American Lutherie #155 Summer 2025 You must be a 2025 member to receive this issue. Join or Renew your membership now! On this issue’s cover we see a uke top being glued to its sides in the workshop of Pat Megowan. Photo by Pat Megowan The Alluring Ukulele: A Design Adventure by Pat Megowan from his 2023 GAL Convention workshop A skilled woodworker takes a deep dive into the design and construction of the formerly humble uke. He looks for any horizon he can widen, any envelope he can push, to intensify the wonderfulness and sophistication of the dynamic and diminutive instrument. His aesthetic sense is free, but rooted in an educated appreciation for the classical guitar. Join him on this thoughtful journey to excellence. On this issue’s cover we see a uke top being glued to its sides in the workshop of Pat Megowan. Photo by Pat Megowan The back cover shows a Kasha-style classical guitar under construction forty-two years ago during a seminar offered by Richard Schneider. Photo by Tom Beltran Meet the Maker: Thomas Beltran by Samuel Barnes Are you like me? (That is to say, a self-starting kid who managed to cobble together a working guitar in the 1960s)? If so, you’ll understand the journey of Tom Beltran, another of our tribe of pioneers. Or if you have not yet started receiving Social Security checks, you may be amazed at the perseverance he showed, battling through the pre-GAL wilderness to become a successful and respected maker of classical guitars. Either way, you’ll be touched by his story of kind strangers and generous mentors. Touched, but not surprised, because that’s the story of the American Lutherie Boom, which is a wonderful, significant, and righteous thing. We all built it together. Thanks, everybody. An Overview of Richard Schneider’s Guitar Assembly Process by Thomas Beltran One of the generous mentors in Tom Beltran’s life was Richard Schneider. Richard shared information about his innovative methods and designs in real time as they developed over the decades, in talks and demonstrations at GAL Conventions, and in numerous intensive seminars. Tom attended a seminar in the summer of 1983 and now, forty-two years later, he covers that event and shares twenty never-before-seen photos. Build a Classical Guitar in a Week: Days Five and Six by Robbie O’Brien from his 2017 GAL Convention lecture Here’s Part Three of the three-part series, in which veteran lutherie teacher O’Brien follows the construction of an instrument in deep detail. Everything moves right along on an intense and carefully developed schedule; a student starts with a box of wood, and strings up a nice classical guitar only six days later. If you are a 2025 GAL member you will have Part Two; it’s in AL#154. Part One was in AL#153. Don’t have it? Buy the back issue before they sell out! Acoustic Guitar Repair: Binding and Bridge Saver by Alex Glasser and Brian Michael from their 2023 GAL Convention workshop Brian and Alex know the ropes. Around the repair shop, and in the GAL Convention spotlight. They teamed up in 2011 to present an info-packed tag-team workshop on guitar repair projects, and came back for an encore in 2014. Then, after a nine-year hiatus, they got the band back together for an appearance at our final Convention in 2023. This is part one of their presentation. Look for part two in AL#156. Let’s Catch Up with Steve Kinnaird by John Calkin Yes, we’ve met Steve Kinnaird. He’s a 37-year GAL member, an American Lutherie author, and a frequent GAL Convention attendee. He makes nice steel-string guitars down in Texas, where he also pastors a congregation. But our Meet the Maker interview with him was 26 years ago. Time to catch up. Grandad’s Guitar by Steve Kinnaird An heirloom in Steve Kinnard’s family was the little quartered-oak parlor guitar that belonged to his grandfather. A few years back, the guitar was about one hundred years old and Steve was about to make his one hundredth guitar. So he made a sweet replica of Granddad’s guitar. He gives us the lutherie details. A Tale of Two Ditsons or Trying to Make a Small Guitar Sound Big by Sjaak Elmendorp Sometimes, a big guitar is too big. But a small guitar can sound too small. How might one maximize the loudness of a guitar that is small enough for traveling? Sjaak devises an experiment that involves building a pair of guitars that differ mainly in the structure of the back; one back is flat, the other is vaulted. Find out how he did it, and what he learned. Thoughts on the Generation of Sound by Acoustic Guitars by Sjaak Elmendorp “Loudness” in guitars is not a thing that can be easily quantified and expressed in exact terms. It is built up from a number of factors and qualities. But some of those things can be analyzed and quantified in ways that may be helpful to our efforts. Sjaak takes a whack at it. In Memoriam: Bob Gleason by Chuck Moore and David Lawrence, Nathan Ching, Tom Braverman, and Woodley White Bob Gleason was a Guild member for forty-five consecutive years. He was a GAL Convention presenter and frequent attendee, and his Guild author credits go back four decades. He told us all that “Ukuleles Are For Real” long before we and the whole wide world were ready to believe it. Web Extras View photo gallery for this issue of American Lutherie. American Lutherie #149 – Summer 2023 American Lutherie #148 – Spring 2023 American Lutherie #147 – Winter 2022 American Lutherie #146 – Summer 2022 American Lutherie #145 – Spring 2022 American Lutherie #144 – Winter 2021 American Lutherie #143 – Summer 2021 American Lutherie #142 – Spring 2021 American Lutherie #141 – Winter 2020 American Lutherie #140 – Summer 2020 American Lutherie #139 – Spring 2020 Journal
