Posted on June 11, 2026June 16, 2026 by Dale Phillips Experiments in Audio Spectroscopy Experiments in Audio Spectroscopy by John C. Moore Originally published in American Lutherie #80, 2004 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 R.M. Mottola’s interesting article in American Lutherie #70 (Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six) described the use of audio spectroscopy, with a simple home setup, for the analysis of bass guitars. I had read about a spectrum comparison of a Martin D-28 with a Kaman AA 14-4 in An Introduction to Scientific Guitar Design by Donald Brosnac, and have always been intrigued with the idea of capturing in an objective way the “quality” of the sound of different acoustic guitars. Also, my experience has been that seeing colors of nature is enhanced by having tried to paint them, and tasting beer is enhanced by having brewed some. I felt that analyzing sounds from a guitar would heighten the senses here as well. When I read the Brosnac book, written in 1978, the equipment utilized for the guitar comparison sounded exotic and expensive, and certainly beyond the capability of the casual hobbyist. In Mottola’s article, it was clear that the technology of the PC had brought the potential for such experiments within reach. In fact, I already had hardware that could get me started: a digital camcorder that I could extract wave files from and a Sony Vaio laptop. So I decided to have a go at some audio trials. 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 June 11, 2026June 15, 2026 by Dale Phillips Making Patterns for an Access Panel Making Patterns for an Access Panel by Lloyd Marsden Originally published in American Lutherie #80, 2004 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 The article by Larry Mills and Chris Jenkins on access panels (Al#76, pg 52) was a valuable explanation. I was beginning a new series of guitars and decided to try the system on one that will receive electronics. After thinking about Mills and Jenkins’ method for some time, I wanted to alter two aspects. The first was the initial patterns for the door and its opening. Not being the greatest at fitting things by bandsaw and sanding, I wanted to find a way to make the patterns so they would automatically fit together. The second was a picky desire to keep the side material continuous. I wanted the door to be veneered with the side material and be replaced so that the grain would remain continuous. 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 June 11, 2026June 11, 2026 by Dale Phillips Building an Adjustable Bridge Building an Adjustable Bridge by Thomas C. DeVeau Originally published in American Lutherie #81, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 In my part-time business of making citterns and one-of-a-kind instruments, I find that the adjustable bridges in most catalogs don’t meet my specifications, so I make my own. Now I control the size, shape, and string spacing, and can use woods that match the woods that I use in my instruments. The following describes how I make the bridge design I came up with. For this bridge I use thumbwheel-and-post sets obtained from Stewart-MacDonald, part #3960, and their fretwire, part #148. Start with a piece of 3/4˝-thick stock. Place the outside strings on the instrument and measure the space between them at the bridge position (Photo 1). Add 2˝ and cut a block to this length. Find the center of this length and extend centerlines around the block. On each side of the centerline, mark half the outside string width to establish the outside string positions. Draw lines 1/4˝ outside these string-position marks to establish the positions of the thumbwheel posts. 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 June 10, 2026June 10, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Olivier Fanton d’Andon Meet the Maker: Olivier Fanton d’Andon by Woodley White Originally published in American Lutherie #118, 2014 It is a beautiful thing for a person of integrity to pursue excellence in his craft. Set that pursuit in a medieval village in the French countryside an hour or so south of Paris, on a hill with cobblestone streets, across the street from a medieval church, and you discover the idyllic setting for inspired work. The workshop of Olivier Fanton d’Andon is situated on the second floor of an old convent. The building itself is U-shaped with a stone wall enclosing the courtyard. Entering his workspace, I noticed the tall ceilings and an open feel. The walls facing the courtyard are made of huge windows that provide lots of natural lighting. 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 June 9, 2026June 9, 2026 by Dale Phillips Construction Methods of Early Spanish Guitarreros Construction Methods of Early Spanish Guitarreros by James Westbrook Originally published in American Lutherie #118, 2014 Imagine London in the early-to-mid 19th century, a vibrant creative center, especially for the manufacture of fine musical instruments. Makers from France and further afield settled here and flourished. I’ve spent much of the last twenty-two years studying many of the relics of this time, some of them playable, and piecing together their history, and hopefully contributing insights that others will find useful and will build upon as they conduct and publish their own research or construct their own guitars. Many of these makers, like the Panormo family, were émigrés, and some chose to continue in the traditions they were taught. Others, such as the brothers Dominique and Arnould Roudhloff from Mirecourt, France, were less conservative and popularized the recently invented melophonic guitar, with its larger-than-average body size and the newly applied X bracing. (More on that subject in a future article in American Lutherie.) Louis Panormo is especially fascinating and prolific. It is thought that his father Vincenzo Panormo, originally from Palermo, Sicily, moved to London from Paris with his four sons, including five- or six -year-old Louis, in 1789, almost certainly to escape the troubles in revolutionary Paris. (“Panormus” is the standard classical and medieval Latin name for Palermo, a name which scholars believe the ancestral “Trusiano” family acquired when they were living in Naples.) Many of Vincenzo’s family became involved in the music business as performers, teachers, and makers of stringed instruments. Louis flourished in London from about 1816 to 1854 and developed his own “Spanish-style” model, although it is not clear how much he really understood about the Spanish school of guitar making. I set out to assess the legitimacy of his claim. For example, he built his guitars face-down around the soundboard, that is, with the back fitted last. Although this is now the most usual and accepted method for making modern Spanish-style guitars, Louis Panormo may have been the first to do it, as this was not the norm for the early Spanish school of guitar making. 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.
