Category Archives: tools

It Worked for Me: Nut Filing Guide

2024
AL#151 p.71               
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ Using CAD, Mike designs these guides to fit the spacing of the strings and the width of the files. Then he cuts them from plastic using a laser cutter.

It Worked for Me: Soapstone is Better Than White Pencil

2024
AL#151 p.71               
Steve Kennel                                                                                           

▪ Welders use soapstone slips to mark on metal. They also work great on dark colored wood. Get them at welding supply places.

Electric Guitar Repair: Setups, Frets, and Inspiration

2024
AL#152 p.6               
Evan Gluck   Larry Fitzgerald                                                                                       

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

Meet the Maker: Mark Goodman

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.

Make a Fret Press or Two

2024
AL#152 p.56               
Steve Kennel                                                                                           

▪ The do-it-yourself mentality is at the root of the whole American Lutherie Boom. Kennel helps you mimic recent advances in commercially available tooling, but DIY it with that stuff they use for competition-level skateboard ramps.

Cheap and Easy String Testing

2024
AL#152 p.58               
John Huffman                                                                                           

▪ If you are a guitar maker, I’ll 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.

A Simplified Larrivée-Style Binding Jig

2024
AL#152 p.60               
Jon Sevy                                                                                           

▪ Unlike some of us, Jon Sevy paid attention in high school geometry class. He calls this method of setting up a router to cut a binding ledge “simplified” but it is really more like “optimised;” it is both simpler and better.

In Memoriam: Frank Ford

2024
AL#151 p.67               
Dan Erlewine                                                                                           

▪ Frank Ford was an icon of the instrument repair field and an overachiever when it came to sharing information with this fellow luthiers. He had legions of friends and fans. Erlewine brought Ford to the GAL Convention, and they became a team which was a fixture at the next several gatherings. Dan takes this moment to praise Frank’s name.

Simple Things: Marker, Scalpel, Straw and More

2023
AL#150 p.66               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Snip a drinking straw at an angle to make a great tool for clearing wet glue squeezeout. And there’s a “sharpee” that’s better than a Sharpee-brand sharpee. Plus more simple things. Like, get the good brand of pencils.

Letter: Swing Arm Binding Router

2024
AL#151 p.3               
January Williams                                                                                           

▪ A reader asks about the swing-arm binding router shown among Denny Stevens’ tools in AL#150. Author January Williams gives an informative answer. The tool’s design is a collaborative effort between Stevens and Harry Fleishman.

The Historic Solera of Santos Hernández: an Attempted Reconstruction

2024
AL#151 p.24               
Tobias Braun                                                                                           

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

A Kerfed Lining Fixture

2024
AL#151 p.60               
Lee Herron                                                                                           

▪ Author Herron tinkered together this bandsaw jig to cut the kerfs in lining strips. He explains the construction and capabilities of his time-tested design.

Electronic String Action Gauge

2024
AL#151 p.64               
Geoff Needham                                                                                           

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

Fret-Buzz Detector

2023
AL#150 p.54               
John Kruse                                                                                           

▪ Like you might have heard, it is possible to locate a buzzing fret on a guitar that uses metal strings by exploiting the fact that an electical connection would be made when the string briefly touched the fret. It can be hard to see a flickering light or see a response on a VOM. This little project is optimized to make that contact visible and audible.

Self-Centering Sideport Jig

2023
AL#150 p.56               
Jeffrey-R. Elliott                                                                                           

▪ Whatever the task may be, million-year GAL member Jeff Elliott does it right. Here he turns his attention to a jig for accurately placing and cleanly cutting a side sound port in a classical guitar.

Making Solid Linings for Guitars

2023
AL#150 p.60               
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ Doolin shows us how to make nice solid wood linings starting with veneer from the hardware store. They turn out great, and you have your choice of colors: light, or dark.

Letter to the Editor: Hammond Glider Saw

2023
AL#150 p.4               
January Williams                                                                                           

▪ The Hammond Glider saw is a rare and wonderful thing. It was intended to cut type metal, but we get guidance on using it to cut wood. Mentions Ken Parker.

Let’s Catch Up With Richard Bruné and Marshall Bruné

2023
AL#150 p.16               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ Richard “R.E.” Bruné was in the GAL’s very first cohort and was an author and convention presenter from the very beginning. We’ve 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.

Denny’s Jigs, Part Two

2023
AL#150 p.32               
January Williams                                                                                           

▪ Author Williams bought the lutherie estate of the late Denny Stevens several years ago. He has taken an archeological approach to it, pondering over the nicely crafted gizmos he has discovered, and reporting them to us as he figures out the function of the various treasures.

The Two-Day Ukulele: Inducting Novice Luthiers

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

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

Neck-Carving Jig

2023
AL#150 p.50               
Carl Hallman                                                                                           

▪ Author Carl Hallman likes to develop methods and jigs that let the various operations involved in making a fine guitar repeatable and accurate. This one is an evolution of an idea used for making bolt-on necks for solidbodies, adapted for an acoustic guitar neck with a full heel and angled peghead.

Little Thickness Sander

2023
AL#149 p.54               
Robert Hamm                                                                                           

▪ Sometimes you need a bicycle. That is, something between a skateboard and an automobile. This slick little shop-built unit lives in the space between a full-sized auto-feed belt sander and a Robo-sander drum chucked up in a drill press.

Quick-and-Dirty Magnetic Thickness Gauge

2023
AL#149 p.58               
Jon Sevy                                                                                           

▪ A couple of cheap gizmos from Harbor Freight can be cobbled together to let you measure the thickness of the sides or plates of an assembled guitar.

Bridge Sole Radius Shaping Jig

2023
AL#149 p.60               
Bob Gleason                                                                                           

▪ Sure, you can fit the sole of a bridge to its soundboard by putting sandpaper on the tender spruce or cedar and rubbing the bridge on it. But this jig is easier and safer.

An Easy Fretboard-Tapering Jig

2023
AL#149 p.62               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ This super-simple table saw jig is a strip of plywood with two alignment pins in drilled holes. Easy to make and to use.

