the fingerboard at a time when most repairmen were correcting the problem in the frets. He uses a multiradius fretboard which is also called a conical fretboard.
1986
AL#8 p.49 BRB1 p.298
Tim Olsen
▪ Editor Olsen figures that for the lowest string action a fingerboard must resemble a cone shape, rather than a cylinder. Find other related articles by searching for the term conical.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1986
AL#7 p.53 BRB1 p.260
Denny Rauen
▪ Rauen’s installation procedure is meant to remove as little wood from the guitar body as possible. This is not a procedure for retrofitting the bridge system to guitars using a stock Fender-style bridge, but for dropping it onto a new body or one with a hardtail bridge.
1986
AL#7 p.56 BRB1 p.181
Sam Sherry
▪ Sherry claims his “bridge plate” style caul is a universal tool that makes bridge regluing easier.
1986
AL#8 p.3 BRB1 p.466
J.G. Molnar
▪ Molnar shares interesting anecdotes about the difference between Spanish guitars made for export, which he maintains reach our shores unfinished, and those finished by the shops for use in Europe.
1986
AL#8 p.3
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune maintains that innovations in the classical guitar have happened on a regular basis in recent history, and do not depend solely on the work of Dr. Kasha to bring the instrument up to date.
1986
AL#7 p.29 BRB1 p.256 ALA6 p.8
Mario Maccaferri
▪ Maccaferri speaks about his life as a musician, luthier, and inventor. Mentions the Selmer company and Django Reinhardt.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1986
AL#5 p.52
Duane Waterman
▪ The idea of the project is to bring together several members/luthiers to build a guitar cooperatively and sell it for the benefit of the Guild.
1986
AL#5 p.53 BRB1 p.496 read this article
Gila Eban
▪ The reviewer finds the book to be of interest to the luthier, even though it offers little technical information about guitars.
1986
AL#6 p.3 BRB1 p.149
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Bourgeois comments about in inappropriateness of refretting many old Martin guitars with the “Teeter” epoxy method.
1986
AL#6 p.22 read this article
Ted Davis
▪ Davis interviews the great flatpicker about (mostly) nontechnical matters.
1986
AL#6 p.27 BRB1 p.103
Ted Davis
▪ Davis gives a compact history of Martin archtops and offers a blueprint of the C-3 model, then goes on to have a mock interview with Steve Kauffman’s C-3, Suzie. The plan is a reduced version of our full-scale Plan #10.
1986
AL#6 p.28 BRB1 p.106
Ted Davis
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
1986
AL#6 p.34 BRB1 p.227
John Monteleone
▪ Monteleone’s lecture covers personal background, after which a question/answer segment gets to the specifics of archtop design and construction.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1986
AL#6 p.38 BRB1 p.222
Ted Davis John Monteleone
▪ This lengthy interview sheds more light on the archtop maker’s background and furnishes information about his mandolins.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1986
AL#6 p.45
Paul Wyszkowski
▪ Wyszkowski offers a luke-warm acceptance of the potential of the Kasha guitar as interpreted by Richard Schneider.
1986
AL#6 p.45
Carl Margolis
▪ Margolis defends the Kasha guitar system, using the Kasha-influenced instruments of Steve Klein examples.
1986
AL#5 p.7
Jim Williams
▪ Williams endorses scientific guitar design and refers to the work of Australian guitar maker Greg Smallman. Also brings up the names of Kasha and Brune.
1986
AL#5 p.7
Peter Estes
▪ Estes mentions the negative feedback he received about his GAL contribution, Data Sheet #290, in which he recommended a specific method of fitting backs to guitars.
1986
AL#5 p.10 BRB1 p.150
Ted Davis William DelPilar
▪ Davis offers his conversation with a professional luthier who made over 800 classical guitars between 1956 and 1986.
1986
AL#5 p.14 BRB1 p.154 read this article
Bobby Wolfe
▪ Wolfe explains some history of the Dobro-style resonator guitar and mentions John Dopera, then details its construction and lists some commonly seen repairs and how to deal with them. The article is completed by 8 good photos.
1986
AL#5 p.31
Gary Frisbie
▪ Frisbie states his philosophy of how a luthier should evolve his designs.
1986
AL#5 p.41 BRB1 p.195
Tom Blackshear
▪ Blackshear describes his method of thinning the top of an assembled guitar to enhance the tone.
