Tag Archives: Eban¸ Gila

Gila Eban

Gila Eban is a longtime GAL member, past Board of Directors member and convention lecturer. Apprenticed with Richard Schneider and studied with James D’Aquisto. Worked with Michael Kasha on guitar design. Was a member of the Catgut Acoustical Society. Is a member of the Acoustical Society of America. Participated and /or presented papers at conferences of these organizations and presented and authored/co-authored papers for their publications. Devised novel designs and methods for guitar soundhole decoration.

▪ bio current as of 2015

Meet the Maker: Dana Bourgeois

1990
AL#23 p.8   BRB2 p.386            
Gila Eban   Dana Bourgeois                                                                                       

▪ This interview took place while Bourgeois was designing acoustic guitars for Paul Reed Smith, an enterprise that never came to fruition but which led to Bourgeois starting his own company in Maine. He talks about his early days as a luthier and his association with Eric Shoenberg.

Innovative Concepts within Fixed Limits

1987
AL#11 p.12   BRB1 p.420            
Gila Eban                                                                                           

▪ Eban builds Kasha-style classical guitars. She comments at length about how her aesthetic concept for the guitar evolved, and offers many details of her construction procedures. Her descriptions of her work are so entrancing that you will long for more photos than the five that are offered. With rosette drawings.

Kasha Soundboard without Waist Bar

1986
AL#8 p.8   BRB1 p.266            
Gila Eban                                                                                           

▪ Eban charts the design evolution of the Kasha system of classical guitars as applied to her own instruments. With many drawings, glitter tests, and a discussion of different materials.

Review: Julian Bream: A Life on the Road

1986
AL#5 p.53   BRB1 p.496            read this article
Gila Eban                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer finds the book to be of interest to the luthier, even though it offers little technical information about guitars.

Comments on the Kasha Question

1985
AL#4 p.42               
Gila Eban                                                                                           

▪ Eban takes on Paul Wyzskowski as she champions the design innovations of Michael Kasha. She has incorporated many of Kasha’s changes into her own classical guitars. Her rebuttal mentions Richard Schneider, Jamey Hampton, and Graham Caldersmith.

GAL Instrument Plan #5: Kasha Guitar Soundboard

1983
DS#243   BRB1 p.214            
Gila Eban                                                                                           

▪ Eban offers an eloquent argument for trying the Kasha system in your own shop, as well as many details of her own guitars. A page-sized blueprint is included. She maintains that there is a philosophy and an aesthetic behind the Kasha design that is self-revealing and pleasing to work with, and that the design will always be under-realized until a larger number of builders have come to understand and absorb it.

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