Simple Things: Heat Gun for Brown Tape

2023
AL#149 p.67               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Warm up that brown paper tape with a hair dryer before you pull it off. Softens it up and makes it less likely to tear out wood fibers. That’s a simple thing.

It Worked for Me: Tape Edges of Cut-Out Drawings

2023
AL#149 p.69               
Brent Benfield                                                                                           

▪ Ever snip out a piece from a plan drawing to use as a template? It will work so much better if you put clear tape on both faces of the edge.

It Worked for Me: Inflating Door Jack Clamp

2023
AL#149 p.71               
Dan’l Brazinski                                                                                           

▪ It’s like a little square bag on the end of a blood-pressure squeezie bulb. It’s made for helping you hang a door all by your lonesome. Also works as a lutherie clamp. Life is just one work-around after another.

It Worked for Me: Fretwire Roller and Guitar Hanger

2023
AL#149 p.71               
Steve Kennel                                                                                           

▪ Kennel is a sculptor. He sees a pile of scraps and misc hardware and builds a swanky-lookin’ fretwire roller. He’s on a roll. (Get it? Roll?) So he makes a guitar hanger that plugs into a workbench dog hole.

Meet the Maker: Ken Parker

2023
AL#149 p.4               
Mike Doolin   Ken Parker                                                                                       

▪ Can you believe we have never “met” this guy? He’s a giant of the American Lutherie Boom, he was at the Guild’s 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.

Press Your Ukuleles

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. It’s 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.

Let’s Catch Up with Steve Klein

2023
AL#148 p.16               
Paul Schmidt   Steve Klein                                                                                       

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

Denny’s Jigs

2023
AL#148 p.39               
January Williams                                                                                           

▪ Williams purchased the lutherie estate of Denny Stevens. In a sort of archeological exercise, he digs through a pile of jigs and considers their possible functions.

Power Up Your Ukulele Dishes

2023
AL#148 p.54               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Get serious about building ukes in spherically-radiused workboards. These dishes are easily built from lumberyard material and use a drill press for power.

Soft Side Sanders

2023
AL#148 p.60               
Bob Gleason                                                                                           

▪ It looks like one of those fancy powered rolling-pin sanders, but it does not spin. It just works.

It Worked for Me: Carving Table

2023
AL#148 p.69               
Peggy Stuart                                                                                           

▪ This gentle setup does not suck up the chips with a screaming vacuum, but lets them fall through a grating with a calming pitter-pat.

Accurate Resawing

2022
AL#147 p.64               
Bob Gleason                                                                                           

▪ When doing a small resawing job in the shop, it may seem intuitive to set the fence of the bandsaw close to the blade. You never have to move the fence. But there are good reasons to do it the other way and move the fence after each cut. The clue is in the title.

Review: The Art of Mandolin Making by Alfred Woll

2022
AL#147 p.65               
James Condino                                                                                           

▪ Condino loves this lavish book about the history and construction of the Neapolitan (or tater bug) mandolin, which runs from classic to contemporary.

It Worked for Me: Special-Purpose Files

2022
AL#147 p.70               
Steve Kennel                                                                                           

▪ Specialty files intended for sharpening steel tools are unexpectedly perfect for specific lutherie tasks. In this case we are talking about files made for sharpening brace-and-bit augers, and files made for sharpening Japanese pull saws.

Making a Centerline Square

2022
AL#147 p.56               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ In lutherie work, you often need to make something accurately perpendicular to the instrument’s centerline. Squares designed for carpenters and machinists don’t do the job as well as these simple and inexpensive clear-plastic tools.

Vibrate Guitars with an Aquarium Air Pump

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.

Sanding Guitar Plate Seams

2022
AL#147 p.62               
Brent Benfield                                                                                           

▪ There are several ways to make a nice tightly-closing seam for a back or top guitar plate. Here’s a low stress method that uses a granite slab, some sticky-back sandpaper, two little C clamps, and a plywood scrap.

It Worked for Me: Humidifier from Ball-Point Pen

2022
AL#146 p.70               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ Make a quick and dirty guitar humidifier out of materials you may actually have in your pocket, like a ball point pen and some lint. Kidding about the lint.

Foolproof Straight-Saddle Slotting Jig

2022
AL#147 p.18               
Beau Hannam                                                                                           

▪ In a former lutherie life, Hannam cut saddle slots with a big honkin’ milling machine. A change of situation led him to design this practical and straightforward router jig to do the job. He gives clear and detailed instructions for building and using it.

Basic Steel-String Guitar Action Setup

2022
AL#147 p.24               
Robbie O’Brien                                                                                           

▪ Lutherie uber-pedagog Robbie O’Brien 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.

Ironing Out a Warped Guitar Neck

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.

Letter: Gortex Felt Paper for Restoration

2022
AL#146 p.2               
Jeffrey-R. Elliott                                                                                           

▪ Gives updated info on guitar restoration materials that were mentioned by Elliott in AL#145.

Letter: Galvanized Sheet Steel for Side Bending

2022
AL#146 p.2               
Rich Jaouen                                                                                           

▪ The zinc in galvanized sheet steel can be safely used for bending guitar sides, contrary to widly distributed opinions.

Remembering the Master’s Last Class

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.

Meet the Maker: David Thormahlen

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.

An All-American 7-String Guitar

2022
AL#146 p.38               
Lee Herron                                                                                           

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

Universal Side Caul

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.

Strategies for Peghead Overlays and End Grafts

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.

Meet the Maker: Matt Brewster

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.

Hand-Powered Radius Sanding Jig

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.

Steel String Guitar Nut Slotting Using a Stick-On Template

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.

Making Control-Cavity Jigs

2022
AL#145 p.52               
John Calkin                                                                                           

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

Vertical Bending-Iron Table

2022
AL#145 p.58               
Phil Ingber                                                                                           

▪ Mounting an electric bending iron in such a way that it pokes up out of a work surface helps you avoid a twist in the bent side. Mentions Ted Harlan, R.M. Mottola.

