Posted on June 13, 2024May 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Scalloped Fretboard The Scalloped Fretboard by Dave Schneider Originally published in American Lutherie #11, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 The Indian culture introduced the bending of strings on a fretted instrument. They elevated the frets by means of bridges to accommodate string-bending techniques. Later they changed the bridges to arched pieces of wire tied on around the back of the neck. Citterns (a medieval instrument with wire strings) had a slightly scalloped fingerboard because the frets were about level with the fingerboard. John McLaughlin brought this type of string bending to the Western hemisphere with the group Shakti. He incorporated the use of Indian instruments (tabla, tambora) with L. Shankar’s violin and his custom-built “drone string guitar.” Three of these scalloped neck guitars were made for him in the Gibson custom shop by Abraham Wechter in late ’75. They had seven “drone” strings running diagonally across the soundboard and the fingerboards were scalloped between the frets to accommodate the Indian-style string bending. 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 16, 2025 by Dale Phillips Octet 2005: First Convention of the New Violin Family Association Octet 2005: First Convention of the New Violin Family Association by Alan Carruth Originally published in American Lutherie #85, 2006 The New Violin Family, also known as the Violin Octet, began more that fifty years ago with a request by composer Henry Brandt to Carleen Hutchins for instruments with the timbre of the violin in other tuning ranges. It has continued to be a collaborative effort between luthiers, scientists, composers, and musicians. The first convention of the New Violin Family Association was intended to extend that collaboration into new generations. The meeting was smaller than a GAL Convention, and this proved to be a plus. Many participants were already acquainted, and the rest soon got to know each other informally. Convention organizing committee chair and NVFA newsletter editor Robert Spear, along with the other organizers, provided ample opportunities for musicians, builders, and “techies” to get together. A good example was a comparison of Octet instruments with their conventional counterparts, where musicians offered critiques of the new instruments. 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 Alexander Illitch Eppler Alexander Illitch Eppler by Kent Rayman Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Newsletter Vol. 4, #1, 1976 Seattle-born Alexander Illitch Eppler attended the Bulgarian State Conservatory and is a established virtuoso and teacher of the kaval, a Balkan end-blown flute. He has toured widely as a soloist in Eastern Europe. An accomplished maker of violins and other stringed instruments, his wide interest in and knowledge of rare woods as led him into the manufacture of wooden Boehm-system flutes, baroque flutes, and other woodwind instruments. Date of Interview: April 10, 1976 Where did you get your start? I got my start here in America with a violin maker in Seattle by the name of Julian Clark, an excellent violin maker. He’s a very straightforward and unpretentious fellow and I met him. Without exploiting me at all he devoted countless hours to teaching me all that he knew and that’s where I got my start here in Seattle. 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 Solving the Maple Problem Solving the Maple Problem by Rolfe Gerhardt Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly 6, #2, 1978 Finding a good and consistent supplier of find fiddleback (or of other kinds) of maple has been one of the greatest problems in my mandolin building. The solution to the problem was the country’s best gunstock suppliers — Kenneth E. Thompson of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. I used to buy the prohibitively expensive imported violin wood for backs, but even the most expensive pieces just did not seem right to me in terms of character or figure. And finding pieces large enough to make necks out of was something altogether else. I started buying maple muzzleloading gunstock blanks, the “tiger-striped” ones as they call them. They were good wood; they had to be for these custom guns, and they had to be dried just right for a gunstock where warp is as critical as in a musical instrument. I started checking the sources of these gunstocks, and after several months worked my way back to Ken. That was four years ago, and one heck of a lot of wood ago. 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 Carmel 1978: What it Was Carmel 1978: What it Was by David Russell Young Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, Volume 7, #1, 1979 The Carmel Classic Guitar Festival (Nov. 3, 4, & 5) provided a valuable opportunity to exhibit guitars to a large number of interested amateurs and accomplished professionals, as well as a chance for interaction among the luthiers. Several guitars were sold or commissioned as a direct result of the exhibition. It was at the previous festival (May ’77) that I first met Jeff Elliott and was talked into joining the G.A.L. Prior to that time, I had worked pretty much in isolation and assumed it would always be like that. Now, through the G.A.L. conventions, the Carmel Festivals, and the friendships that grew out of them, I have a feeling of community with an expanding network of colleagues. The technical information and materials sources that have come out of this have been as valuable as the personal contact has been enjoyable. Another factor, pointed out by Steve Klein, is that being in the G.A.L. is almost like belonging to a union; you can find out what others of comparable abilities are getting for what work, and make appropriate adjustments. This is more important than it might seem at first glance, as some rather great disparities crop up. 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.
