Posted on October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Classical Cremonese Violin Soundhole Placement Classical Cremonese Violin Soundhole Placement by Michael Darnton Originally published in American Lutherie #76, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2013 Several systems have been proposed to explain the layout of Cremonese violin f-holes. The only surviving pieces of evidence we have, other than the instruments themselves, are some Stradivari drawings. After passing through the possession of Stradivari’s son Paolo, and a series of Italian connoisseurs and makers, the drawings are now in the Stradivari Museum in Cremona. They are also reproduced in S.F. Sacconi’s book, The “Secrets” of Stradivari. Sacconi also provided photos of marks inside violins which corresponded to some of those in the drawings, but the details of how those drawings were generated and what actual workshop method would have been used for placing the holes on violins is unknown. I believe that some aspects of the drawings are absolutely misleading. 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. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Bassola The Bassola Approximating the Sound of the Upright Bass by R.M. Mottola Originally published in American Lutherie #64, 2000 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Clearly the best way to get the sound of an upright bass played pizzicato is with an upright bass. But that instrument poses a number of problems to bass guitarists and even to upright players — the former can’t play the instrument, and the latter often simply hate having to carry the thing around. Experiments toward approximating the sound of the upright in an instrument playable by bass guitarists constitute something of an ongoing project for me. This article describes one such effort, a large (for a guitar) acoustic instrument I call a Bassola, for no other reason than that it rhymes nicely with my last name. The project began with listing the functional specifications for the instrument. When engineering a new instrument (or anything that represents more than a trivial departure from some existing and well-specified entity, for that matter) I find it very useful to have a target to shoot at. This makes it easier to plan and deal with the design tradeoffs that inevitably occur, plus it provides some criteria against which to judge the finished product. 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. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Clark Irish Harp Revisited Clark Irish Harp Revisited by Craig Pierpont Originally published in American Lutherie #64, 2000 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Following David Riggs’ article on the Clark Irish harp (“Clark ‘Neo-Irish’ Harp”), it seems like a good opportunity to take a closer look at folk harps from the luthier’s point of view. As a professional harp builder of some experience, I have learned my trade in no small part by studying the construction theory of fingerboard instruments of the lute, guitar, and violin families. While there is much relevant information there, it is important to consider the enormous fundamental differences between the dynamics of fingerboard instruments and harps. 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. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: George Wunderlich Meet the Maker: George Wunderlich by Nathan Stinnette Originally published in American Lutherie #73, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 How did you start building minstrel banjos? I was a Civil War reenactor, and I was introduced to the work of a gentleman by the name of Joe Ayers, who’s done a lot of recordings of minstrel banjo music. I’d never heard it before, and I decided right then and there that I could play that kind of banjo music. I’d grown up in Missouri where most everything is bluegrass, and I knew I did not have the coordination for three-finger playing. But this was something I could do. It was a little more melodic, a little more interesting to me. I bought an 1880s-period banjo from a company called The Music Folk in St. Louis. It was the oldest banjo they had on the wall, so I thought, that must be Civil War. When I couldn’t get the right sound out of it, I called Joe on the phone and said, “What am I doing wrong?” He explained to me in very basic terms that my banjo was wrong. It needed to be fretless, it needed to be gut strung, it needed to have a deeper pot. With his direction, I built a banjo. This was in 1992. 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. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips An Authentic Hurdy-Gurdy An Authentic Hurdy-Gurdy by Wilfried Ulrich Originally published in American Lutherie #77, 2004 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 The dispute between guitarists and hurdy-gurdists is an old one. In the early 1700s, when French aristocrats became interested in playing the hurdy-gurdy and pretty good composers such as Baton, Chedeville, and others began to compose for it, prominent guitarists contended that the hurdy-gurdy was only good enough for cat music! However, the queen was an eminent player of the instrument, and the two daughters of King Louis XV were trained by Charles Baton. A hurdy-gurdy teacher of the time is said to have wanted to change the outstanding and worthy guitar of a marquis into a hurdy-gurdy. In his opinion, this was the only fit use for such an instrument. The hurdy-gurdy and the musette (a small bagpipe) were the beloved instruments of the leading society. To dignify the instrument, its origin was attributed — without proof — to ancient Greece. 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. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