Meet the Maker: Robert Anderson

2021
AL#144 p.36               
John Calkin   Robert Anderson                                                                                       

▪ Robert Anderson made banjos part-time for decades while he worked a respectable day job. But since he has “retired” into a full-time lutherie career, he is in demand for his beautifully carved, inlaid, and engraved instruments. We take a look into his converted tobacco barn and talk shop. Mentions Doug Unger, Stan Werbin, Kathy Anderson, Grateful Dead.

The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Six

2021
AL#144 p.44               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ 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.

Getting Good Inlay Results with Inexpensive CNC Routers

2021
AL#144 p.52               
Jon Sevy                                                                                           

▪ If you are cutting pearl inlays with a benchtop CNC router, then cutting the recesses for them with that same CNC, they ought to fit perfectly, right? Well yes, in the perfect world of math. And even out here in the messy real world of sawdust and bearing slop, you can get pretty close if you understand the forces at play and calculate their effects.

Guitar Making as a Teaching Tool

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?

Product Review: SuperMax 16-32 Drum Sander

2021
AL#144 p.60               
Ralf Grammel                                                                                           

▪ Thickness sanders have come a long way since the days when luthiers commonly made their own jury-rigged and cantankerous contraptions. Two experienced builders give the SuperMax 16-32 a thorough workout and pronounce it worthy and workable for an individual luthier’s shop.

Product Review: SuperMax 16-32 Drum Sander

2021
AL#144 p.61               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Thickness sanders have come a long way since the days when luthiers commonly made their own jury-rigged and cantankerous contraptions. Two experienced builders give the SuperMax 16-32 a thorough workout and pronounce it worthy and workable for an individual luthier’s shop.

It Worked for Me: Mount Fret Erasers on a Handle

2021
AL#144 p.70               
Jason Hull                                                                                           

▪ Fret erasers are easier to use if you attach them to a handle, especially if you have carpal tunnel syndrome.

It Worked for Me: Flattening a Plank

2021
AL#144 p.71               
Steve Kennel                                                                                           

▪ How to take the warp, cup, and twist out of a plank. You attach scrap-wood rails that carry it through a planer in the proper orientation.

“Restomodding” Wall-Hanger Guitars

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.

Review: The Master’s Bench by Paul Schmidt and Arian Sheets

2021
AL#143 p.63               
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ This book is published by the National Music Museum (NMM, formerly Shrine to Music Museum) as a companion to their permanent exhibit of guitars and tools of John D’Angelico, James L. D’Aquisto, and Paul Gudelsky.

It Worked for Me: Magnetic Table Saw Jig for Narrow Ripping

2021
AL#143 p.69               
Bob Gleason                                                                                           

▪ Rare-earth magnets recessed into the back of a piece of plywood let it act as a quick-and-easy zero-throat jig for ripping narrow strips for kerfing and binding. Each edge is a different setup.

It Worked for Me: Junk Plane Makes Sanding Beam Handle

2021
AL#143 p.69               
Aaron Cash                                                                                           

▪ Off-brand hand planes with the iron and cap missing are rightfully cheap in junk stores. They can be affixed with carpet tape onto things like radiused sanding beams to give you a better grip.

It Worked for Me: Modified Zyliss Vise

2021
AL#143 p.70               
Steve Kennel                                                                                           

▪ Kennel modifies the often-seen but seldom-used Zyliss vise into a configuration that is specifically engineered for safely and securely holding guitar necks.

It Worked for Me: Magnets Hold Truss Rod Cover

2021
AL#143 p.71               
Jon Sevy                                                                                           

▪ Little rare-earth button magnets are cheap. Sevy cleverly recesses them into a peghead face to hold the truss rod cover in place with no screws. He figures the cover is less likely to be misplaced by the guitar’s owner if they don’t need to use a screw driver to put it back on.

Quickie Sander Fence

2021
               read this article
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Bang some hunks of particle board together to make the simple jigs you need, in this case a 90 degree fence for a horizontal belt sander. Remember to write on them what they are.

Letter: Charles Fox Neck Angle Sander

2021
AL#143 p.3               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ Steve asks for more specific info on the device seen on the cover of AL#141. It is a sander which refines the plane of the top at the neck joint so that the angle of the neck will give the correct height of the bridge saddle. Mark answers and provides explanatory photos.

Letter: Sealer for MDF Jigs

2021
AL#143 p.5               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ Leo asks what sealer Charles Fox uses on his MDF jigs, noting that they look great in the Guild’s Fox Method series and that Charles says he has been using some of them for twenty years. Author Mark French responds with info straight from Charles. He also comments on the use of MDF as wasteboards for vacuum hold-downs in CNC work.

Seeking the Holy Grail: Torres’ FE08

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.

The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Five

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.

Measuring Resonant Frequencies of an Acoustic Guitar

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.

Vise on a Stick

2021
AL#143 p.54               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Start with the cheap half of one of those little bench-top drill presses. Add a small piece of plywood with some holes drilled in it. Bolt on a vise. Now you have Vise on a Stick, which can clamp to any bench top and can swivel and tilt all over the place. It’s especially great for bringing a good solid vise up to eye level.

First Build: A Lumberyard Ukulele

2021
AL#143 p.56               
Steve Dickerson                                                                                           

▪ The author hit on an unusual program for building his first uke. He bought a kit, but then set aside the good wood for a later build. He went to the lumberyard to buy cheap wood, then proceeded with reduced anxiety. Makes sense when you think about it. The humble uke came out fine.

The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Four

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.

Uncle Dan’s Favorite New Vise

2021
AL#142 p.28               
Dan Erlewine                                                                                           

▪ Good ol’ Dan Erlewine is known for finding and spreading efficient new tools and techniques for guitar makers and repairers, as well as for mentoring and promoting young talent in the lutherie field. He’s at it again in this article, as he loosely wrangles a team to consult on the design of a specialized new shop vise.

The $75 Guitar Challenge

2021
AL#142 p.40               
Doug Hunt   Mark French                                                                                       

▪ Two luthiers dare each other to make a useful guitar for a total investment of $75 each. One makes a flattop, the other a solid body. There are rules, and rules are meant to be broken.

Side Bender and Body Mold Cut from One Sheet of Plywood

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.