1985
AL#4 p.11 BRB1 p.99
William Cumpiano Manuel Velazquez
▪ Velazquez fields a number of questions about the specifics of building the nylon-strung guitar, including types of glue, choice of wood, construction design, and finishing.
1985
AL#4 p.20 BRB1 p.114
David Macias
▪ Macias relates an interesting anecdote about the first maple classical guitar he built, then translates a Pujol description of the Tarrega guitar made by Torres.
1985
AL#4 p.36 BRB1 p.140 ALA5 p.2
William Tapia
▪ Tapia relates the history of Ramirez guitars and tells of his time there learning to properly repair them.
1985
AL#4 p.39 BRB1 p.145 ALA5 p.6
William Tapia
▪ Tapia describes the method used to make guitar nuts in the Ramirez shop.
1985
AL#4 p.42
Gila Eban
▪ Eban takes on Paul Wyzskowski as she champions the design innovations of Michael Kasha. She has incorporated many of Kasha’s changes into her own classical guitars. Her rebuttal mentions Richard Schneider, Jamey Hampton, and Graham Caldersmith.
1985
AL#4 p.42
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune, a defender of traditional values, defends his criticism of the Kasha innovations, along the way mentioning Schneider, Hampton, and Segovia.
1985
AL#4 p.53 BRB1 p.492 read this article
R.E. Brune
▪ The reviewer finds that this book about Renaissance and Baroque stringed instruments is “the most intense 178 pages of treatise on the art of lutherie. . . . Lots of math, and “exquisite” drawings of 33 instruments.
1985
AL#3 p.19
Paul Wyszkowski
▪ Sixty books and articles dealing with guitar acoustics are rated for legitimacy, clarity, and usefulness.
1985
AL#3 p.38 BRB1 p.90
Ed Mettee
▪ Photos and sketches fill out a description of a knockdown solidbody guitar that fits into a briefcase.
1985
AL#4 p.8 BRB1 p.96
William Cumpiano
▪ Cumpiano shares a pleasant visit with Velazquez in Puerto Rico where the conversation is all about classical guitars, wood, compensation factors, and balancing the tone of the instrument.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1985
AL#2 p.51 BRB1 p.487 read this article
John Bromka Ron Lira
▪ Positive reviews praise the text, photos, and ad reproductions in this book about the Larson brothers, who made instruments from the 1880s to 1944.
1985
AL#2 p.53 BRB1 p.488 read this article
C.F. Casey
▪ The reviewer calls this the best of the popular (as opposed to scholarly) histories of the guitar.
1985
AL#2 p.54 BRB1 p.77
Brian Mascarin
▪ They are: an archtop guitar brace jack, a modified 1/4″ phone plug to position an output jack, and a clear plastic square for scribing fret positions on a fretless bass.
1985
AL#3 p.2
Paul Wyszkowski
▪ Wyszkowski rebuts R. E. Brune’s criticism of the work of Dr. Kasha in AL#1 and mentions the work of Richard Schneider, then goes on to counter a criticism of the GAL.
1985
AL#3 p.5
Jamey Hampton
▪ Hampton counters R. E. Brune’s criticism of Michael Kasha in AL#1, and draws upon Jose Ramirez III to help defend the scientific philosophy of guitarmaking.
1985
AL#3 p.8 BRB1 p.80
C.F. Martin-IV
▪ Martin, currently head of the Martin Guitar Company, offers some personal history and business advice to luthiers.
1985
AL#3 p.11 BRB1 p.84
C.F. Martin-III
▪ The former head of the Martin Guitar Company reminisces about his life as a guitar maker, offers a short history of the company and certain guitar models, and in the process mentions C. F. Martin Jr., Frank Henry Martin, and Mike Longworth.
1985
AL#1 p.53
William McCaw
▪ McCaw ruined a classic peghead when the cheap collar of his router gave way.
1985
AL#1 p.54 BRB1 p.486
William McCaw
▪ The reviewer praises the book as the most logical of the construction methods he has read, but takes issue with some specific techniques.
1985
AL#2 p.20 BRB1 p.68 read this article
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Caldersmith discusses the efficiency and pattern of sound radiation in the classic guitar produced by the four lower resonance modes, which he calls monopole, cross dipole, long dipole, and tripole. Mentions Tom Rossing, Gila Eban, Paul Wyzskowski, Fred Dickens, Michael Kasha, Richard Schneider, and Greg Smallman.
1985
AL#2 p.25
H.E. Huttig
▪ Humorous fiction. A guitar of continental proportions is constructed with disastrous results.