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#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.58
Mark French
▪ Its amazing what you can do with a smart phone these days. Think you would need an anvil, a block-and-tackle, and a bathrom scale to measure the breaking strength of a guitar string? Nope. Theres an app for that. Mentions Fine Chromatic Tuner.
2023
AL#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.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#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#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.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.
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.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#146 p.44
Mark French Alyssa Fernandez
▪ How stiff is that neck blank? You could cut all your blanks to the same dimensions and then set up a rig with a hanging weight to measure deflection and such. But hey, got a smart phone? It can listen while you tap on a bunch of neck blanks, and then tell you how stiff each one is.
2021
AL#144 p.6
Roger Haggstrom
▪ A hundred and some years ago, Swedish folks sat around the house all of a dark winter and sang hymns together, accompanied by the strummings of cheap mass-produced guitars. Those days are gone, but a lot of the guitars are still hanging on the walls of old houses. Roger Häggström has made a business of restoring them to useful condition and modifying them to sound and play better than they ever could have. He restores and modifies. Restomods. Mentions the Levin guitar company.
2021
AL#144 p.56
Debbie French Mark French
▪ There is a national movement to teach teachers how to teach STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math) to high-school students; you have them make guitars. Turns out people think it’s fun to make guitars. Who knew?
2021
AL#143 p.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.48
Mark French
▪ Here’s how to quickly make a frequency-response curve of a guitar on your bench, using a handheld digital recorder and free software. Not cheap and easy enough for you? The author goes on to tell you how to do the whole thing on a smart phone. Mentions Spectroid, MATLAB, and Audacity.
2021
AL#143 p.60
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola gives short, not-too-technical summaries of two articles recently published online by Savart Journal. In the first, Mark French et al. take on the fraught task of “Comparing Subjective and Objective Data from a Pool of Classical Guitars.” In the second, Gabriele Caselli et al. present an “Analysis of Violin Combination Tones and their Contribution to Tartini’s Third Tone.”
2021
AL#142 p.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.55
Max Krimmel
▪ If you are luthier who does not remember the name of Max Krimmel, you might be under age fifty. Max was a pack leader in the early days of the American Lutherie Boom, before he went on to specialize in a few of his many other artistic interests. Anyway, why and article about marimbas? As Max says, “Think of it as deep background learning.”
2020
AL#141 p.70
R.M. Mottola
▪
2020
AL#141 p.70
Howard Stephens
▪ The author argues that they don’t sound very different.
2021
AL#142 p.4
Michael Cone
▪ Collecting frequency response data from completed guitars. In reply to a question in AL#141.
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#139 p.69
Mike Doolin
▪ When you use a bolt-on neck for a flattop guitar, can you just not glue down the part of the fretboard that lies on the soundboard?
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.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.
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#136 p.69
R.M. Mottola
▪ Can you still get Bradley signal generators, the kind used for glitter-testing instruments and instrument parts, now that Don Bradley has passed away? No, but there are many more-modern alternatives.
2019
AL#136 p.69
James Blilie
▪ How much clamping force do different types of clamps exert? Blilie shows us how to calculate the force for some kinds of clamps, and comments about how much force is enough.
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.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.
2018
AL#135 p.67
R.M. Mottola
▪ Info on slotting a fretboard to have 24 frets to the octave.
2018
AL#135 p.69
Mark Hatcher
▪ What’s the deal with hardwood tops on steel string guitars?
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.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.48
R.M. Mottola
▪ What’s the scale length? Isn’t it just twice the distance from the nut to the 12th fret? Yeah, kinda, but there can be a lot of complicating factors when working on old instruments. Like maybe the nut position was compensated, or just cut wrong. Or maybe the 12th fret was a little off. The fret positions might have been calculated using the old rule of 18. Here’s how to find out what’s really going on.
2018
AL#134 p.69
Fan Tao
▪ How do I adjust string gauge to keep playing feel constant when changing scale length?
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#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.70
Andy Powers
▪ Thoughts about short-scale guitars.
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#133 p.3
Brent Benfield
▪ Do finely-sanded guitar tops actually sound different from the usual ones? An experienced luthier writes in to aver that they do.
