Category Archives: workshop

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.

A Day with Luisa Willsher of Madinter

2024
AL#151 p.54               
Federico Sheppard                                                                                           

▪ An Art-school girl from the UK goes to Spain as a flamenco dancer. There she meets a guy who has a business selling wood to local luthiers. Things go well. The business grows and gets bought by StewMac, and now she’s VP of Global Sales. And if you go to their sawmill, you can pick up pelletized fuel of the finest rosewood. Mentions Bob Taylor.

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.

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.

Let’s Catch Up with Steve Kauffman

2023
AL#148 p.10               
Tim Olsen   Steve Kauffman                                                                                       

▪ What has happened with Steve Kauffman since he was interviewed for American Lutherie twenty-four years ago in AL#59? He’s still working with the other Steve K, that is, Klein. He has moved from an idyllic shop in a California garden to an idyllic shop in an Oregon garden. Mentions 1978 GAL Convention. Mentions 1979 GAL Convention. Mentions Steve Klein, John Dillon, CF Martin IV, Jimmy D’Aquisto, Richard Schneider, David Russel Young, George Peacock, Ervin Somogyi, Wilson Schunemann, Les Stansell, Port Orford cedar.

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.

Meet the Maker: Peggy Stuart

2022
AL#147 p.42               
John Calkin   Peggy Stuart                                                                                       

▪ Peggy Stuart is not famous as a guitar maker, but her life story is one that every luthier under age fifty should hear and think about. She was one of “Sloane’s Children,” struggling to make a guitar from that early book back in the dark ages of the middle 1970s. She discovered the GAL and soon attended conventions and wrote articles as her skills improved. But she ultimately saw that she would not be able to support herself as a luthier, and turned to law school. If you making a living building instruments in these days of milk and honey, thank your lucky stars and the Guild of American Luthiers.

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.

Letter: How Do You Close Up Shop?

2021
AL#144 p.5               
Rossco Wright                                                                                           

▪ Long-time GAL member and small-scale guitar manufacturer Wright asks how one should wrap up a lutherie business when the time comes to retire.

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.

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.

Cleaning Shop Part 1

2021
               read this article
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ In your workshop, are you drowning in a sea of beautiful little scraps of wood? Dr.JC is here to administer some tough love about your hoarding problem.

Cleaning Shop Part 2

2021
               read this article
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ In your workshop, are you drowning in a sea of beautiful little scraps of wood? Dr.JC is here to administer some tough love about your hoarding problem.

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.

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.

When Your Business Hits a Bump

2020
AL#141 p.18               
Evan Gluck                                                                                           

▪ What should you do when an unexpected event upsets the smoothly-running apple cart of your guitar-repair business? Don’ freak out. Take good advice from the trustworthy folks around you, and proceed with confidence. That’s the story, but raconteur and lutherie superstar Evan Gluck tells it better.

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)!

Guitar Maker Without Borders

2020
AL#139 p.6               
Federico Sheppard                                                                                           

▪ Here’s a lutherie carreer so wide-ranging, so full of amazing travels and fortuitous connections, that you might be thinking of Baron Munchausen or Forrest Gump. But this is a true adventure, and he left a lot of it out in order to pack the story into a 75-minute lecture. Must read to believe. From his 2017 GAL Convention lecture. Mentions Torres, Simplicio, Garcia, Leo Kottke, Bozo Podunavac, Ray Jacobs, John Fahey, Peter Lang, Norman Blake, Robert Larson, Agustin Barrios, Ray Whitely, Sanfeliu, Enno Voorhorst, Jeffrey Elliott, Cyndy Burton, Richard Brune, Jorge Morel, Pepe Romero, Shel Urlik, Romanillos, Dmitry Zhevlakov, Paracho, Abel Garcia, Antigua Casa Nunez, Cecilio Lopez, Fernando Sor, Francois de Fossa, Cite de la Musique, Santos Hernanadez, Domingo Esteso, Antonio Marin, Eugene Clark, Michael Partington.

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.