Big Shop-Made Dovetail Clamp

2021
AL#142 p.58               
Bob Gleason                                                                                           

▪ A big honkin’ C clamp for pressing home a dovetail joint can be easily built from plywood, wood scrap, cork, and a commercially available press screw. It can just as well be pretty, because that’s fun. And if you don’t see what’s fun about it, maybe lutherie is not for you.

Lutherie Curmudgeon

2021
AL#142 p.60               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Sometimes a bargain is no bargain, like when the work that a power tool accomplishes is less valuable than space it uses in your shop. If you don’t love something, set it free.

Auxiliary Workbenches and Tables

2020
AL#141 p.58               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ There’s no fancy-schmancy foolin’ around at Calkin’s shop. Your bench is covered in projects and tools? Make a little benchtop on legs and let it stand above the clutter. Wish your bench had a radiused top? Make a tiny one that does. Frustrated by cam clamps that don’t reach the middle of your workbench? You know what to do.

The Seven-Year Itch

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.

Stiffer Guitar Linings

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

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

Guitar Making with an X-Carve CNC Router

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.

The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Three

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.

Romantic Guitars in Norway

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.

Ukulele Scale Intonation

2020
AL#141 p.34               
Peter Hurney                                                                                           

▪ Here’s a direct and accurate real-world method for calculating the exact position of a uke bridge. The jig does all the work and considers all the variables. No math required!

If You Want to Build Guitars, Build Guitars

2020
AL#139 p.56               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Harry has been a lot of places and made a lot of instruments in a lot of shops. Now, after fifty years as a luthier, a lutherie teacher, and a hired-gun designer, he’s right back where many folks started: in a spare bedroom. He encourages us (and himself) not to let a humble shop space be an excuse for inaction. Just do it (registered trademark)!

Review: McDonald’s The Ukulele: An Illustrated Workshop Manual and Weissenrieder and Greenbaum’s The Uke Book Illustrated

2020
AL#139 p.63               
Pat Megowan                                                                                           

▪ Our reviewer compares, contrasts, and waxes eloquent about The Ukulele: An Illustrated Workshop Manual by Graham McDonald and The Uke Book Illustrated by John Weissenrieder and Sarah Greenbaum. In addition to a lot of thoughful and practical analysis, he uses the metaphore of different ice-cream eating experiences to explain their complex relationship.

Chalk-Fitting Guitar Braces

2020
AL#140 p.2               
Stephen Marchione                                                                                           

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

The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Two

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.

Little Lutherie Class on the Prairie: Teaching Guitar Making in a Saskatchewan High School

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.

Making Notched Straightedges

2020
AL#140 p.58               
Bob Gleason                                                                                           

▪ Straightedges that are notched to fit over frets have become popular tools for judging the straightness of fretboards, and for projecting the surface of the board for setting neck angles. You can make your own, with the advantage that you can use any fret scale. Here’s how.

It Worked for Me: Cheap Kerfing Clamps

2019
AL#138 p.63               
Gregg Miller                                                                                           

▪ A throw-away garment clamp from the dry-cleaning place happens to be a fine thing for clamping kerfed lining into a guitar.

It Worked for Me: Clamp for Stubborn Binding

2019
AL#138 p.65               
Ralf Grammel                                                                                           

▪ Sometimes the bent binding needs a little more convincing to lie down at the waist than just a piece of tape. This easily-made set of jaws for a pistol-grip clamp gets teh job done.

The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part One

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.

Less Than a Thousand Guitar Repair Tips

2020
AL#139 p.42               
Erick Coleman   Evan Gluck                                                                                       

▪ Erick and Evan (the two Es) are back with more helpful hints for the guitar repair shop. Some of the things they show are nicely developed professional tools, like for leveling frets while the guitar is still under string tension. Then there’s a diagnostic tool that is just a stick, a guitar string, and a salvaged tuning machine. If you think that’s gronk, how about the tool that Evan calls “my string.” It’s just a string. Not even a guitar string. Mentions gluing frets, DeoxIT, WD40, tri-Flow, slotting bridge pins, regluing bridges, fret nipper, notching fret tang, Matt Brewster, fret leveler bar, StewMac, Stewart-MacDonald, bridge removal, shark skin, fret rocker, fret leveler. From their workshop at the 2017 GAL Convention.

Letter to the Editor: Doolin-Style Magnetic Thickness Gauge

2019
AL#138 p.2               
David Laupmanis                                                                                           

▪ The author built a springless magnetic thickness gauge from Mike Doolin’s article in AL109. It works fine. He presents a photo. It should be noted that Doolin’s model was inspired by the work of Alaine Bieber, writing in AL96.

Letter to the Editor: Americans Should Use Metric System

2019
AL#138 p.2               
Rolf Hagglund                                                                                           

▪ The author says we Americans should just go ahead and join the rest of the civilized world in using the metric system.

Flamenco on the Front Range

2019
AL#138 p.20               
Mark French                                                                                           

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

Simple Neck-to-Body Sanding Jig

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.

Questions: Glue Joint Clamping Pressure

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.

CNC Routers for Luthiers

2019
AL#137 p.16               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ CNC Routers are kinda like computers. Once they were huge and cost more than a house. Therefore they were mostly in the domain of large corporations. Now they are far smaller, and the price tag is closer to a few months’ rent. Therefore they will be ubiquitous. This article lets you know what it would take to get on the bus. Mentions Easel; VCarve; BobCAD; Draftsight; AutoCAD; SketchUp; Fusion 360; Rhino3D.

Dovetailed Neck Reset

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.

The Totnes School of Guitar Making

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

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

Trevor Gore Teaches Modal Tuning

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.

Bob Ruck as I Knew Him

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.

A Smashed Top and a Shattered Headstock

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.

Measuring Scale Length of Fretted Instruments

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.

Delrin Frets

2019
AL#136 p.52               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Many years ago, innovative classical guitar maker Richard Schneider made instruments with frets made of rod stock set in wide saw kerfs. Fleishman updates the idea by having round-bottomed slots cut by CNC and laying in Delrin rod.

A Guitar Is Born: Attending Charles Fox’s Hands-On Guitar Making Course

2019
AL#136 p.54               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ 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.

