The Guild of American Luthiers is a nonprofit educational membership organization whose purpose is to facilitate learning about lutherie: the art, craft, and science of stringed musical instrument building and repair. Since 1972, we’ve been the foremost source of information for makers, repairers, and restorers of all kinds of string instruments.

Guild membership and publications are open to all. Whether you’ve been making instruments for years, or have just acquired the lutherie bug; whether you live in Brooklyn or Bangladesh; whether lutherie is your livelihood or your passion or both; we invite you to join the Guild and learn more about the many ways you can benefit from and contribute to our information sharing system!

Membership Benefits

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Member Discounts

Members get discounted prices on our books, back issues, plans, and more.

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American Lutherie

Our respected journal American Lutherie is the main benefit of GAL membership.

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Articles Online

Members can read a growing selection of our articles online.

CURRENT ISSUE OF
AMERICAN LUTHERIE

American Lutherie #154 - Spring 2025

In the Spring 2025 issue of American Lutherie, we meet luthier Rob Golderg, learn about his involvement in the early days of the lutherie boom, and see how he inlays big, bold designs in stained glass into ebony fretboards. We join veteran lutherie teacher Robbie O’Brien on Days Three and Four of the construction of a classical guitar in six days. Simon Burgun follows the example to René Lacôte to make elaborate and high-precision MOP-and-ebony rosettes. Meet the small and dedicated team that makes Gibson F-5 mandolins at the custom shop in Nashville. Longtime lutherie schoolmaster David Freeman shows us how he makes a interior sliding door for his side soundports. We find out how C.F. Casey, an early GAL member and frequent author, got into the lutherie game. Veronica Merryfield explains that there's a lot of math and physics behind the simplicity of the basic old-school guitar pickup. Product and book reviews, shop tips and more. See details in the AL#154 preview.

The Spring 2025 issue will be mailed to all 2025 members late April.

New Instrument Plan

1939 Martin 0-18 Guitar
GAL Plan #83  Drawn by Tim Olsen

Looking for Something?

You can search abstracts of all our articles. Pick a topic, pick an author, or search for a word. It’s fun!

Resources

Are you just getting started in guitar making, or thinking about becoming a luthier? Or are you an experience builder looking for an event or hard-to-find supplies? See our Resources page with links to lutherie schools, suppliers, organizations, events and more!