Category Archives: created

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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: 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.

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.

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.

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: 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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: 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Get Bent! A Versatile Shopmade Side Bender

2003
AL#74 p.44   BRB7 p.70            
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ An evolution of the familiar Fox bender idea. Another example (two in one issue!) of Doolin’s genius for creating effective tools that any of us can build to fill a void in our shop routine. With 6 photos.

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

Making Dished Workboards

2003
AL#74 p.55   BRB7 p.47            
Rodney Stedall                                                                                           

▪ The author includes a formula for creating radiused workboards as well as a method of making them with a router. With 2 photos.

Tracker Remote Switches

2003
AL#74 p.56   BRB7 p.74            
Bruce Petros                                                                                           

▪ Using old organ-building technology it’s possible to switch onoff the same machine from a number of workstations. Here’s how, with 4 photos and a pair of drawings.

Motorized Dish Sander

2003
AL#74 p.19   BRB7 p.31            
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ No, this isn’t a machine for sanding dishes. You’d find that in Good Housekeeping. This is a motorized, dished workboard for sanding the contours of arched plates into your assembled instrument sides. It beats doing it by hand by miles, and Doolin’s clever design looks easier to build than others.

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

Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part 2

2003
AL#73 p.14   BRB6 p.368            
Eugene Clark   Jonathon Peterson                                                                                       

▪ Clark is one of the old American masters of lutherie. Building an original rosette in the Spanish tradition is way more complicated than routing a channel and poking in some abalone, as steel stringers are apt to do, but with Clark’s instruction you can do it. Includes 22 photos. Part 1 appeared in AL #71.

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

Pantograph Neck Shaft Duplicator

2003
AL#73 p.54   BRB7 p.28            
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ Perhaps you’d care to make all your necks look and feel the same, just as the big factories do. Perhaps you’d like to make them a lot faster while you’re at it. And do it all on a budget? Doolin’s machine may be just what you were looking for. With 8 photos and several diagrams.

The Search for the Lute Maker’s Donkey

2002
AL#69 p.36               
Andrew Atkinson                                                                                           

▪ The author’s focus is on recreating a lute maker’s shop, circa the late 16th century. Old paintings provide some of his most valuable research materials. He is not only interested in old tools, but in the old ways of making those tools. With 2 photos.

Making a Scraper Plane

2001
AL#67 p.40   BRB6 p.260            
Peter Giolitto                                                                                           

▪ Scraper planes are good for dressing down figured wood without tearing them up or following the grain. Here’s how to make one. With a photo and 5 drawings.

Review: Custom Knifemaking by Tim McCreight

2001
AL#66 p.57   BRB6 p.538            read this article
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer decides that if you want to make your first knife you just about can’t go wrong with this book.

Evolving the Dished Workboard

2001
AL#65 p.22   BRB6 p.210            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The dished workboard can make it easier to make better guitars. Calkin reveals several ways to make them more versatile, more accurate, and more fun to use. With 13 photos.

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

It Worked for Me: Guitar Finishing Holder

1999
AL#58 p.58   BRB5 p.501            
Andrea Andalo                                                                                           

▪ A simple device to hold guitars during the finishing phase which consists of an upright which can be held in a vise and a workboard which the neck can be secured.

It Worked for Me: Mandolin Side Heights

1999
AL#58 p.58   BRB5 p.501            
John Monteleone                                                                                           

▪ A good method for finding the height of mandolin family sides using a violin soundpost height gauge.

Adjustable Dished Workboard

1999
AL#57 p.46   BRB5 p.330            
Kevin-B. Rielly                                                                                           

▪ By now we all know about using dished workboards to create a radius on flat instrument plates. Rielly’s board is easier to make than most, and can be adjusted for either the top or back radius. With 6 photos.

More Binding Tips and Tools

1999
AL#57 p.11   BRB5 p.297            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Calkin was hired by Huss and Dalton to take over their guitar binding. His story includes a description of how to make wood binding, and covers the hand tools he uses during the binding procedure. With 6 photos.

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

Stick with Hide Glue

1999
AL#57 p.14   BRB5 p.302            
Frank Ford   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ The authors believe that hot hide glue is the best adhesive for virtually all construction and most repair jobs. Here’s why they think so and how they handle this ancient material. Includes diagrams of the customized glue pots used by both men, 15 photos, and a hide glue grading chart.