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.48
James Blilie
▪ We all have ideas about the stiffness of brace wood, probably based on a combination of intuition, hearsay, and informal flexing. Blilie aims to accumulate more quantitave data. Here he reports on his latest tests. He also describes his methodology and the reasoning behind it. This is Blilie’s third article on this topic.
2018
AL#133 p.54
Edmond Rampen
▪ OK, we are probably some distance yet from pushing a button and 3D-printing a functioning guitar. And if you think that something about that sounds kinda crepy and disappointing, you just might be a luthier. But what we are talking about in this article is entirely different: Using surprisingly inexpensive printers to make templates, tools, and parts for guitars. The future is here, people. Get into this while you wait for your hover car.
2017
AL#131 p.53
James Blilie
▪ Unless you are really messing it up, the glue line is stronger than the wood. And here’s more numbers to prove it. Blilie uses real lab gear and standard statistical analysis to drive the lesson home.
2017
AL#132 p.3
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola collected some data about string length compensation at the 2017 GAL Convention. He promises to publish soon.
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.62
Mark French
▪ We think the old boys found the 1st fret position by dividing the string length by 18. Then they divided that by 18 to get the 2nd fret. Sounds like a job for that nerdy apprentice kid. But 18 is just an approximation of the “right” number; that is, the 12th fret won’t be right in the middle of the string. If you want to do it by hand, here’s some thoughts and numbers about what would be a better approximation, and how much better it would be.
2017
AL#130 p.68
Dave Fifield
▪ Is it a good idea to cover a guitar soundboard with marquetry?
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#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#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.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.58
James Blilie
▪ We all have ideas about the stiffness of brace wood, probably based on a combination of intuition, hearsay, and informal flexing. Blilie aims to accumulate more quantitave data. Here he reports on his latest tests. He also describes his methodology and the reasoning behind it. This is Blilie’s second article on this topic. The earlier one is in AL128. A third article appears in AL133.
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.70
R.M. Mottola
▪ Mottola translates the arcane jargon of this article for us general readers.
2012
AL#109 p.58
R.M. Mottola
▪ A milestone in ‘how to’ lutherie publications on the construction of flattop guitars, packaged in two large volumes: one on design and one on construction.
2011
AL#106 p.5
R.M. Mottola
▪ The Savart Journal is an open access online journal featuring research articles on all aspects of science and technology of musical instruments.
2009
AL#100 p.48 read this article
Mark French
▪ Guitar strings need to be the “wrong” length in order to sound “right.” The gloriously simple math of Pythagoras doesn’t accomplish this. French uses lasers and spreadsheets, more numbers, and Greek letters to attempt to get closer.
2009
AL#99 p.52
Ryan Schultz
▪ There’s just enough math here to make our brains cloud over, so most folks should get along fine. It’s still not as easy to build as a spoke-built dish, but if you’re cheap and must have a one-piece dish it should work just fine. With 4 photos, a depth chart, and one drawing.
2009
AL#99 p.60 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ Do you know why certain parts of our lives can’t be altered? Because smarter people than us are in control. If you are artistic enough, you can lay out a nice guitar shape with just a pencil and paper. If you are smart enough (not that being smart negates the possibility of artistic talent) you can use geometric forms and even a computer to shape a graceful guitar. If you are neither artistic nor smart you’ll have to copy something that’s already been done. This story is for smart people. With 12 drawings.
2009
AL#99 p.66 read this article
Bill Greenwood
▪ This book is aimed at “a niche audience of mathematically literate students who are relatively new to the details of guitar structure. . . .” The reviewer decides it is a successful effort.
2009
AL#100 p.4
Alan Carruth
▪ Comments on Kenny Hill’s response in AL#98 to Mottola’s study of ports in AL#96.
2009
AL#100 p.30
James Blilie
▪ A structural engineer and guitar builder gives his two cents on the guitar as a structure.
