Fourteen-year GAL member Alain Bieber was born in Paris and worked on large transportation projects in Europe as a civil engineer for forty years. He worked on a PhD in Berkeley, California for three years in spite of musical (and other) distractions. A lifelong committed and ungifted guitar player, he started lutherie in 1996 at his retirement, as a consolation. He says that it works.
▪ bio current as of 2013
2016
AL#128 p.70
Alain Bieber James Buckland
▪ What can you tell me about this old French guitar?
2013
AL#116 p.71
Alain Bieber
▪ Inquiry on wood for binding to repair a damaged Jerome Thibouville-Lamy French guitar.
2012
AL#109 p.60
Alain Bieber
▪ An impressive website, atlasofpluckedinstruments.com, the work of Dutchman Henny de Bruin.
2011
AL#106 p.67
Alain Bieber
▪ String questions regarding a German instrument pictured in the questions section of AL#102 pg.69.
2010
AL#104 p.26 read this article
Jan Tulacek Alain Bieber James Buckland
▪ An overview of three 19th century lutherie texts, by G.A. Wettengei in 1828, J.C. Maugin in 1834, and Paul Hasiuck in 1907.
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.
2008
AL#95 p.8
Alain Bieber
▪ Amateur luthier Bieber and his professional mentor pursue a new direction in classical guitar bracing that spans 10 guitars over the course of the article. Although Greg Smallman is quoted as an inspiration, the Al-Tho designs look nothing like the lattice system we’ve become familiar with. Nor do they look like anything else seen to date. Very interesting stuff. With 11 photos, 2 diagrams, and 2 charts.
2006
AL#88 p.16 read this article
Alain Bieber
▪ The lyre guitar goes back centuries. Lyre instruments in general go back millennia. The author couldn’t resist resurrecting the harp guitar, bringing it up to current standards. His research covers a wide look at art history as well a guitar history. Fascinating! With 14 photos and 2 drawings.
2006
AL#88 p.62 read this article
Alain Bieber
▪ The reviewer heartily recommends this catalog of lutes and theorbos in the musical instrument museum of Paris.
2005
AL#83 p.59 BRB7 p.479
Alain Bieber
▪ Bieber says there are old patents that show guitars with top grain orientation perpendicular to the strings. But were any of these ever built?
2004
AL#80 p.38 BRB7 p.262
Alain Bieber
▪ The author offers a nice history of guitars built with adjustable and/or removable necks and states a variety of reasons why we should build our guitars with this feature today. The benefits of adjustability are pretty irrefutable, and modern adjustable systems are easier to incorporate than the dovetail joint so commonly seen. The effect upon instrument tone seems to be minor or nonexistent. This is a very convincing article. With 10 photos and 5 diagrams. Mentions Fabricatore, Staufer, Scherzer, Lacote, others.
2004
AL#80 p.39 BRB7 p.267
Alain Bieber
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2003
AL#76p.65 BRB7 p.491
Alain Bieber
▪ A method for matching the curl when making 4-piece curly maple backs.
2002
AL#70 p.40 BRB6 p.362
Alain Bieber
▪ Bieber’s classical guitars feature removable, adjustable necks and slight double cutaways to increase fretboard access. They also look quite remarkable. With 8 photos.