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

Tales of True Companionship

1999
AL#57 p.40   BRB5 p.317            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Calkin builds a uniquely shaped travel guitar called the True Companion, and here explains its construction as well as the jigs he devised for production building. The plan is a mini-version of GAL Plan #44. With 14 photos, including one of the sternest luthier of the year. Ya’ll remember to smile when it’s your turn!

It Worked for Me: Cheap Fret Bender

1998
AL#56 p.65   BRB5 p.500            
Kevin-B. Rielly                                                                                           

▪ A simple $1 bender design as an alternative to bending frets with pliers or a variable fret bender which takes less than 30 minutes to assemble.

It Worked for Me: Neck/Body Joint Jig

1998
AL#55 p.54   BRB5 p.497            
Filippo Avignonesi                                                                                           

▪ A jig to make joints for attaching necks to bodies; both heel and body are slotted and joined by a flat wooden spline.

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

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

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

It’s Called a What? Some Thoughts on the Irish Bouzouki

1998
AL#54 p.26   BRB5 p.198            
Graham McDonald                                                                                           

▪ Advice about building an Irish instrument with a Greek name from an Australian in an American magazine. You could get jet lag just thinking about it. McDonald covers the construction of the entire instrument (his neck joint is really slick) but the focal point is his top construction. He steams thick flat plates in the oven and bends them into an arch until they set. After joining there is a minimum of carving yet to be done. All this is in the name of saving time and timber. With 9 photos and a pair of drawings.

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

After the Fox: How Charles Changed my Lutherie Life

1998
AL#54 p.38   BRB5 p.127            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Inspired by his time spent at Fox’s American School of Lutherie, Calkin revamps his whole building procedure. Dished workboards turn out to be easy and cheap to make. Mando, uke, and dulcimer sides are bent with an electric silicone blanket. Molds are revamped. Speed and precision are in, drudgery is out (well, almost). Parts 1 and 2 were in American Lutherie #52 and #53, respectively. With 25 photos.

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

Crazy Like Charles Fox: Guitar Making Jigs for the 21st Century, Part 2

1998
AL#53 p.32   BRB5 p.108            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ In AL#52 we looked at the tools and jigs Charles Fox uses to build acoustic guitars. In Part 2 we examine how that equipment is put to use as Fox takes us through the procedure of building a classical guitar at his American School of Lutherie. Most of this info will be just as useful to the steel string builder, as well. With 55 photos.

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

Meet the Maker: George Fortune, Jr.

1998
AL#53 p.44   BRB5 p.178            
John Calkin   George Fortune-Jr.   Stan Olah                                                                                   

▪ Fortune is a self-taught fiddle maker and instrument repairman in rural Virginia. To many of his neighbors he is known simply as the Fiddle Man. Perhaps Americans aren’t losing their independent spirit, but often it feels like it. Calkin pays tribute to a man who seems to represent a whole way of life. With 7 photos.

Crazy Like Charles Fox: Guitar Making Jigs for the 21st Century, Part 1

1997
AL#52 p.12   BRB5 p.108            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The main thrust of Fox’s American School of Lutherie lies in teaching lone guitarmakers to make better instruments through more accurate tooling and in helping them become more commercially viable by increasing their production. Calkin attended one of Charles’ week-long Contemporary Guitar Making seminars and documented much of the hard info for American Lutherie readers. This segment concentrates on nearly 3 dozen jigs and fixtures that anyone can add to their lutherie arsenal, most of them adapted to power tools. With 57 photos. Parts 2 & 3 to follow.

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

Binding Router Jig

1997
AL#51 p.16               
David Grey                                                                                           

▪ Grey’s nifty jig uses a table router to bind guitar bodies. The classiest part is the micrometer adjustments built into the jig. With 2 photos and 5 good drawings.

Finger Planes, the Cheap and Easy Way

1997
AL#51 p.36   BRB5 p.143            
Nathan-D. Missel                                                                                           

▪ You can build these little hollowing planes for a dollar or two and very little time. With 3 drawings to show you the way.

