Posted on August 11, 2021March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Neck Relief Neck Relief by Philip Mayes Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #124, 1979 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1998 A spate of repairs involving fret buzzing set me thinking about the ideal neck shape. Some people like a flat fingerboard. Lots of people advocate a neck that’s straight at the body and lifts slightly towards the head, as seen in Fig. 1. Some people vote for a tapering away at the end of the fingerboard, as in Fig. 2. The reason for all this, of course, is to accommodate the shape of a plucked string, diagramed in Fig. 3. 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 August 11, 2021March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Calculating String Tension Calculating String Tension by Max Krimmel Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #144, 1980 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1997 Just how tight is that string? Experience tells most of us that the pitch of a string depends on how long it is, how big it is, and how tight it is. It would seem then, that we could figure out the tension if we know the pitch, mass, and length of any given string. Yes, it can be done. The biggest problem is to realize how A natural, 25.5", and .042" phosphor bronze can be converted into something recognizable as tension. I am not going to go into the why of all this as much as the how to do it. First, put the pitch into cycles per second, or Hz. Next put the length into CM. Then find the mass of the string by weighing a piece of the string as long as your string length. Cut the ball or any other windings off the string before you weigh it on a gram scale. Then insert these variables into the following formula. 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 August 11, 2021March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Violin Varnish and Sealers Violin Varnish and Sealers by Graham Caldersmith Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #276, 1984, and Big Red Book of American Luthierie Volume One, 2000 Probably more unsubstantiated speculation has been written about violin varnish, its effects on the instrument, and the quest for the “lost” Cremonese recipe than about any other of the subtleties of the violin and its behavior. It is true that those who have examined enough violins to appreciate the variety of varnishing systems employed by different makers in different ages cannot but admire the clear golden-brown varnish sometimes grading to a deep red that characterizes 17th–18th century Cremonese instruments. It is also true that varnish preparation and application techniques changed to more durable and convenient ones towards the end of the 18th century when faster drying oil and spirit varnishes were developed to meet the needs of the growing furniture trade, arguably at the expense of transparency and lucidity. So while bearing in mind that the early Cremonese varnishes were not unique to the violin trade, since they appear on fine furniture and wooden ornaments of the same period, we may reasonably inquire as to how important the varnishing techniques used by the Cremonese Masters were to the excellence of the violins they produced. Were the advantages of Cremonese varnishing merely passive, in that they preserved good violins into sublime maturity, or were they also active, conditioning the wood for optimal acoustical behavior? 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 August 11, 2021March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Tinting Lacquer Marks Inlays Tinting Lacquer Marks Inlays by Michael Dresdner Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #280, 1984 and Lutherie Wood and Steel String Guitars, 1998 When I have very intricate inlays and I don’t want to scribe the fingerboard, I take all the inlays and spray their backs with a rubber-type spray adhesive like photo mount. Then I place them on the fingerboard where I want them and spray it lightly with lacquer toner in a contrasting color. For instance, if the fingerboard is rosewood, I’ll spray it with bright yellow. I then pull up the inlays leaving the bright yellow lacquer and a brown spot in the shape of each inlay. It’s a great fast trick. The whole fingerboard can be done at once without any scribing. 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 August 11, 2021March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Ocelot Ear and Spruceana Ocelot Ear and Spruceana by Don Musser Originally published in American Lutherie #2, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 With regard to the problem of Dalbergia nigra and related Brazilian rosewoods: True Dalbergia nigra is scarce because most of what little remains is being processed into veneer. I’ve worked with a very active importer of Brazilian exotics for several years and have seen crates containing thousands of feet of beautiful nigra, but it was all veneer. Occasionally he will run into a farmer with some miscellaneous trees or old logs of true nigra but that is rare. With the purchase of veneer he also has the option of buying backing boards and nigra lumber otherwise unsuitable (usually too hard) for slicing. I’m able to select guitar-quality boards from his shipments and resaw sets but there is never enough to meet the demand. As far as other Dalbergias from Brazil being substituted for nigra I’ve seen two that are very close, and to the unfamiliar, almost undistinguishable. 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.