2009
AL#98 p.57 read this article
Ahanali Jahandideh Mitra Jahandideh Hadi Abbaszadeh Samad Jahandideh
▪ The Kamanche is a Persian bowed instrument with a skin head. The authors use a ratio of the value of phi to define its size, a trick violin makers have used for a long time. With one photo and 4 drawings.
2009
AL#99 p.22 ALA1 p.36
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Taken from his 2008 GAL convention lecture, the author explains the basic functioning of a guitar top and how he manipulates the plates and braces to achieve the sound he’s after. Mostly, he says, he’s after the most different tap tones that the top and back can produce, but there are many other details given along the way. Bourgeois is often regarded as one of the champions of tap tuning. With 9 photos, 6 charts, and a bunch of diagrams.
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.62
William Leirer
▪ Did you know that the Google search engine has a calculator? This piece is a math lover’s dream. There’s lot of formulae. The goal is to lay out a fret pattern for any scale length, then find the perfect intonation point for it. You’ll need a pretty good guitar tuner to take advantage of the process. All you math challenged luthiers out there, just say “Duh. . . .”
2008
AL#95 p.44 read this article
Robert-J. Spear
▪ Did the Cremonese fiddle makers use geometry to plot the design of their violins? Can geometry explain the size relationships of violin parts and details? Spear thinks so. This is the third and final installment printed in sequential issues of AL. With 3 photos and 9 diagrams/charts.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2008
AL#94 p.56
Alan Carruth
▪ Carruth built a classical guitar with many ports cut in the side. By closing the ports with corks in various combinations he tested the usefulness of sideports and tried to establish the physics behind their use. Though this guitar did not make a believer out of him, he admits that his results are somewhat inconclusive. With one photo and a slew of charts and figures concerning the air modes of his guitar with various sideports open.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2008
AL#95 p.14 read this article
Barbara Goldowsky Norman Pickering
▪ Pickering invented the phonograph cartridge named after him, but that’s just for starters. He’s spent a long lifetime researching and teaching acoustics, inventing clocks and aircraft instruments, working with medical ultrasonics, flying his own plane, researching bowed instruments, and playing viola in chamber ensembles. Just to name a few of his activities. A very interesting and intellectually restless man. With 8 photos.
2008
AL#94 p.30 read this article
Robert-J. Spear
▪ The second installment of how geometry might have been used to design the Cremonese violin. Part One was in AL#93. With 10 graphs and a photo.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2008
AL#93 p.46 read this article
Robert-J. Spear
▪ The author’s goal is to demonstrate that the Cremonese fiddle makers used geometry based on the Golden Mean to design their instruments. This installment concerns the body outline. With 2 photos and 9 graphs/drawings.
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.
2006
AL#88 p.52 read this article
Mark French
▪ The author discusses the curve fit, a mathematical method of describing a shape that a computer, and thus a CNC machine, can understand. Curve fits have other benefits, too, but computer illiteracy prevents them from being described here. Includes a plethora of charts and graphs.
2005
AL#84 p.22 BRB7 p.386
R.M. Mottola
▪ Instruments with domed plates must have the rib assembly altered to accept the topography of the plates. This can be done after assembly or before bending. The author offers an overview of how either can be accomplished.
2005
AL#82 p.38 BRB7 p.344
R.M. Mottola
▪ It’s not necessary to understand the physics of sound to be a great instrument maker, but it can’t hurt. Many of us would like to believe that we succeed using experience and strong intuition and don’t need science. Maybe an analytical mind just gets in the way, no? Or maybe the science guys are just smarter than the rest of us and we need an excuse not to stand in the same light that they do. Who knows? Anyhow, the Helmholtz resonance is the lowest vibratory mode of an instrument, though not necessarily the lowest note that instrument is capable of. All the rest of sound physics is built on top of the Helmholtz resonance, and Mottola devolves the science enough for the rest of us to understand. It’s fun but in the end it’s not clear that it really matters. For the few among us with operational math brains all the formulas are presented in a sidebar.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#82 p.41 BRB7 p.348
R.M. Mottola
▪ Here’s the numbers and how to use them.
