Posted on June 13, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Yoga and the Ghosts of Dogs Yoga and the Ghosts of Dogs by Fred Carlson Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, Volume 5, #2 1977 The day has been slow. I watch a fat spring woodchuck dragging his ail down the hill toward the poplars, which smile green, and bow. I have been reading my latest copy of the Quarterly (5#1) and going through my usual mental/emotional contortions. Feelings of being personally attacked by denunciations of novices and information seekers; feelings of elation at reading of people’s enthusiasm for this magic thing we’re involved in; incredible fears brought on by the thought of business, of things having to be a certain way to be “right”. But in the end, I am impressed by how wonderfully crazy you all are, we all are, in all is. 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 June 13, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Guitar Evaluation at Carmel Guitar Evaluation at Carmel by David Russell Young Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly 6, #2, 1978 The success of violin competitions, like the Southern California Association of Violin Makers’ annual event in L.A. at the Musicians’ Union Hall (well over 100 entries) has led me to promote something to the many serious musicians who attend the Carmel Festival, and as impartial as possible with many instruments being compared together, thus providing a good basis for determining the string and weak points of each individual instrument. Long-term benefits would include forging a stronger link between builders and players, and pointing the directions in which the technology needs development. (For example, how much of a premium do professionals put on sheer power for playing in large halls, and how much sacrifice of complexity or warmth would be accepted for the sake of a very loud instrument?) 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 June 13, 2024January 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips Thoughts on Violin Setup Thoughts on Violin Setup by Don Overstreet from his 2001 GAL Convention workshop Originally published on American Lutherie #71, 2002 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 In a very real way, speaking here today is the realization of a dream. I came to Tim Olsen’s shop on Park Avenue years ago when he was still making guitars. One of my uncles, who lived in the area, had sent me a newspaper article about Tim’s operation. Later I attended a GAL Convention. I’m indebted to the GAL for being an inspiration for me as an instrument maker — it gives proof that it can be done. I got my start in the violin field by way of a friend in Seattle named Bill Tafoya, who ran a guitar shop there. In 1973 I told him that I wanted to make guitars. He suggested that I go in the direction of violins instead, and he thought I should contact David Saunders, who had a violin making shop on Queen Anne Hill. I called David, and although he was not taking apprentices at that time, he connected me with Peter Prier, who was just starting the Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City. I called Peter in 1973 and finally started at the Violin Making School in 1978. I graduated in 1982. 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 June 13, 2024May 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips An Interview with Guitarist George Sakellariou An Interview with Guitarist George Sakellariou by David B. Fisher Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, Volume 9, #1, 1981 This issue’s interview, George Sakellariou, brings an uncommonly alive and musical warmth to his performance. He began to show interest in music at the age of four and by six was playing popular and folk music on the guitar. Later he took up classical guitar and at eighteen he graduated with Highest Honors from the Athens Conservatory. In 1964 he took part in the Segovia Master Classes at Berkeley and in the same year began teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Since then he has been teaching and performing throughout the U.S.A., Canada and South America. He currently resides in San Rafael, California, with his wife and four children. When did you first go to a luthier and say “Make me a guitar”? I was very young, a teenager. I went to the Panaghis Brothers in Athens, and got a nice spruce top instrument. It is on loan to a dear friend. I love it when I get the opportunity to play it, usually three or four times a year. 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 June 13, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Balalaika Measurements Balalaika Measurements by James H. Flynn, Jr. Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #284, 1984 The balalaika is a Russian folk musical instrument. It is relatively young, the first mention of it in written sources going back to 1715 (I.I. Golikov, “Supplements to the Works of Peter the Great”, 1792, p. 242). The instrument was perfected in its present form by V.V. Andreyev in the 1880s. The first performance of a “balalaika club” took place in Petersburg (Leningrad) in 1888. Since then, the instrument became extremely popular and remains so in the Soviet period. Today, balalaikas are common in five sizes as follows: prima, secunda, alto, bass and contra-bass. Figure 1 shows the musical range of these instruments. Figure 2 illustrates the conventional shape of the balalaika and identifies its componnets. Figure 3 provides the side and end profiles of the instrument. Essential dimensions for all sizes of the instrument are shown in Table 1. 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.
