Posted on June 1, 2020May 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips Indian Import and Export Indian Import and Export by Gulab Gidwani from his 1986 GAL Convention lecture Originally published in American Lutherie #11, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 The reason I’m up here talking about importing and exporting woods is that I’m one of the few people who have had the fortune, or you could say misfortune, of being on both sides. I have been an exporter in India, I have been an importer over here. So I can give you some idea of the problems involved. This whole thing started when I was living in the USA and I went to India on a vacation from my regular job. My younger brother sent me a cable telling me that the Gibson Company over here had problems getting a reliable supply of ebony. I said to myself, “That’s no big deal. I’ll go to the market and tell them please send some wood to the Gibson Company. Ebony is just like any other wood.” Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 1, 2020May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips Birth of the Packaxe Birth of the Packaxe by Francis Kosheleff Previously published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly Volume 9 #2, 1981, updated 1994 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1998 The Need. Several years ago after reading an article in Guitar Player about the hassles of traveling with a guitar and remembering my own camping trips in Europe and the United States, it dawned on me that the answer was a folding guitar. That night I went to work on that idea with pencil and paper, slept over it, dreamt about it, and the next morning started work in the shop. The following Saturday I went to the flea market and bought several cheap, broken acoustic guitars to experiment with. Later on that month I started the actual construction of the first folding guitar and named it the Packaxe. The name Packaxe is now trademarked. The idea of a hinged neck on a guitar is not new. It must have occurred to many luthiers before me, yet I had never seen a folding guitar, nor read or heard of one. Knowledgeable people usually told me that such an instrument could not possibly work for a hundred reasons. I went ahead anyway building several types of guitars with folding necks, and sure enough, there were problems, lots of them. But for an inventor, this is a challenge to be enjoyed. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on May 21, 2020May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips A Laminated Neck Design A Laminated Neck Design by Tim Olsen previously published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #50, 1977 and in Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1997 The most obvious way to make a neck is to start with a chunk of wood big enough in every dimension to engulf the entire completed neck, then simply chip away at the block until only the neck remains. The advantage to this is that there is no joinery to perform and no joints which might fail or look sloppy. More importantly, those who distrust the integrity of laminations, whether structural or acoustical, will opt for this procedure. The disadvantage is, of course, the considerable waste. The waste can be reduced by using a block of wood which will accommodate the widest portion of the fretboard, then adding wood to the peghead through the use of “ears” as in Fig. 1. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on May 21, 2020May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips South American Rosewood South American Rosewood by John Jordan Originally published in American Lutherie #4, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 See also, African Rosewood by John Jordan Rosewoods are among the most beautiful of all woods. Although they are native to tropical and semitropical climates around the world, we will deal in this article with those native to Central and South America. They are typically hard, very dense, and often resinous woods weighing 50–80 lb./cu. ft. One cubic foot (cu. ft.) is equal to 12 bd. ft. Because of their weight, they are expensive to ship; consequently the number of South American rosewoods available to the wood market in the U.S. will be greater than the number of African or Asian varieties due to our proximity to South and particularly Central America. To quickly dispel some misconceptions: rosewood trees do not produce rose-like flowers, nor are they close relatives of the Rosecae (flowering rose) family. The name rosewood is derived from the fact that the wood, especially when fresh cut, exudes a rose-like scent. Several varieties of rosewoods were being exported for furniture, fine cabinetry, musical instruments, fine carving, and turnery long before botanical identification was established in the tropics. A Swedish botanist named Nicholas Dalberg (1735–1820) was credited with discovering that these rosewoods were close botanical relatives, hence the genus is named Dalbergia. The genus Dalbergia has over 300 species. I have gathered information on over 100 species, 15 of which, including the most popular ones, are represented here. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on May 21, 2020May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips World Outlook, a Merchant’s View World Outlook, a Merchant’s View by Michael Gurian Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, Volume 7 #3, 1979 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1997 Editor’s Note: The following article was distilled from Michael Gurian’s 1979 GAL Convention lecture. At that time Mr. Gurian was perhaps the leading lutherie wood supplier in the country. The update which follows it is from a 1995 interview with Michael Gurian by David Hill. Availability. How much wood is really left? My answer is there are weak areas, but there is still wood. Everyone knows about the Brazilian rosewood situation. Some people swear Brazil still has mountains and mountains of rosewood that’s not been cut. There is, but it’s not the true Brazilian rosewood. The availability of Indian rosewood is a little shaky right now and becoming more and more limited. That species of Indian grows in other parts of the world, so I figure the supply of Indian will continue for a number of years. Hundreds and hundreds of species of good quality rosewood can be had for instruments. It’s just a matter of letting people know which are good and which are bad and how available from which country. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