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.59 BRB7 p.528 read this article
R.M. Mottola
▪ The right side of the brain is creative and the left side is analytical. It’s nice when they can work together, but for most of us one side or the other is dominant. The reviewer (who is admittedly left-brained) would like even right-brained luthiers to read this book, though he admits that they may struggle. Intelligent people shouldn’t ignore any source of information that may improve their work. Those who become luthiers to escape from real work may not grasp this concept.
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.
2003
AL#76p.65 BRB7 p.491
Alain Bieber
▪ A method for matching the curl when making 4-piece curly maple backs.
2003
AL#75 p.40 BRB7 p.98
Jon Sevy
▪
2003
AL#76 p.6
David Quinn
▪ Quinn offers a math correction to Mike Nealon’s compound radius jig found in AL#66.
2003
AL#76 p.6
William Nesse
▪ Nesse offers a math correction to Rodney Stedall’s dished workboard article in AL#74.
2003
AL#75 p.39 BRB7 p.96
Mike Doolin
▪ Doolin enlists the aid of Jon Sevy to work out the math used in determining the side height of an instrument with a spherically-domed back. Knowing the side height will allow you to profile the sides to fit the guitar design before they are bent. With a photograph and three drawings.
2003
AL#73 p.66 BRB7 p.22
Alan Carruth
▪ A method of measuring an acoustic guitar’s efficiency that can be performed by the average luthier without the resources of a fully equipped lab.
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.36 BRB7 p.14
Jon Sevy
▪ This piece is aptly subtitled “Rules of thumb for approximating changes in the size of braces, tops, and strings,” which sums it up nicely. Our teachers promised us that math wouldn’t be irrelevant in our futures, and here their words come back to bite us. Sevy obviously believed them, and here presents some “easy” formulas for calculating the results of changes in size we might make in our instruments.
2002
AL#71 p.65 BRB6 p.462
David Haxton
▪ Toasted oat cereal as a method for volume measurement in two guitars.
2002
AL#70 p.44 BRB6 p.365
R.M. Mottola
▪ With digital recording and spectrographic analysis software a computer can print out a diagram of an instrument’s tone spectrum, reducing the complicated issue of tone comparison to easy-to-read graphs. The scientifically inclined luthier may find that this helps him build better instruments, while others may decide that it’s another case of too much information. If you’ve found that intuition has carried you as far as it can you might check out the usefulness of “tone pictures”. With 5 bass guitar spectrographs.
2002
AL#70 p.52 BRB6 p.347 read this article
Dave Raley
▪ There are a number of reasons you might wish to know the volume of an instrument. Raley uses a spreadsheet program and some careful measuring to determine this figure.
2002
AL#70 p.53 BRB6 p.349
R.M. Mottola
▪ The author has simplified a computer technique for use with graph paper and pencil, and maintains that the system is accurate to about .5%. If you know the area of a plate you can figure out the volume of the soundbox, as in Raley’s article on p.52.
2000
AL#63 p.63 BRB6 p.65 read this article
Alan Carruth Joe-D. Franklin
▪ Changing guitar dimensions while maintaining the same size air cavity.
1999
AL#60 p.16 BRB5 p.399
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Caldersmith offers this article as an aesthetic link with his more scientific treatise in AL#58. The shape of a fiddles sound can be explained technically, then interpreted into a wooden shape that must please the maker’s artistic eye. If you’ve been scratching your head over the meaning of all the technical gobbledygook, this may be the information you’ve been waiting for. With a drawing and 11 photos of the carving process.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#59 p.63 BRB5 p.483 read this article
David Hurd
▪ The reviewer finds that the expense and daunting technical nature of this two-volume set should not prevent individuals from acquiring them and wading in. He admonishes that one never knows what will come out of such reading, but that nothing will come of it if it isn’t attempted.
1999
AL#58 p.32 BRB5 p.362
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Everyone knows that the most responsive instruments often teeter on the edge of self-destruction from string tension. Building fine-sounding instruments that will also have a reasonable lifespan is one of our general goals. Caldersmith takes a scientist’s view of the violin and decides that arching design is the key to longevity, while an understanding of free-plate tuning is needed to release the tonal qualities the luthier seeks. He furnishes 7 charts and diagrams to help make his case, as well as a photo of his Australian self. But what we all want to know is if a pursuit of science will eventually enhance our luthier’s intuition. Is it better to think or to feel? Do we really have to choose?
