Posted on July 7, 2024October 1, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Mystery Guitar Questions: Mystery Guitar by James Buckland Originally published in American Lutherie #102, 2010 Joël Dugot of Musée de la Musique in Paris, France asks: Our museum has received as a gift what seems to me to be an American guitar from the end of the 19th century. As there is no label nor any mark on it (except on the tuning machines: “G.EON”) my problem is to correctly identify this instrument. The body is made of nice quality Brazilian rosewood; the neck and V-jointed peghead are covered by a thick and hard black varnish. String length is 62CM, body widths are 28.8CM/17CM/21CM, and body depth is 8.5CM/7.5CM. James Buckland from Clinton, South Carolina replies: I’m a bit surprised to see this guitar in Paris. It looks like a mass produced “workshop” guitar, but is not in the French style, so I would rule out Mirecourt as its place of origin. To me it appears more Germanic and may have been built in Markneukirchen, Saxony, a town known for its music instrument production, much of which was for export. I’ve seen many similar instruments in the USA and Canada, and would date it middle or late 19th century, perhaps early 20th century. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 7, 2024October 1, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Nylon String Baritone Guitar Questions: Nylon String Baritone Guitar by Graham Caldersmith Originally published in American Lutherie #102, 2010 Len Laviolette from San Diego, California asks: I have been asked by a prominent local guitarist to build a nylon-string baritone guitar. I am intrigued, but I don’t know anything about baritone guitars. I have seen some steel strings, but never a nylon string. My questions are about scale length, top thickness (for cedar), and body size; also the availability of nylon strings in heavier gauges. Should it have a 12-fret neck? Graham Caldersmith from Comboye, Australia responds: I have made fifteen classical baritones since 1980 and have found that the carbon fiber/balsa lattice suits the needs of the baritone range better than traditional bracing designs. The baritone is particularly effective as an ensemble instrument where it plays the cello part of string quartets, a standard guitar plays the viola part, and treble guitars play the violin parts. Some musicians, including Slava Grigoryan and Ralph Towner, use their baritones as solo instruments, particularly for the Bach cello suites. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 7, 2024July 9, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Nut Width Questions: Nut Width by Bob Pittman Originally published in American Lutherie #102, 2010 Rand Nooteboom from Haiku, Hawaii asks: Nut width varies from one instrument to the next and so does placement of the outside strings. What is the most reliable method of evenly spacing the remaining strings? Not just marking placement, but also accurately cutting the slots. Bob Pittman from Brookline, Massachusetts responds: For marking the spacing, I use the Stew Mac string spacing ruler (www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Measuring_tools/String_Spacing_Rule.html) and a .7MM pencil. The pencil is very fine and fits in the spacing ruler slots. The ruler does proportional spacing and I’ve never had a single customer complaint. I start with a nut cut square on all sides and sanded to 400 grit. I cut it to width and fit it into the nut slot. The outside strings are marked, then the nut is put in my nut vise, a Parrot vise with panels cut to 45° on the top edges so I can get at the nut. I mark the remaining slots with the string-spacing ruler and the pencil. With a 3" machinist’s square, I butt the edge up to the back of the nut next to a string mark. I use an X-acto saw and mark the top of the nut on top of the string line. (I think a Japanese-style saw would be perfect for this since it cuts on the back stroke, but I haven’t gotten around to buying one small enough.) I make sure the saw is perpendicular to the nut and flush against the square. With very light pressure, the slots are cut about 1mm deep. I put the nut back in the guitar, and nut files are used to finish off the slots. After that, I remove the nut, shape it on my sander, polish it with Micro-mesh up to 12,000, put it back on the guitar, and the guitar is ready to string up. ◆
Posted on July 7, 2024October 2, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Career Anecdotes Letter: Career Anecdotes by Michael Cone Originally published in American Lutherie #32, 1992 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 Dear Sirs: I built my first classical guitar in 1968. Since that time I have been fascinated with the quality of sound of the classical guitar, so it was with great interest that I read Alan Carruth’s articles on guitar plate tuning. Early in my career I had a dream, and in the dream I was playing a classical guitar. You know it was a dream because the guitarmaker was actually playing. This guitar did not sound like a guitar, though; it sounded like a complete orchestra. It was at that point I realized what possibilities were inherent in the guitar and dedicated myself to realizing at least some of these possibilities. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 7, 2024July 9, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Douglas Fir Stradivari Questions: Douglas Fir Stradivari by R.E. Bruné Originally published in American Lutherie #102, 2010 James Condino of Ashville, North Carolina asks: I used to have an article from a guitar magazine in the ’80s about one of the Stradivari guitars. The article claimed that the top was made of Douglas fir. How likely is that? R.E. Bruné of Evanston, Illinois answers: In reference to Stradivari using Douglas fir, this is a virtual impossibility. The wood is not native to Europe, and was not in commercial circulation in Europe in Stradivari’s day. Perhaps the confusion arises from the nomenclature of wood in which Americans tend to call most conifer soundboards of European origin “spruce” and the British use “pine” to refer to the same materials. In actuality, most are of the genus Abies or true fir, of which there are many varieties native to Europe such as Abies pectinata and Abies alba. (Google these and other species for more information.) Douglas fir is not a true fir, being of the genus Pseudotsuga. Picea is the Latin name for true spruces which are also used for instrument soundboards, of which there are also many varieties. All of these are difficult to positively identify once they are on a completed instrument, especially one that has aged for several centuries. ◆