Training the Next Generation

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.

Removing Top and Back Guitar Plates

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.

Meet the Maker: Rafael Mardones Sr. and Jr.

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.

The Convolution of a Guitar Note

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.

A DRO Fret Slotter

2018
AL#135 p.58               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ Want a robot lutherie apprentice? It is here today and it is cheap. But it doesn’t look like something from the Jetsons. It looks like this; a digital readout connected to a lead screw. With a friendly whirr, it will move the saw guide right up to the next fret position for you. But get your own dang coffee.

It Worked for Me: Tiny Chisel from X-acto Blade

2018
AL#135 p.64               
Stephen Mangold                                                                                           

▪ Make a tiny chisle from an X-acto blade. It will be 0.020 inches wide, good for getting into fret slots.

It Worked for Me: Post-it Notes Improve Brace Gluing

2018
AL#135 p.65               
Brent Benfield                                                                                           

▪ Use Post-it notes to accurately position braces for gluing, and simplify the removal of squeezed-out glue.

Questions: Steel for Paracho Knife Blades

2018
AL#135 p.67               
Ron Hock                                                                                           

▪ What’s the right kind of steel for a Paracho knife blade? The real ones that they make in Mexico appear to be made form Sawz-all blades. Is high-speed steel the right thing?

It Worked for Me: String Clips for Neck Work

2018
AL#134 p.66               
Lee Herron                                                                                           

▪ Quickly make a set of spreaders that will keep slackened strings out of your way and off the lacquer while you file a set of frets.

Questions: How Hide Glue is Tested for Gram Strength

2018
AL#134 p.69               
Eugene Thordahl                                                                                           

▪ How do they test for hide glue gram strength? It’s actually kinda technical and involves expensive lab gear. But Thordahl tells us how to get a good estimate the easy way.

Setting a Violin Neck Like a Professional

2018
AL#135 p.4               
Charles Rufino                                                                                           

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

Warmoth Guitar Products in the 21st Century

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.

Seeking Quality and Consistency in Classical Guitar Sound

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.

Talking about Tone

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.”

Making Long-Radius Curve Templates

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.

Meet the Maker: Mark French

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.

Some Thoughts on CAD and 3D Printing for Luthiers

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.

The Pretty Good Setup Tailpiece

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.

Tiny Files for Fret Work

2017
AL#131 p.65               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Harry loves to learn, and then to teach. Although he has been leveling frets for half a century, he’s always rethinking it and keeping his eyes open for better ways to do it. Here he shows us his latest tools and tips for doing more by doing less.

It Worked for Me: Simple Binding Rabbet Sander

2017
AL#132 p.65               
Doug Berch                                                                                           

▪ A scrap of kerfed lining with a bit of sticky sandpaper can quickly and accurately clean up a binding ledge. And if it is quick and accurate, we like it.

Meet the Maker: Peter Tsiorba

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.

The Soundpost Cannon Incident

2017
AL#131 p.50               
James Condino                                                                                           

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

Meet the Maker: Jason Lollar

2017
AL#130 p.6               
Tim Olsen   Jason Lollar                                                                                       

▪ Jason Lollar attended the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery way back when founders John Roberts and Bob Venn were still instructors. Jason went on to do a lot of guitar repair and some guitar making, but his early interest in winding pickups eventually grew into a twenty-person shop specializing in reproducing vintage models.

Techniques for Guitar Repair Efficiency

2017
AL#130 p.28               
Erick Coleman   Evan Gluck   Eron Harding                                                                                   

▪ Erick, Evan, and Eron called this workshop “Making Bread with Bread-and-Butter Repairs.” Their emphasis was on tools and techniques to help you get a lot of the usual repair jobs done in a short time and at a high level of quality. from their 2014 GAL Convention workshop.

Meet the Maker: Jason Harshbarger

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.

In Memoriam: Ray Tunquist

2017
AL#130 p.60               read this article
Tom Bednark                                                                                           

▪ Tunquist ran the huge circular saw on which most of the wood for Martin guitars was cut in the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. He is remembered by Tom Bednark, an early GAL member.

Voicing the Modern Mandolin

2017
AL#129 p.24               
James Condino                                                                                           

▪ Condino has developed a clever process by which he can string and play a new mandolin very early in the building process. This makes voicing much more accurate,a nd it reduces the risk of experimental materials and bracing patterns considerably. Must see to believe. Mentions the work of Lloyd Loar at the Gibson company in the 1920s.

Meet the Maker: Dave Collins

2017
AL#129 p.38               
Steve Denvir   Dave Collins                                                                                       

▪ Dave Collins is a rising star on the guitar repair scene. Take a look at a couple of nice jigs he has developed; one for slotting saddles, one for regluing broken headstocks. Interestingly, he is in the same Ann Arbor third-storey shop previously tenanted by Herb David. Dave counts Dan Erlewine and Bryan Galloup among his mentors.

Considerations in Replicating Vintage Guitars

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.

Meet the Maker: Jeff Manthos

2016
AL#128 p.22               
Pat Megowan   Jeff-Lee Manthos                                                                                       

▪ People come to lutherie on many different paths. Some of us were nerdy model-making kids, or spoiled lefty college dropouts. Or maybe the garage band was our gateway into the opium den of guitar making. On the other hand, Jeff Manthos was a helicopter aircrewman and rescue swimmer in the Vietnam era. Then, unexpectedly, he went to the Violinmaking School of America in Salt Lake City. He has made a career of it, first in other shops and now on his own.

CNC in Small Shop Mandolin Making

2016
AL#128 p.32               
Andrew Mowry                                                                                           

▪ Andrew Mowry was a one-man mandolin-making shop known for precise high-quality work. When he made the jump and brought a small but capable CNC mill into the mix, he was not trying to flood the market, but rather to further improve his work. All the tools and methods he shows here are well within reach; you don’t need to be a factory to afford it, and it won’t turn you into a factory if you try it. Mowry still runs a one-man shop known for precise high-quality work. From his 2014 convention workshop.

Meet the Maker: Gabriel Fleta

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.

A Large New Set of Stiffness Data for Lutherie Woods and a Proposed Standard Test Method

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.