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#58 p.42 BRB5 p.355
Jon Sevy
▪ If first-year college math pushed your left-brain functions to the limit (been there, done that) you may cringe at the sight of the simplest equation. If so, check out this article. Modern luthiers build arcs into many of their instruments, and if you don’t know how to create them to lay out your own jigs you’ll be forever at the mercy of tool suppliers. Worse yet, when someone asks what the radius of your back plate is you can shrug your shoulders and look like an idiot. Let Sevy solve your problem. You can do it!
1999
AL#57 p.32 BRB5 p.310
David Hurd
▪ Uke maker Hurd was once a research scientist, and intuitive instrument construction is not his bag. Using his formula luthiers can compare known wood species with unknowns and learn what to expect of the new ones. He also offers some top dimensions for instruments of the ukulele family. With 5 charts and much math.
1999
AL#57 p.62 BRB5 p.479 read this article
Nicholas-Von Robison
▪ The reviewer finds that this technical tome about how wood vibrates may have a lot of value to any luthier who wants to work out the math, but that its high price will make it unavailable to most.
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.
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#51 p.6 BRB5 p.86
Ralph Novak
▪ Scale length is seldom used as a design criterion to achieve a given tone, but Novak shows that a given set of strings behaves differently according to the scale length it is stretched over. There are reasons to change other than player comfort. Impress your friends with your knowledge of the evil clang tone. With 6 graphs and 2 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1996
AL#48 p.22 BRB4 p.394
Ervin Somogyi
▪ This 1995 convention lecture covers the physical nature of the neck. Not how to do the work, but how to make a neck for maximum playability and instrument performance. Both steel string and classical guitars are discussed. With 1 photo and a slough of diagrams.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.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#45 p.22 BRB4 p.285
Alan Carruth
▪ How is it that some makers build consistently superior guitars even though, scientifically speaking, they have no direct control over the thing that makes them superior (high frequency response)? Carruth is a long-time researcher and acoustician. This 1995 lecture transcription is about the design compromises that luthiers face while pursuing the ultimate guitar. With 6 drawings and 2 photos.
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.40 BRB4 p.192
Alan Carruth
▪ Carruth ran mode and frequency tests on the old top and the replacement top.The goal was to reproduce the quality of the old airlines-damaged top.
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.
1994
AL#40 p.14 BRB4 p.86
Alan Carruth
▪ Impressions of lectures given on the first day of the GAL 1992 convention in Vermillion South Dakota, held in conjunction with the Catgut Acoustical Society.
1994
AL#38 p.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.
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.
1992
AL#32 p.2 BRB3 p.307 read this article
Michael Cone
▪ Writes of soundboard graduation and using a glass capillary tube for plate excitation.
1992
AL#30 p.44 BRB3 p.204 read this article
Tim Earls
▪ Multiple radius fingerboards revisited. Also called conical fretboards. Earls strives to put the design process into the hands of Joe Guitar maker using “barnyard” geometry. Seems to work. The article also contains a description of the Warmoth multiradius fretboard, which has become sort of the industry leader.
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#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.
1991
AL#28 p.18 BRB3 p.136 read this article
Alan Carruth
▪ Most acoustic scientists are not prepared to reduce their work to a plane-by-the-numbers chart of an instrument top.Neither is Carruth. It remains to be seen what improvements free plate tuning will offer to the average guitar, but there is every chance that luthiers who ignore the work as an inartistic invasion of their craft and art will be left in the dust. Carruth invites you to get on board right now. Parts Two and Three are in AL#29 and AL#30. The entire series apperas together in BRB3.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1990
AL#21 p.60 BRB2 p.500
Steve Newberry
▪ A collection of outstanding papers from the literature of acoustical physics.
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.
