Eleven-year GAL member Steve Kennel is a sculptor and printmaker who once worked in a newspaper pressroom and an autobody shop. Hes been a cabinetmaker, a dishwasher, a shelver of books in a library, a furniture maker, a caregiver, a foundry worker, and a welder.
bio current as of 2024
2024
AL#152 p.71
Steve Kennel
Kennel reminds us to respect the simple beauty of a limp cloth measuring tape.
2024
AL#153 p.66
Steve Kennel
Kennel is a sculptor who usually uses salvaged wood to make his guitars. But for this one, he splurged on some new poplar planks from the home improvement center. He ended up with a nice, simple guitar with a blues-era vibe at a low cost.
2024
AL#153 p.95
Steve Kennel
Steve says it’s an oldy but a goody: You mount a piece of work, like a guitar neck for instance, to an octagonal beam. Now you can clamp it at an angle in a standard bech vise.
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.
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.
2023
AL#150 p.69
Steve Kennel
Make try squares and bevel squares with clear-plastic blades.
2023
AL#150 p.70
Steve Kennel
Easy alignment for guitar mold halves.
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.
2023
AL#148 p.71
Steve Kennel
Kennel builds an electric aluminum bending iron. It’s sturdy. Like, you could plow a field with it.
2022
AL#147 p.70
Steve Kennel
Specialty files intended for sharpening steel tools are unexpectedly perfect for specific lutherie tasks. In this case we are talking about files made for sharpening brace-and-bit augers, and files made for sharpening Japanese pull saws.
2022
AL#146 p.69
Steve Kennel
Post-It material comes in other forms besides notes, and they can be particularly useful for lutherie.
2022
AL#145 p.68
Steve Kennel
Use the parts from pipe clamps to make super-powered bench hold-downs.
2021
AL#144 p.70
Steve Kennel
Make a dead-blow hammer out of stuff you might find around the shop.
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.
2021
AL#143 p.70
Steve Kennel
Kennel modifies the often-seen but seldom-used Zyliss vise into a configuration that is specifically engineered for safely and securely holding guitar necks.
2021
AL#142 p.71
Steve Kennel
Assure symmetry in shop templates by making two identical halves and bookmatching them.
2021
AL#142 p.68
Steve Kennel
Sacrifice a wobbly old Workmate to make a nice guitar holding rig for your bench top.
2020
AL#141 p.68
Steve Kennel
Plastic pipe scraps with sticky sandpaper .
2021
AL#142 p.2
Steve Kennel
A quick and dirty Dobro made partly from yard sale stuff.
2020
AL#141 p.36
Steve Kennel
Here’s a detailed drawing of a straightforward and ubiquitous mid-century, solid-wood, American-made guitar. This inexpensive model was the first instrument of a generation of would-be folkies and rockers. Not a classical, but certainly a classic.
2018
AL#134 p.66
Steve Kennel
Make a wooden screwdriver for use on nice, shiny guitars.