A New Concept in Circle Cutting Jigs

2015
AL#123 p.62               
Greg Nelson                                                                                           

▪ Controlling the distance between the pin and the bit is the whole game when cutting circles with a router. Here’s a new way to do it that offers very fine control and no threads. Elegant!.

Product Reviews: Klumpar Neck Angle Jig and JSimpson Self Adjusting Neck Jig

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.

Total Flame Out, Retopping a Harp Guitar

2009
AL#100 p.38               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Replacing the top on a complicated instrument with as little refinishing and other stress as possible.

Make a Dished Workboard, Freehand

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.

Dulcimer 101

2009
AL#98 p.48               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Calkin was inspired to write this by pleas from readers for more entry level stories. Dulcimers are needlessly maligned and in need of advocates, and the author is a strong one. Tools and jiggery are kept to a minimum to make construction as accessible as possible without hurting the integrity of the finished instrument. Beginning luthiers should stop complaining and get to work! With 31 photos.

Product Reviews: Witherby Gouge

2009
AL#98 p.65               
Andrew Mowry                                                                                           

▪ The author reviews the spoon plane and finds that it is more efficient at removing large quantities of wood when carving mandolin plates than the gouges he used to use, and it’s also easier on the carver, a not insignificant benefit. With 2 photos of the tool.

Spherical Workboard Update

2009
AL#97 p.62      ALA2 p.36         
Brent Benfield                                                                                           

▪ the author has been working with spherical workboards for a while now. He shares his latest thoughts.

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

Electric Guitar Setup

2009
AL#98 p.28               
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.

Fretboard Slotting with a CNC Router

2009
AL#98 p.46               
John Svizzero   R.M. Mottola                                                                                       

▪ Both authors made their own CNC machines, which impresses the heck out of us. The coolest thing about CNC fret slotting, aside from the dead certain accuracy, is the ability to cut slots with blind ends. Unbound fretboards can look bound. All the machine specs you’ll need to duplicate their efforts are included, and even us dummies can grasp what they’re about. With 4 photos.

A Homemade Magnetic Thickness Gauge

2008
AL#96 p.49               
Alain Bieber                                                                                           

▪ You, too, can make a gauge for measuring the plate thickness of finished instrument, and Bieber’s tool comes in at 1/30th the cost of a commercial tool. With 2 photos and a drawing.

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

Uke Making for Guitar Makers

2008
AL#96 p.50               
Bob Gleason                                                                                           

▪ A low key (not to mention fun) description of how uke making varies from guitar making. Gleason also describes some of the varieties Hawaiian wood he likes to work with, a slick method for removing lacquer from the bridge foot print, and some of the construction tricks he has come up with. Owning a shop in Hawaii must surely take the lutherie life to another level. With 15 photos.

Peg Shapers That You Can Adjust

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.

Inlaid Splices

2008
AL#96 p.60               
John Thayer                                                                                           

▪ Don’t put a repair patch on top of the wood, put it in the wood! Probably for carved tops only, but a fine idea (and pretty, for you folks who like to peek inside of instruments. With 11 photos.

Product Reviews: Plasti-Dip and the Stewart-MacDonald Binding Laminator

2008
AL#95 p.62               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer gives a thumbs up to Plasti-Dip, a thick liquid used to apply a plastic coating to tools, and to the Stew-Mac Binding Laminator, used to lay up various combinations of plastic or celluloid bindings and purflings. With 4 photos.

Meet the Maker: Dan Fobert

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.

The MacRostie Mandolin Deflection Jig

2008
AL#94 p.50               
Don MacRostie                                                                                           

▪ MacRostie’s clever jig measures the top deflection of a carved mandolin under string load at any stage of its construction. It is a valuable tool within the reach of any luthier.

Product Reviews: Mandolin tuners

2008
AL#93 p.60               
James Condino                                                                                           

▪ Condino rates all the commonly available mandolin tuners and explains why spending $500 for the best set available might make good economic sense. He also likes the Stew-Mac mandolin peghead drill jig. With 12 photos.

Geometric Design of the Stradivari Model G Violin, Part One: Mold and Template

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.

Building with the Spanish Solera

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.

Meet the Maker: Scott Baxendale

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.

Grading on the Curves

2007
AL#91 p.24               
Steve Andersen                                                                                           

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

Resawing Lutherie Wood

2007
AL#91 p.40               read this article
Bruce Creps                                                                                           

▪ Just about everything you’ll need to know about setting up a bandsaw for resawing and getting the most yield from your lumber. The emphasis is on the Hitachi CB75F resaw, but much of the info will translate to other bandsaws. Included is a good side bar on resharpening bandsaw blades. With 10 photos and 6 drawings.

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

Mechanical Compliance for Soundboard Optimization

2007
AL#90 p.8               
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.

Build Variation in a Group of Acoustic Guitars

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.

Construction of the Colombian Tiple

2007
AL#90 p.40               
Anamaria Paredes-Garcia   R.M. Mottola                                                                                       

▪ Cross a 12-string flattop with a classical guitar and you get the Colombian tiple, only the tiple has four courses of three steel strings. Inside, though, it’s a classical. Follow the construction of the instrument in the shop of Alberto Paredes in this photo tour. With 41 photos. Sr. Paredes authored GAL Plan #51, Colombian Tiple. See AL #82.

Partial Refrets

2007
AL#90 p.58               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Sometimes only a few frets need to be replaced. Here’s how and why to do it and an idea of how to charge for it. Another lesson from Instrument Repair 101. With 11 photos.

Making a Brass Plane

2007
AL#89 p.22      ALA2 p.26         
Ken Altman                                                                                           

▪ Watch Altman construct a 3″ plane from brass stock and steel for the blade — a very cool and elegant tool for lutherie that’s not too hard to make and requires few tools to construct. With 25 photos.

Optimizing Playing Surface Geometry

2007
AL#89 p.56               
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Most repair people know that on a fretboard with a tight radius the upper frets have to be milled flatter than the first frets if the player wants to bend strings without “fret-out.” Most just file several times until the get the results they are after. What they are really doing is trying to turn the playing surface into a conical section. Mottola’s method is more precise. Consider it the thinking man’s way to dress frets for the most optimum action. With 7 figures, 6 photos, and a chart.

