Review: The Modern Classical Guitar For Friend or Builder by Donald M. Sprenger

Reviewed by C.F. Casey

Originally published in American Lutherie #27, 1991 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004



The Modern Classical Guitar For Friend or Builder
Donald M. Sprenger
Taylor Publishing Co., 121 pp.
ISBN 0-9617445-0-2

First, let it be said that I have very little knowledge about the Kasha system of guitar design. So when I saw this book advertised as using this system, I thought this would be a good opportunity to learn something.

On leafing through the book, the first thing that struck me was that the drawings were rather crudely done. Let me rephrase that: very crudely done. Now, I’m no whiz at draftsmanship myself; but it seems to me that if you’re going to the trouble of writing and publishing a book, it would be nice to go that little bit further and either do decent drawings or get someone to do them for you. But then I thought, “Maybe the man is a master luthier who just can’t be bothered with such petty details; maybe the text will make up for it.”