1988
AL#16 p.40 BRB2 p.144
Tom Rossing
▪ Charts, graphs, drawings, and formulae bulk up this in-depth scientific examination of how a guitar makes noise.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1989
AL#17 p.6 BRB2 p.162
Tim Olsen
▪ Whether or not there is anything new to be said about Stradivari, it is impossible for a serious publication about lutherie not to take him into account at some point. Olsen’s lengthy article includes analytical drawings and photos of the master’s work. All the guitar and mando folks might wonder what the fuss is about. Olsen sets us straight.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1988
AL#15 p.60 BRB2 p.106
Steve Newberry
▪ Newberry proves mathematically that large frets do not cause an instrument to play out of tune (though they might easily help a guitarist to play out of tune. There’s a large theoretical difference).
1988
AL#14 p.50
Frederick-C. Lyman-Jr.
▪ Lyman forges ahead in his quest for a cheap but satisfying substitute for the traditional solid wood bass viol. This segment describes an experimental bass made of lauan plywood and 2×4 studs. The results leave him hopeful that he is on the right track.
1988
AL#13 p.10 BRB2 p.6
W.D. Allen
▪ Allen shows how changing the internal air resonance of the violin can change the performance of the instrument, and claims that this variable applies to any stringed instrument. With many charts (including Allen’s hula-dancing molecules), graphs, and 2 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.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#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#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.
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.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.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#7 p.61 BRB1 p.498 read this article
Tom Rossing
▪ The reviewer is enthusiastic about this booklet for the nonscientist, finding it useful and accurate.
1986
AL#6 p.52 BRB1 p.496 read this article
Tom Rossing
▪ The reviewer finds that this collection of scientific papers will be of value to instrument builders, though it offers no “how to” advice.
1986
AL#7 p.6 BRB1 p.232
George Bissinger
▪ This transcription of a lecture by a professor of physics examines how five variables affect the performance of the violin. The variables are loudness curves and student instruments; free plate tuning and testing; humidity effects on plate modes; bass bar tuning; and coupling between enclosed air and plate vibrations.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1986
AL#7 p.43 BRB1 p.196 read this article
Frederick-C. Lyman-Jr.
▪ Lyman offers another philosophical look at lutherie and acoustical physics.
1986
AL#6 p.19 BRB1 p.196 read this article
Frederick-C. Lyman-Jr.
▪ Lyman likens the physical properties of a stringed instrument to those of the earth’s atmosphere (our great spherical friend), and advises us that an understanding of science should underlay our intuitional sensitivities.
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#3 p.19
Paul Wyszkowski
▪ Sixty books and articles dealing with guitar acoustics are rated for legitimacy, clarity, and usefulness.
1985
AL#3 p.48 BRB1 p.491 read this article
Paul Wyszkowski
▪ The reviewer finds the book to be a complete text on the basics of acoustics that is relatively free of math and technical jargon.
1985
AL#2 p.52 BRB1 p.488 read this article
Edward Kottick
▪ The reviewer calls the book a brilliant overview and analysis of all that can be said about the complex issue of temperament on string instruments between 1520 and 1740.
1985
AL#2 p.20 BRB1 p.68
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.42 BRB1 p.78
Graham McDonald
▪ McDonald gives formulae and graphs to determine appropriate steel string gauges for nonstandard scale lengths.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1985
AL#1 p.5
Paul Wyszkowski
▪ Wyszkowski defends assertions he made in a previous article (Vol. 12, #4, GAL Quarterly) concerning sound radiation of the (1,0) mode in the classic guitar. His assertion is based on the work of William Strong and Graham Caldersmith. Criticism was made by Gila Eban.
1985
AL#1 p.16 BRB1 p.8 read this article
W.D. Allen
▪ Allen attempts to introduce the nonphysicist to useful concepts of resonance including standing waves, captured air mass, and soundhole size. Illustrated with the author’s own sometimes-whimsical drawings, the article aims at preparing luthiers to understand heavier fare on the physics of musical instruments.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1985
AL#1 p.21 BRB1 p.30 read this article
Keith Hill
▪ Hill theorizes that the violinmakers of the classical period tuned tap tones of certain areas of their instruments to desired pitch relationships. He finds these to be consistent within the work the individual makers, and suggests that the natural resonances of the human body may be a model for this idea. Specific techniques and tools are described.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1985
AL#1 p.38 read this article
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune criticizes the theoretical design work of Dr. Michael Kasha, concluding that it is in fact less scientific than the empirical work of luthiers untrained in physics.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1984
GALQ Vol.12#1 p.20 BRB2 p.124
Tom Rossing
▪ The way in which the guitar body responds to the driving forces of a vibrating string is a very complex subject.