The Chanlynn Deflection Machine

2007
AL#89 p.62      ALA1 p.26         
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Gunsmith Mark Chanlynn built Calkin a machine to precisely measure the deflection of a guitar top under a constant weight. There are no plans here, but it’s pretty obvious how it works, and just as obvious how it might help you make better guitars. With 3 photos.

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

Product Reviews: Luthiertool Binding Cutting Base

2007
AL#89 p.64      ALA2 p.22         
Alan Perlman   John Mello                                                                                       

▪ Both reviewers test fly the Luthiertool Binding Cutter Base, an attachment for a small router or laminate trimmer. Perlman is enthusiastic about the tool. Mello is a little less so but admits he’s glad he bought it. With 1 photo.

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

Product Review: edge vise, combination slot head fixture, and rosette cutter by Luthiertool Co.

2006
AL#88 p.58      ALA2 p.10         
John Mello                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer (who bought these tools, by the way) finds that they were a good investment that saves him time and increases the accuracy of his work. With 7 photos.

Low-Tech Prototyping Jigs and Methods

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.

The Universal Vacuum Island

2006
AL#88 p.24      ALA2 p.14         
Charles Fox                                                                                           

▪ Vacuum clamping has come to the small shop in a big way, at least in Fox’s shop.Suddenly, all other ways of working seem backward. Vacuum has dozens of uses in the guitar shop and the universal vacuum island makes them compact and within the financial reach of all of us. Fox is still the guru. If you ain’t got vacuum you ain’t got nothin’! With 21 photos.

Sixty Seconds or Less

2006
AL#87 p.52      ALA2 p.8         
Daniel Fobert                                                                                           

▪ The author’s special workboard and clamps permit him to clamp a plate onto the rib assembly in a minute or less. With 6 photos.

Product Review: SawStop Table Saws

2006
AL#86 p.62      ALA2 p.4         
James Condino                                                                                           

▪ Saw stop table saws are meant to screech to a halt before they can cut your skin. The reviewer finds that they really work. What are your fingers worth to you, anyway? With 8 photos.

Product Review: Stewart-MacDonald Fret Scale Rules

2006
AL#85 p.59               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman is at his humorous best here, hunting the past for how frets used to be laid out, why they were often wrong, and why the new Stew-Mac rules are tools worth having. Did you know there are at least three ways to calculate fret spacing? Did you know they vary in their results? Can musicians hear the difference? With 1 photo and a chart.

Rib Depth of Guitars with Spherically Domed Plates

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.

It Worked for Me: Glue Syringes

2005
AL#82 p.69   BRB7 p.499            
Barry Irvin                                                                                           

▪ Filling oral-dosing syringes with leftover glue, using the supplied caps and putting them in the freezer for small doses in future jobs.

Measuring Archtop Musical Instruments

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.

Restoring Tarrega’s 1888 Torres

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.

It Worked for Me: Peghead Protectors

2005
AL#81 p.65   BRB7 p.498            
Ervin Somogyi                                                                                           

▪ You know how you see new cars being shipped to the dealer’s lot with big sheets of protective film on them so the bug spalts will peel off? Similar thought here. Paper protectors are made for polished pegheads.

Teaching the Dream to Sing

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

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

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

Fitting Flamenco Pegs

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.

Meet the Maker: Kevin La Due

2005
AL#81 p.26   BRB7 p.286            read this article
Cyndy Burton   Kevin La-Due                                                                                       

▪ A high school teacher coaches entire classes through guitar making. Think kids can’t do it? You’ll be surprised. Some well-made and easy-to-use jigs make the process faster and friendlier, and the use of local wood makes it affordable. Pretty inspirational, and with 21 photos.

It Worked for Me: Tubing To Inject Glue

2004
AL#80 p.65   BRB7 p.496            
Dale Randall                                                                                           

▪ With this arrangement, fresh glue can be injected straight from the bottle through plastic tubing which terminates in a brass ink holder from a ballpoint pen which serves as an injection needle.

It Worked for Me: Ultimate Palette Knife

2004
AL#79 p.64   BRB7 p.494            
Eugene Clark                                                                                           

▪ The ultimate palette knife is a grapefruit knife, a chef’s tool made by Dexter Russell Inc, which can be used for hot shellac and in routing.

Carving the Lute Rose

2004
AL#80 p.4   BRB7 p.228            
Ervin Somogyi                                                                                           

▪ The author not only explains how the traditional lute rose is carved, but demonstrates how the technique might be used other than as a rosette. With 17 photos.

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

Essential Tools: Scratches and a Detail Knife

2004
AL#80 p.46   BRB7 p.270            
Eugene Clark   Jonathon Peterson                                                                                       

▪ Scratch tools are like one-tooth saws. One of Eugene’s has a chisel tip, the other a pointed tip.The detail knife has only one bevel and is intended to make right hand cuts only. Descriptions of their uses are included. With 7 photos.

Product Review: Stew-Mac Measuring Tools

2004
AL#80 p.52   BRB7 p.507            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Toolman Harry examines three new measuring devices from Stew-Mac and finds them all to be accurately made and useful. The tools are the Fret Rocker (for finding high frets), the String Action Gauge (for measuring string height), and the String Spacing Tool (for laying out nuts and perhaps saddles). With 3 photos and a diagram.

Making Patterns for an Access Panel

2004
AL#80 p.56   BRB7 p.272            
Lloyd Marsden                                                                                           

▪ Gaining access to the inside of guitars through a door in the tail block seems to be catching on. The author’s method of construction saves the side material as part of the door to make the assembled instrument as normal looking as possible. With 8 photos.

Two-Step Cutaway Bending

2004
AL#78 p.64   BRB7 p.226            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The author maintains that the safest way to bend a radical cutaway is to do it in two steps, both using an electric blanket. With 9 photos.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part Five

2004
AL#79 p.34   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ The author attended a mandolin making class taught by Don MacRostie at the American School of Lutherie. The first four parts of her report appeared in the four previous issues of AL. Part Five concerns the application of a sunburst using stains, both by spraying and rubbing, as well as the application of lacquer and French polish finishes. With 37 photos.

