Tag Archives: Blilie¸ James

James Blilie

Barbarossa Guitars

Twenty-one-year GAL member James Blilie builds steel string and classical guitars, plus a few violins, resonator guitars, ukuleles, and Weissenborn-style lap steel guitars. He enjoys playing fingerstyle guitar and playing/singing folk and rock music. He has been a structural/mechanical engineer for over thirty-one years, working for Boeing, the FAA, Northwest Airlines, and Boston Scientific Corporation. He also enjoys muscle-powered fun in the outdoors with his family, and good food, wine, and beer.

▪ bio current as of 2018

Questions: Glue Joint Clamping Pressure

2019
AL#136 p.69               
James Blilie                                                                                           

▪ How much clamping force do different types of clamps exert? Blilie shows us how to calculate the force for some kinds of clamps, and comments about how much force is enough.

More Stiffness and Density Data for Lutherie Woods

2018
AL#133 p.48               
James Blilie                                                                                           

▪ We all have ideas about the stiffness of brace wood, probably based on a combination of intuition, hearsay, and informal flexing. Blilie aims to accumulate more quantitave data. Here he reports on his latest tests. He also describes his methodology and the reasoning behind it. This is Blilie’s third article on this topic.

More Glue Strength Testing Data

2017
AL#131 p.53               
James Blilie                                                                                           

▪ Unless you are really messing it up, the glue line is stronger than the wood. And here’s more numbers to prove it. Blilie uses real lab gear and standard statistical analysis to drive the lesson home.

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

2016
AL#128 p.58               
James Blilie                                                                                           

▪ We all have ideas about the stiffness of brace wood, probably based on a combination of intuition, hearsay, and informal flexing. Blilie aims to accumulate more quantitave data. Here he reports on his latest tests. He also describes his methodology and the reasoning behind it. This is Blilie’s second article on this topic. The earlier one is in AL128. A third article appears in AL133.

Proposed Standard Glue Strength Testing Method

2016
AL#126 p.38               
James Blilie                                                                                           

▪ How strong is glue? Like, is Titebond stonger than hide glue? Aside from forming generalized opinions based on observation or making assumptions based on conventional wisdom, how would you know? Jim Blilie proposes a test method to help us get more organized. It involves breaking a lot of little sticks.

Letter to the Editor: Leonardo Guitar Research Project

2016
AL#125 p.3               
James Blilie                                                                                           

▪ The Leonardo Guitar Research Project gathered very many data during their testing, which strengthens the confidence in the findings.

Wood Stiffness: An Analysis of a Substantial Sample of Woods of Interest to Guitar Makers

2016
AL#125 p.20               
James Blilie   Alan Carruth                                                                                       

▪ Blilie and Carruth examine the stiffness and density of individual wood samples, making the process more quantifiable.

Letter to the Editor: Robert Simons letter on soundport listening test

2011
AL#106 p.5               
James Blilie                                                                                           

▪ Blilie talks about Simon’s letter in AL#105, but more importantly about the statistical analysis of data in R.M.Mottola’s article on testing side ports in AL#96.

The Guitar as a Structure and Some Practical Information on Bracing

2009
AL#100 p.30               
James Blilie                                                                                           

▪ A structural engineer and guitar builder gives his two cents on the guitar as a structure.

Letter to the Editor: Circles in Classical Violin Design

2007
AL#89 p.5               read this article
James Blilie                                                                                           

▪ Blilie questions Michael Darnton’s concept of circles as the underlying structure of classical violin design.