Posted on March 1, 2025March 3, 2025 by Dale Phillips Stahl Style 6 Guitar Stahl Style 6 Guitar built by Carl and August Larson, Serial #81225 “Lisa” by January Williams Originally published in American Lutherie #112, 2012 I first saw this instrument when Denis Merrill brought it to Harp Guitar Gathering VI at Marylhurst University in Portland, Oregon, October 2008. Bob Hartman saw it then and confirmed that this is an authentic instrument built by the Larson brothers in Chicago.1 (see A Brief History of The Larson Brothers) I liked it immediately; it has a wonderful sound, dynamic range, and clarity. It came to me again at the next NW Handmade Musical Instrument Exhibit (also at Marylhurst) in April of 2009, as Denis kindly loaned it to me for an extended time, and the idea of documenting and duplicating it bloomed into a project.2 This guitar has nicely figured Brazilian rosewood back and sides and a spruce top, all bookmatched. It has a one-piece mahogany neck, an ebony fingerboard, and an ebony bridge with a slanted saddle.3 The bracing is spruce; the shop-made triangular kerfed lining is Spanish cedar with a very thin web, and there is a thin mahogany reinforcement plate under the bridge. The guitar is decorated with classical-style multicolor wood purfling around the front and back edges, and down the center strip on the back. The rosette is typical of American steel-string instruments with three separate elements: narrow inner-and-outer veneer line motifs (B-W-B) and a separate wider central design of colored mosaic similar to the other inlay. White plastic is used for binding the front and back, the heel cap, and a wedge at the tail joint. Mother-of-pearl is used for inlays on the headstock and bridge, and for fingerboard position markers. The instrument is lightly built and rather thin — less than 3" deep at the heel. On each side there are two cloth-tape reinforcements that extend under the kerfing, and three cloth reinforcing patches along the top joint in the lower bout between the bridge plate, the tone bars, and the tail block. There is a thin spruce reinforcement glued cross grain to the mahogany tail block. The neck has a slight V shape and a slotted headstock, and is joined at the 12th fret. The body is domed or arched to an unusual extent; measured across the lower bout at its widest, about a 10' radius of curvature across the back and 12' radius across the top. 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 March 1, 2025March 3, 2025 by Dale Phillips Vintage Restoration: Playability and Collectability Vintage Restoration: Playability and Collectability by Joe Konkoly from his 2011 GAL Convention lecture Originally published in American Lutherie #111, 2012 Repair is the term I use for fixing what is broken. It also involves making the instrument playable, although with some older instruments it is not always advisable to try to achieve the level of playability that a modern instrument can deliver. There is often an emphasis to stay within the customer’s budget when doing repair work, and it may not be possible to do everything the instrument deserves. In that case you need to consider making the work reversible. Reversibility in repair work is also important for maintaining collectability. Modification means making improvements by changing the present situation. It can include adding features, upgrading parts, modernizing an instrument, or giving a modern instrument the look and feel of an older instrument. The original intent of the maker, as opposed to just the originality of the instrument, is important to consider when making changes to the instrument. And again, make it reversible. 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 March 1, 2025March 3, 2025 by Dale Phillips Inside the Elderly Repair Shop Inside the Elderly Repair Shop by Roger Alan Skipper with Joe Konkoly Originally published in American Lutherie #108, 2011 With eight repair guys in Elderly’s main shop, and three more working on setup, Joe Konkoly’s job as repair shop manager is both challenging and rewarding. The setup department handles new instruments and also helps coordinate the used instrument evaluations with the appraisal department. Every instrument that comes through the store, including new instruments and those at Elderly’s on consignment, visits the repair shop for inspection and setup. The main shop handles customer repairs in addition to all restoration and customization: neck resets, refretting, bridge work on acoustic guitars, electronics customization and repair and, finish work, and lots of banjo and mandolin repairs. Elderly’s wide variety of customers come with an equally diverse array of needs. While some are working in the studio, others simply want to sell a guitar for badly needed cash. Joe says that it’s tough to meet all those expectations, but it’s equally rewarding to meet them and make someone happy. 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 January 13, 2025January 27, 2025 by Dale Phillips Castles in Spain Castles in Spain Making a Classical Guitar with José Romanillos by Stephen Frith Originally published in American Lutherie #72, 2002 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 José and Liam Romanillos, with the help of Gerhard Oldiges, Tobias Braun, and Big Pep Milos, have shared their methods and ideas openly at a two-week guitar making master class each of the past two summers. I was lucky to be able to attend both sessions, held in the monastery of the Hermanos Maristas in Sigüenza, a medieval town in Spanish Castile. I couldn’t write down all that is available for the student at Sigüenza, but I will try to describe particularly the top-arching system. I used it in my own workshop for a year, then went back to find a few more pieces of the puzzle. Imagine a flat top of European spruce about 2.5MM thick cut exactly with the long-grain fibers, and exactly quartered all across. This guitar top is cut so that it fits within the ribs, and is then adjusted to the flexibility required. The edges of the lower bout are thinned further again to a flexibility all of which reflects the description of the work of Torres in José’s book Antonio de Torres Guitar Maker — His Life & Work. 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 January 13, 2025January 27, 2025 by Dale Phillips Is “Guitar Design” an Oxymoron? Is “Guitar Design” an Oxymoron? by Steve Klein from his 2001 GAL Convention lecture Originally published in American Lutherie #76, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Webster’s defines “oxymoron” as “a figure of speech in which opposites or contradictory ideas or terms are combined, e.g., sweet sorrow” and my personal favorite, “thunderous silence.” The second definition of “design” is “being able to make original plans.” When Todd Brotherton called to ask if I would speak here today, he mentioned that I’ve been doing my design thing for near on thirty years. And almost in the same breath, he called my ideas new and innovative. What’s wrong with this picture? Palm pilots are new. Downloading MP3s is new. Viagra is new. My ideas are no longer new. So why are the things that I’m trying to do still thought of as new? Or we might ask, why is the musical world so slow to change, when everything else in our culture seems to be on the fast track? Why might it take so long for acoustic guitars to evolve? This begs some questions, such as: 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.