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

Bridge Shaping and Routing Jig

2004
AL#79 p.46   BRB7 p.224            
Paul Woolson                                                                                           

▪ If you’re going to need a bunch of identical parts you might as well jig up to do it. Besides, making jigs is fun. Here’s one method (of many, no doubt) to make bridges a whole lot faster than you can make guitars to put them on. You can do that by hand, too, it just doesn’t feel that way. With 7 photos and a diagram.

An Enhancement to the Outside Mold

2004
AL#79 p.58   BRB7 p.234            
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ An outside mold is one that the instrument under construction sits inside of. Weird, huh? The author has made changes to his molds that make them into side bending forms as well. Pretty cool. With 3 diagrams.

It Worked for Me: Eureka Steamer

2004
AL#79 p.64   BRB7 p.64            
Dennis Russell                                                                                           

▪ A Eureka Hotshot steamer purchased at Home Depot and rigged up for use on violins, cellos, and anything else that has hide glue joints.

It Worked for Me: Over-Radiused Edges

2004
AL#79 p.64   BRB7 p.494            
William-G. Snavely                                                                                           

▪ Using rectangular-section steel tubing rather than radiused sanding blocks to shape a fretboard which tends to over-radius the edges.

Fiber Optic Inspection Scope

2004
AL#78 p.54   BRB7 p.204            
Robert-A. Edelstein   Ben Edelstein                                                                                       

▪ How would you like an inspection tool that slides into any soundhole and gives you an electronic picture of what it sees? It’s here, it’s very cool, but it’s still pretty expensive. With 7 photos.

Making Templates for Stew-Mac’s Fret-Slotting Miter Box

2004
AL#78 p.62   BRB7 p.172            
Robert Deacon                                                                                           

▪ Using templates to slot a fingerboard is the way to go, whether you use a miter box or a table saw. The author doesn’t mention it, but his templates should work as well for table saw people as for the miter box folks. Of course, this is for making templates for scale lengths not offered by the manufacturer of the templates. With 2 photos and 3 diagrams.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part Three

2004
AL#77 p.38   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ The epic continues! In this segment the neck is assembled, the body is closed up and bound, and the fingerboard is bound and fretted. All this is accomplished under the able tutelage of Don MacRostie at the American School of Lutherie. With 67 photos. Parts 1 and 2 were in the two previous issues of American Lutherie.

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

Neck Template Duplicating Carver

2004
AL#77 p.54   BRB7 p.186            
Peter Hurney                                                                                           

▪ Hurney’s pantograph uses chain drive and a chainsaw carving attachment on an angle-grinder to shape ukulele necks. The scale of the machine can be adjusted for whatever size neck you wish to carve. There are 7 photos and a series of diagrams to help you along, but if you’re not already a mechanic you’d have to be pretty adventurous to build one of these without help.

Review: Emasco Finger Planes

2004
AL#77 p.64   BRB7 p.524            
Don Overstreet                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer likes these brass finger planes made in Arizona and in the end decides that their price of $89 apiece is reasonable for any professional builder of archtop instruments.

The Dan and Frank Show: Through the Soundhole Repair Techniques

2004
AL#78 p.4   BRB7 p.174            
Dan Erlewine   Frank Ford                                                                                       

▪ A ton of guitar repairs can only be accomplished by reaching through the soundhole. Here, two masters of the genre describe some of their methods a working in the cramped darkness, some of the tools they’ve used and/or created, and the attitude you have to acquire when getting stumped and handing back an unrepaired guitar is not an option. With 32 photos.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part Four

2004
AL#78 p.28   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ Ms. Stuart’s epic continues with the making of the headstock cap, shaping of the neck, installing the neck and fingerboard, as well as setting up and stringing the finished (but in-the-white) instrument. The first three parts were in the three previous issues of AL. Don MacRostie taught Stuart’s class at the American School of Lutherie. With 74 photos, most of the step-by-step process.

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

Tales of Topographic Arches

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.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part Two

2003
AL#76 p.28   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ Stuart continues her tale of learning to make a mandolin under the tutelage of Don MacRostie. In this episode of the four-part series, jigs and power tools become more important as the instrument comes together. This isn’t about becoming Geppetto, plying one’s trade with a knife and a chisel. This is about making mandolins in the real world. Routers and tablesaws are staple items, as are several impressive jigs created by MacRostie. With 37 photos and 3 drawings.

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

Cutting a Fanned-Fret Fingerboard

2003
AL#76 p.41   BRB7 p.137            
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ Fanned-Fret fingerboards use those wacky, slanted frets you’ve probably seen on some “California” guitars. So how does one cut those slots accurately? Doolin has worked out a method—make the ‘board its own miter box. Pretty cool. With 5 photos.

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

Product Review: Spot Check Thermometer

2003
AL#76 p.58   BRB7 p.510            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer tries out the Spot Check contact thermometer on his side-bending machine and makes some interesting discoveries. This tool is too cheap and useful to be without. With 3 photos.

CAD Notebook

2003
AL#76 p.60   BRB6 p.510            
Dana Bourgeois                                                                                           

▪ This is an episode in the series that even digiphobes will enjoy, taking the file to the CNC man to actually make necks by computer-guided milling machine. This is not a machine that most of us will ever own, or even want to, but it’s obvious how effectively it might add to ones output. With 15 photos.

Fingerboard Radius Gauges

2003
AL#75 p.62   BRB7 p.106            
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Cool beans! Radius gauges you can cut out of the magazine and use on your instruments. Jeez, I mean gauges that you can Xerox, then cut out and mount on a backer board and use on your instruments. What was I thinking?

Dedicated Binding and Purfling Routers

2003
AL#75 p.66   BRB7 p.108            
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ The author always uses the same binding/purfling scheme on his guitars, so he jigged up permanently set routers to use on his Ribbecke jig. Pretty cool if you never change your decoration scheme. With 5 photos.

Geza’s Precision Assembly Jig

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.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part One

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

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

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