American Lutherie #147 - Winter 2022

Brian Yarosh interviews Beau Hannam, an Aussie who has migrated to Colorado to make his gorgeous guitars and ukes. Beau then shows us in detail how he makes and uses a router jig for cutting saddle slots in bridges. Bigtime lutherie teacher Robbie O’Brien steps us through his method of setting steel string guitar action. Luthier, guitarist, and scholar James Buckland tells of the “missing link” between the 5-course Baroque guitar and the modern 6-string guitar; it's the 5-string guitar, believe it or not, and he also offers a full plan of an authentic example from 1785. Guitar tech Carl-David Hardin shows us how he does a nice bone nut replacement while on the road. John Calkin interviews Peggy Stuart, and we learn how difficult it was to make a guitar on your own in the 1970s. Michael Burton goes the extra mile to resurrect a guitar with a super-bad neck warp. Calkin is back to show us how to make a simple but essential tool, the centerline square. F.A. Jaén cleverly hides the mechanism of his adjustable pickguard bracket inside the guitar. Roger Häggström straps a vibrating aquarium pump onto a guitar to break in the sound. Brent Benfield makes tight plate seams with sandpaper and a granite slab. Bob Gleason shows us how to do more accurate small resawing jobs. Members give glowing reviews to a video course on polishing lacquer and a book on Neapolitan mandolins. In the “Worked for Me” column we get hints about shielding paint, files, thumb picks, and binding strips. We honor the memories of Jeanette Fernández and Rick Turner. See more.

Scheduled to mail to 2022 members mid January