Meet the Makers: Jay Lichty and Corrie Woods

2019
AL#138 p.38               
Steve Denvir   Jay Lichty   Corrie Woods                                                                                   

▪ Jay Lichty was late to the lutherie game, having spent a lot of years in a real job building houses as a general contractor. But he’s deep into instrument making now, and finding success with an eclectic line of ukuleles and small guitars. Jay’s wife, Corrie Woods, is the marketing department, working with photography and online media to make the most of Jay’s work at the bench. Together, they are making it work. From their lecture at the 2017 GAL Convention.

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.

Let’s Catch Up with Joshia de Jonge

2019
AL#137 p.22               
Cyndy Burton   Joshia de-Jonge                                                                                       

▪ Joshia de Jonge was a sensation at the 1998 GAL Convention when, as a young female luthier, she brought a nicely-made and fine sounding instrument to the classical guitar listening session. It helped to have grown up in a guitar-making family. And now that she has left her parents’ home and shop, she is raising guitar-making sons. Mentions Geza Burghardt; Linda Manzer; Sergei de Jonge; Eric Sahlin.

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.

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.

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.

It Worked For Me: Humidity Control

2017
AL#130 p.64               
Juan-Oscar Azaret                                                                                           

▪ Clever automatic control of a home’s central heating and air conditioning can yield effective humidity control without the use of dehumidifying equipment.

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.

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: 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.

Let’s Catch Up With Linda Manzer

2017
AL#129 p.6               
Cyndy Burton   Linda Manzer                                                                                       

▪ The prolific maker of high-end flattop and archtop guitars talks about her mentors Jean Larrivee and Jimmy D’Aquisto, the lutherie biz, her collaborations with guitarist Pat Metheny, and a recent project in cooperation with other Canadian luthiers. Also mentions Paul Simon.

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.

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.

Meet the Maker: Sebastian Nunez

2016
AL#126 p.12               
Federico Sheppard   Sebastian Nunez                                                                                       

▪ Sebastián Núñez was a teenager in a Buenos Aires garage band, making electric guitars and pickups and searching for prog rock records, until he followed his girlfriend to the Netherlands to escape the troubles in Argentina. There he fell in with a historic-house-restoring, Harley-riding, early-music luthier. He read every early-music magazine in the Utrecht University library while commuting to work. Now he’s an old master, making and restoring lutes, Romantic guitars, and harpsichords. Our globetrotting reporter Federico Sheppard drops in on his busy workshop.

Meet the Maker: Sergei de Jonge

2015
AL#124 p.16               
Steve Denvir   Sergei de-Jonge                                                                                       

▪ It’s one of the founding legends of the American Lutherie Boom: the tale of Jean Larrivee’s original workshop in Toronto over forty years ago and the ragged young crew of would-be luthiers who gravitated there. From that beginning, Sergei de Jonge went on to found a lutherie dynasty in the Canadian back country.

How I build Forty Eight Guitars a Year- With Almost No Tooling- Part 2

2014
AL#118 p.18      ALA4 p.66         
John Greven                                                                                           

▪ John Greven is famous for making a lot of guitars in his basement, all by himself, with a very limited set of tools. Greven gives us the step-by-step rundown. Part One was in American Lutherie #117. Part Two is the final installment and takes us up through the binding, the construction of the neck, inlay, and finishing. From his 2011 GAL convention workshop.

How I build Forty Eight Guitars a Year- With Almost No Tooling- Part 1

2014
AL#117 p.6      ALA4 p.66         
John Greven                                                                                           

▪ John Greven discusses the application of his 3 tiered system (rough assembly, finesse, finish) throughout his 50 year career, which involves building 6 to 8 guitars at a time. From his 2011 convention workshop. The second and final part of this series is in AL#118.

Constructing a Double Bass Part 2- Inspired by a 1760 Giovanni Baptiste Gabrielli

2011
AL#107 p.22               
Geza Burghardt                                                                                           

▪ Exhaustive pictorial building of a double bass. From 2004 and 2006 GAL convention workshops.

Workshop Evolution

2011
AL#108 p.6               
Kent Everett                                                                                           

▪ Everett lays out the configuration of his workshop and how it has evolved over the years to accommodate each unique location and his needs as a luthier. From his 2011 GAL convention workshop.