Resetting a Neck with Jeff Traugot

1997
AL#49 p.50   BRB5 p.44            
Colin Kaminski   Jeff Traugott                                                                                       

▪ Neck resetting techniques have changed enormously in the last few years, and they continue to evolve. Traugot has been in the forefront of the evolution. Here’s his up-to-the-minute description of the procedure. With 12 photos.

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

How Frank Frets

1997
AL#50 p.4   BRB5 p.60            
Frank Ford                                                                                           

▪ Ford has been a preeminent repairman for years, but has recently emerged as a fine teacher of repair topics. Everyone’s refretting tricks are a little different. Even if you have a handle on the general principle you may find that Frank Ford has something to offer you. With 29 photos.

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

Meet the Maker: Bishop Cochran

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

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

Review: Making and Modifying Woodworking Tools by Jim Kingshott

1995
AL#44 p.57   BRB4 p.467            
Andres Sender                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer finds that this book is particularly useful for the plane maker, and ultimately decides that it is “. . .a remarkable deal if you can find it.”

Doc and Leo and Me

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

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

Another Look at Fretting

1993
AL#35 p.48   BRB3 p.368            
Ralph Novak                                                                                           

▪ Good fretwork is complicated, but practice makes it a staple in the repairman’s income. Novak offers advice garnered from twenty-odd years in the business.

It Worked for Me: Used Vacuum Pumps

1993
AL#34 p.58   BRB3 p.491            
Colin Kaminski                                                                                           

▪ A modified Blue Point K-1020 vacuum pump to recycle refrigerant from automotive air conditioners, per California state law.

Applications of the Silicone Heating Blanket in Violin Making

1993
AL#34 p.18   BRB3 p.328            read this article
George Borun                                                                                           

▪ Not many people make the mental leap from violins to the space age easily. Borun did, and found the connection useful. His list of uses extends far beyond bending the ribs.

Building Hollow Radius Forms

1993
AL#33 p.23   BRB3 p.476            
Colin Kaminski                                                                                           

▪ Kaminski’s form uses two sheets of plywood of different thickness. They are stacked and screwed together down the center, and the thin sheet is curved by placing rows of wedges between them. A wood frame is built around the plywood, then polyester is poured between the sheets to make the radius permanent. It works, but it can be messy.

At the Workbench

1993
AL#33 p.36   BRB3 p.303            
Wes Brandt                                                                                           

▪ A well-known repairman delivers eight tips, including an alternate way to bend a Venetian cutaway, tool tips, and a way to bend sides more accurately.

Thickness Sanding Disk for Drill Press

1992
AL#31 p.14   BRB3 p.218            
Gavin Baird                                                                                           

▪ You can thin all your guitar wood on the drill press. Baird’s sander is perhaps as accurate as any. He claims control of the wood to within .001″.

It Worked for Me: Laminated Binding Jig

1992
AL#30 p.48   BRB3 p.485            
Mark Tierney                                                                                           

▪ An easy to make jig with a wide jawed woodworkers vise to work down the edges of thin strips of veneer or laminated binding.

It Worked for Me: Clothespin Clamp

1992
AL#29 p.57   BRB3 p.484            
Tim Earls                                                                                           

▪ Variation on a modified clothespin clamp. The original was submitted in 1980 by Bruce Scotten and appears on page 26 of Lutherie Tools.

It Worked for Me: Low Cost Emergency Lathe

1992
AL#29 p.57   BRB3 p.485            read this article
Gerhart Schmeltekopf                                                                                           

▪ Rigging up a temporary reciprocating or ‘pole’ lathe.

It Worked for Me: Soaking Guitar Sides

1992
AL#29 p.56   BRB3 p.480            
Bill Garofalo                                                                                           

▪ Soaking guitars sides without resorting to vats and trays, using a piece of 4″ plastic pipe with a capped end, secured vertically to a wall or cabinet.

A Talk with Bob Taylor

1991
AL#28 p.34   BRB3 p.126   ALA4 p.10         
Phillip Lea   Bob Taylor                                                                                       

▪ Few people in Guitarland are as outspoken and clear-headed as Bob Taylor. Others might say he’s just opinionated. He believes a good guitar is a good guitar, no matter if it was whittled by Gepeto or cranked out by a dozen computer-guided milling cutters. This article offers a peek into the Taylor factory and a guided tour through one man’s thoughts about the contemporary guitar. With 28 photos.