1984
DS#287 BRB1 p.25 read this article
John Meng
▪ Meng suggests bending violin ribs using a backer of sheet aluminum to prevent shattering the wood, then goes on to suggest that tensions in the wood are often inadvertently built into instruments. Given time, the wood relaxes into its new shape, and the tone of the instrument improves at the same rate.
1984
DS#271 BRB2 p.400
Graham Caldersmith
▪ The “Young’s Modulus” of any piece of wood can be calculated, giving a result measurable in frequency. Comparing the Young’s Modulus of a wood species with unknown qualities with a chart of other species of known characteristics can tell you what to expect before any instrument work is commenced. Here’s how to calculate the Young’s Modulus of any piece of wood you have on hand. With 1 drawing and a sample wood chart.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1984
DS#283 BRB1 p.20 read this article
Keith Hill
▪ Hill advocates tuning different portions of the plates to segments of the overtone system, using various tonic notes to suit the particular wood before you. No measuring tools are necessary during tuning since the actual thickness of the plate portions is of no consequence. He maintains that this is the tuning system used by the Italian masters.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1983
GALQ Vol.11#4 p.12 BRB2 p.124
Tom Rossing
▪ A simple explanation of how the guitar ‘works’.
1983
GALQ Vol.11#1 p.12 BRB2 p.109
David Fisher H.E. Huttig
▪ H.E. Huttig, wood merchant, writer, world traveler, experimenter, practical musicologist, lover of life, guitar maker.
1983
DS#243 BRB1 p.214
Gila Eban
▪ Eban offers an eloquent argument for trying the Kasha system in your own shop, as well as many details of her own guitars. A page-sized blueprint is included. She maintains that there is a philosophy and an aesthetic behind the Kasha design that is self-revealing and pleasing to work with, and that the design will always be under-realized until a larger number of builders have come to understand and absorb it.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1982
GALQ Vol.10#4 p.8 BRB1p.346 read this article
Graham Caldersmith
▪ Caldersmith loves the scientific aspects of instrument design, and offers this primer to help explain what’s going on in an excited classical or steel string guitar without going off the scientific deep end. The most interesting part is that in his update (17 years later) he has reversed is position on how to use this information. Information doesn’t change as much as how we use it, and we can’t use it if we don’t understand it. That, in a nutshell, is the acoustician’s tenant.
1981
DS#171 BRB2 p.201
Paul Wyszkowski
▪ The author uses a light approach to science to explain the function of the classical guitar top and attempts to translate the functions of physics into a form the luthier can use at the bench.
1980
GALQ Vol.8#3 p.8 BRB1 p.300 read this article
Carleen Hutchins
▪ Carleen Hutchins gives an introduction to the work of the Catgut Acoustical Society at the GAL’s 1979 Convention in Boston.
1980
GALQ Vol.8#4 p.8 BRB2 p.52
Frederick-C. Lyman-Jr.
▪ Lyman has made basses for several contemporary bass luminaries and has decided that they need qualities in the bass that weren’t called for in the past. He offers specific ways to match a bass to the requirements of the player. With one photo of the author.
1980
DS#145 BRB2 p.99
Roger Siminoff
▪ The author considers X braces as structural elements and tone bars as tone adjusters, and that tone color can be altered by the stiffness of the tone bars and the size of the soundhole. Despite the possibilities, no examples for use are given.
1979
DS#121
Warner-W. Schultz Jack Frarey
▪ This study was undertaken in the hope of furnishing a simple and inexpensive method of following the resonance characteristics of guitars during the process of construction.
1979
DS#112 BRB2 p.203
Matt Fichtenbaum
▪ The author supplies schematics for anyone wishing to build their own tone generator.