Constructing a Double Bass Inspired by a 1760 Giovanni Baptiste Gabrielli

2011
AL#106 p.16               
Geza Burghardt                                                                                           

▪ Burghardt shares his experience of fulfilling his dream of constructing a double bass. From his 2004 and 2006 GAL convention workshop.

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.

The Never-Ending Barber Chair Workbench

2006
AL#85 p.52      ALA2 p.2         
Michael Sanden                                                                                           

▪ Sanden first related his barber chair workbench to GAL members in 1986, and he has never stopped updating it. His latest incarnation is a model of useful efficiency, and the chair has nearly disappeared beneath the cabinetry. Very compact cabinetry at that. With 6 photos.

Meet the Makers: Sue and Ray Mooers of Dusty Strings

2004
AL#77 p.8   BRB7 p.142            
Jonathon Peterson   Sue Mooers   Ray Mooers                                                                                   

▪ This is a wonderful story of how a couple began a basement lutherie business and ended up employing 36 people in the creation of fine harps and hammered dulcimers. Everybody in the lutherie trades should be this nice and interesting (and the wonder of it is that so many are!). With 37 photos, including a bunch of the harp assembly shop.

Meet the Maker: Steve Grimes

2003
AL#74 p.20   BRB7 p.48            
Jonathon Peterson   Steve Grimes                                                                                       

▪ Grimes is one of the premier archtop builders of our times. His flattops aren’t bad, either. He worked for years in the Northwest before moving to Hawaii, where the slack-key guitar scene has impacted his flattop designs.

Meet the Maker: Kathy Matsushita

2003
AL#73 p.8   BRB7 p.8            
Cyndy Burton   Kathy Matsushita                                                                                       

▪ Matsushita is a professional teacher and an adventurous luthier, which makes for a fine combination for an interview. Her story is one of the best examples of how the internet has impacted our lives, of how we can teach and learn by electron. Joy and information can be the same thing. With 14 photos.

Stop Giving Your Guitar the Finger

2003
AL#73 p.40   BRB7 p.2            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Everyone develops little work habits or adopts minor tools that together make a big difference in their work and the pleasure they find in it. This is one man’s collection of odds and ends that changed the quality and quantity of his work. With 15 photos.

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.

Review: Woodshop Dust Control by Sandor Nagyszalanczy

1997
AL#51 p.47   BRB5 p.471            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer likes the informal structure of this book about an important health consideration in any woodshop.Shop dust can be controlled on a low budget when necessary, and many collectors and aids can be made in the shop.

It Worked for Me: Tool Box

1997
AL#49 p.58   BRB5 p.504            
Glenn Uhler                                                                                           

▪ This plastic tool box made by Rubbermaid has two stacking trays that lift out together and plenty of room in the bottom for fretting hammers and larger tools.

Review: The Workbench Book by Scott Landis

1992
AL#32 p.62   BRB3 p.470            read this article
Robert Lundberg                                                                                           

▪ This marvelous book of workbenches will fill you with ideas of how to improve the ‘heart’ of your own shop.

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

Using Your Work Space from the 1990 GAL Convention panel

1991
AL#27 p.4   BRB3 p.80            
Chris Brandt   R.E. Brune   Jeffrey-R. Elliott   Richard Schneider   Ervin Somogyi   David Wilson                                                                       

▪ A look inside the shops of six professional luthiers, featuring floor plans, tooling descriptions, notes on lighting and specialized machinery, and ideas about how work space can help (or hurt) your lifestyle. With a good Q&A segment and 63 photos.

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

Woodshop-in-a-Can

1986
AL#7 p.18   BRB1 p.244            
James Jones                                                                                           

▪ Jones explains how he converted a mobile home into a complete shop.

In the Ramirez Workshop

1985
AL#4 p.36   BRB1 p.140   ALA5 p.2         
William Tapia                                                                                           

▪ Tapia relates the history of Ramirez guitars and tells of his time there learning to properly repair them.

Workbench Design Ideas

1985
AL#1 p.36   BRB1 p.18            
Mark Stanley                                                                                           

▪ Stanley proposes a lutherie workbench of an unusual stepped-width design and gives thoughts on the materials and carpentry involved in constructing it.