Bending Sides with Silicone Blankets

1991
AL#25 p.52   BRB3 p.30            read this article
Michael Keller                                                                                           

▪ Silicon heat blankets are good for more than bending sides. Keller touches upon other uses, but his instructions for making forms and putting them to use is the focus here, and they cover about all you need to know. Once you have the blanket, the forms are cheap to make.

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

Graduation Marking Device

1990
AL#24 p.25   BRB2 p.449            
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ Darnton’s contrivance marks the finished thickness on violin plates that have already been carved to within 1mm-2mm of final tolerances, and it is simple to make.

Ren-Shape Precision Molding Material

1990
AL#21 p.31               read this article
Ed Beylerian                                                                                           

▪ Luthiers try lute molds of a new synthetic material. Its stability is pleasing but its strength may make it of limited use for some.

Six Lutherie Tools

1989
AL#20 p.32   BRB2 p.330            
Jeffrey-R. Elliott   Jonathon Peterson                                                                                       

▪ The 6 tools are: a guitar cradle, a grimel (hand purfling cutter), a hand circle cutter, a shooting board, a circle cutting jig for the Dremel tool, and water stones for tool sharpening.

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

Letter to the Editor: Steel String Construction

1989
AL#19 p.5   BRB2 p.221            
Arnold-M.J. Hennig                                                                                           

▪ Hennig gives advice about removing guitar bridges with a sharpened putty knife. He also laments the fact that popular opinion believes that guitars, unlike violins, have a “shelf life,” and as a result are often eventually neglected rather than repaired.

Resetting a Dovetailed Neck

1989
AL#19 p.52   BRB2 p.312            
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ Peterson uses a cappuccino machine to steam the neck out of its joint, and wood shavings to rebuild the dovetail. In-depth text and 5 photos.

Special Caliper for Cello

1989
AL#18 p.44   BRB2 p.246            
Jack Levine                                                                                           

▪ Levine made a deep-throated caliper for accurately measuring the thickness of the cello plate that is not removed, when the other is.

Steve Andersen’s Precision Pantograph

1988
AL#16 p.8   BRB2 p.115            
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ This is 9 photos and a small description of the machine that might be the production archtop maker’s best friend.

Two Tools for Inside Jobs

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

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

Flattening Rosewood Potato Chips

1988
AL#14 p.46   BRB2 p.66            
Ervin Somogyi                                                                                           

▪ Somogyi saves a stash of warped rosewood guitar sets by clamping them between aluminum plates and heating them with a clothes iron.

Arched Plate Copier

1987
AL#9 p.14   BRB1 p.312            
Steve Grimes                                                                                           

▪ Grimes’ pantograph for routing archtop plates is heavy duty and not real cheap if you have to job out the welding, but it accurately removes 90% of the excess wood. Several drawings accompany the detailed description.

Simple Carving Machine

1987
AL#9 p.18   BRB1 p.316            
Richard Ennis                                                                                           

▪ Ennis’ carving machine is not as straight forward in use as Grimes’, but its construction should be within the reach of most luthiers. A router mounted in a carriage rides over template rails to cut the contours into the plates of an archtop instrument.

Violin Bridge Holder

1986
AL#7 p.54   BRB1 p.439            
Alan Carruth                                                                                           

▪ Carruth describes a fixture he uses to hold a violin bridge while it is being tuned. It will save your fingers and help prevent cracking the bridge.

Bridge Regluing Caul

1986
AL#7 p.56   BRB1 p.181            
Sam Sherry                                                                                           

▪ Sherry claims his “bridge plate” style caul is a universal tool that makes bridge regluing easier.

Bow Hair Jig

1985
AL#3 p.24   BRB1 p.88            read this article
Thomas Snyder                                                                                           

▪ Measured drawings are presented for building a jig to facilitate rehairing bows. A detailed method for using the jig is also presented.

Three Helpful Tools

1985
AL#2 p.54   BRB1 p.77            
Brian Mascarin                                                                                           

▪ They are: an archtop guitar brace jack, a modified 1/4″ phone plug to position an output jack, and a clear plastic square for scribing fret positions on a fretless bass.

