Low-Stress Archtop Guitar Design

by Steve Grimes

from his 2008 GAL Convention workshop

Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010



Before I was a luthier I worked as a draftsman for Boeing. I’d rest my head in my hand and hold my pencil, and I could log in a half-hour or 45-minute nap.

In 1972 I realized that if I didn’t change professions, I might as well commit suicide. The first instrument I made was a flattop Martin-style mandolin, and later that year I started building archtop mandolins. I had a preference tonally and visually for oval-hole mandolins, and I’m still addicted to oval-hole instruments.

In ’74 I wandered into McCabe’s Music Store in L.A. and saw a great-looking guitar on the wall. The store was noisy, so I didn’t really get a chance to evaluate the sound, but it sounded good. It was made by Lloyd Baggs, before he started making transducer piezo pickups. That guitar influenced me a lot, and it was similar to this guitar which I just finished. It didn’t have the light sunburst, and it wasn’t made out of curly koa like this one, but they both had flat backs. I immediately went home to Seattle and made my first archtop guitar, with an oval soundhole and a flat back.