Posted on July 5, 2024May 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips Blood, Sweat & Sap Blood, Sweat & Sap by Nicholas Von Robison Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly Volume 10, #2, 1982 Sometime last spring I dreamed I was back in the Northwest for a short vacation. I had gone there to enjoy the trees - and was stunned to learn there weren’t any! All the forests had been paved over for condos, trailer parks, ski lodges, and fast food joints. I don’t know just what triggered such a nightmare. I have learned in recent years that beer and pizza don’t go down as easily after midnight as they used to. More likely it was something I had read. I often read things (and more often write things) that are equally indigestible. But never after midnight. No, it was probably the conversation with a luthier friend of mine, a splinter group agnostic who confessed to me that he really doesn’t believe that trees have a life of their own, that they speak to you in voices loud and soft, or that they should be approached as shrines. He tossed off Torres, Stradivari, Orville, C.F.; had only started his preachings on epoxy, graphite, fiberglass and polymers before I straight-armed him with a braced soundboard and tapped out a few tones. He recoiled of course, but on his way out the door parleyed that he could never accept the divinity of the old masters although they were great teachers. I’ll never attend woodshop vespers with that fellow again! 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 5, 2024May 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips Pedagogue’s Lament Pedagogue’s Lament by William Cumpiano Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, Volume 9, #2, 1981 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1998 Isn’t it a pity? Nobody wants to pay the dues of their art: everyone wants to be but nobody wants to become. Everyone wants to be called an expert but no one wants to be called a beginner. Whatever happened to the fine old tradition of the “amateur” (from the French: “lover of”)? Painstakingly, I tell my students: “Drop your illusions. You cannot become a luthier after a seven-week course. I will give you the mental tools and the process of assembly, but you must go on from here and build dozens upon dozens of guitars. You must study the masters and dissect their decisions, you must fail and throw up your hands in despair, then pull yourself together and try again, over and over. You must suffer sleepless nights wondering why and what to do next, and devour information in every direction: tools, finishes, machinery, abrasives, adhesives, old ways, new ways, odd ways. Then, somewhere between your fiftieth and hundredth guitar, you start to hear it, because you’ve been straining to listen for so long: the peculiar song of the soundbox.” 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 July 5, 2024May 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Case for Using Natural Dyes The Case for Using Natural Dyes by Nicholas Von Robison Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly Volume 11, #1, 1983 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume One, 2000 Luthiers do not need to color their raw materials as much as other woodworkers. We use fine woods that can stand on their own merit without any help from the dye pot. But now and then we do find a need for dyes: for example, for rosettes, bindings, taking grey streaks from ebony, enhancing the color cast of wood, and tinting finishes. In 1856 young William Henry Perkin was trying to synthesize quinine but instead wound up with a black tarry mess. This was mauveine, the first of the coal-tar derived dyes. By 1900 the aniline dyes (coal-tar derived) had virtually replaced all other dye materials. Up to this point, dyeing was done with naturally occurring materials and was more of an art than a science. With aniline dyes results were predictable, repeatable, stable, nonfading, and a heck of a lot simpler. There was bound to be a reaction, of course. The art of natural dyeing is returning to the amateur weavers and textile artists; I doubt if woodworkers will be far behind. 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 July 5, 2024May 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips Two Tuvan Instruments Two Tuvan Instruments by Thomas Johnson Originally published in American Lutherie #98, 2009 Originally, the igil and morin khuur (also spelled morin huur) were made by nomadic people with rudimentary tools. Instrument making in Tuva remains a cottage industry, and the master makers have mostly died off without leaving a trained younger generation. It can be difficult to find wood big enough for Tuvan instruments, and it is becoming common practice to build up the piece by gluing extra bits on. For example, the height of the horse’s head above the fingerboard of an igil is enough to significantly increase the block of wood required. A maker can easily use a smaller block and, using a piece cut from it, add to the height by gluing it to the top. As the wood is from the same block, it can be fairly invisible. This is also possible for the soundbox and the fingerboard; two equal-sized cheeks can be added to either side to enable the correct dimension to be achieved. 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 July 4, 2024May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Instrument Plan #36 Questions: Instrument Plan #36 by Scot Tremblay Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010 Bob Barnard from Olympia, Washington asks: I just finished making a copy of the 1816 Martínez Salon Guitar from GAL Instrument Plan #36. I strung it up with Aquila Alabastro classical guitar strings (normal tension) to pitch (A440). It was overpowered and did not have the right tone or response. I lowered the pitch a whole step and it improved substantially, leading me to think the string tension is too high. Any suggestions on appropriate string tension for this wonderful little guitar? Plan author Scot Tremblay from Victoria BC responds: My preference in strings for most smaller Early Romantic guitars, including the Martínez, is the La Bella ERG #1 or the La Bella 2001L Light Tension strings. I think it’s best to keep the tension to 5.5–6.5KG/string. Because of the 614MM string length of the Martínez you are going to get closer to 5KG/string which should be fine.