Illuminating Instrument Repairs

1985
AL#1 p.50   BRB1 p.73            
John Jordan                                                                                           

▪ Jordan describes two incandescent lights designed for use inside guitars. One uses a 7½-watt bulb on a standard power cord. The other uses tiny low-voltage bulbs and a step-down transformer.

Bandsaw Riser Block

1985
AL#1 p.51   BRB1 p.29            
Joel-Ivan Hawley                                                                                           

▪ Hawley describes a method of sawing part way into a 4×4, then clamping it to the bandsaw table and using it as a table for sawing the outline of a guitar or banjo peghead.

Guitar Back Fitting Jig

1985
AL#1 p.42   BRB1 p.13            
Ted Davis                                                                                           

▪ Davis presents a drawing of a jig for properly forming the sides and lining of a guitar to accept a domed back. The sides are held in a mold while a sanding stick, held by a central post, is passed over them.

Pneumatic Cylinders

1985
AL#1 p.46   BRB1 p.26            
Michael Jacobson-Hardy                                                                                           

▪ Jacobson-Hardy describes devices based on pneumatic cylinders for bending sides, clamping braces to plates, clamping plates to sides, and holding neck blanks in a lathe.

Luthier’s Long Knife

1985
AL#1 p.49   BRB1 p.17            
C.F. Casey                                                                                           

▪ Casey briefly describes the construction and use of a long-handled knife designed to be used with two hands.

Hide Glue Steamer

1984
DS#286   LT p.47            
Elliott Burch                                                                                           

▪ Simple steamer rejuvenates gelled glue after it’s been applied and the clamps are in place.

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

Blackboard Eraser Polisher

1984
DS#288   LW p.111            read this article
Michael Dresdner                                                                                           

▪ Dresdner steals yet another tool from another discipline, this time for polishing frets after they’ve been shaped with a file.

Hardening and Tempering Steel

1984
DS#291   LT p.16            
Alan Carruth                                                                                           

▪ General process of identifying and heat treating steel for use in edge tools.

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

Nut Slotting Files

1984
DS#285   LW p.106            
Michael Dresdner                                                                                           

▪ In the “old days” you couldn’t buy a set of nut slotting files. They didn’t exist. The author used pattern makers files with parallel safety sides. He recommends learning about and adapting the tools from every trade that crosses your path.

Making a Glue Pot

1983
DS#254   LT p.46            
Wesley Wadsworth                                                                                           

▪ A baby bottle warmer makes a good heater for hide glue.

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

Saddle Slot Dremel Base

1982
DS#221   LT p.61            
Don Alfieri                                                                                           

▪ Adds nylon bolts to the bottom corners of a Dremel base. The tool rides on the bolt heads, raising the router above the level of the bridge.

Bending with a Paint Stripper

1982
DS#227   LW p.88            
Al Leis                                                                                           

▪ Bending sides can be an intimidating process. It was especially so before the advent of the Fox bender. The author found a new method of applying heat to the wood to coerce the bend. With 6 photos to prove it works.

Instrument Molds

1982
DS#242   LT p.53            
Bo Walker                                                                                           

▪ A deep plywood frame with a guitar-shaped hole in it. Uses no hardware other than a few screws.

Cutting Nut Slots with Strings

1982
DS#208   LW p.106            
Michael Trietsch                                                                                           

▪ The cheapo way to cut perfect nut slots is to use the wound string that will sit in the groove as a saw. It doesn’t work while the nut is mounted on the guitar, though. The unwound string slots are cut with an X-acto saw. With 1 drawing.

Flattop Bridge Removal

1982
DS#210   LW p.99            
Jim Williams                                                                                           

▪ Clean bridge removal is almost an art, but the right heat source and the proper tools can give even the first-timer a fighting chance. Williams offers a dedicated lamp setup for heat and a modified cabinet scraper to slide through the glue joint. With 3 drawings.

Sanding Board Tip

1981
DS#199   LW p.95            
Alan Carruth                                                                                           

▪ The author offers a simple trick for making flat-bottom sanding blocks. Includes a drawing.

Dial Indicator Caliper

1981
DS#185   LT p.2            
T.E. Owen                                                                                           

▪ Aluminum frame, dial indicator.

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