Posted on October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Colombian Tiple The Colombian Tiple by Luis Alberto Paredes Rodríguez Originally published in American Lutherie #82, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 In an article published in American Lutherie #39 (Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Four) by Jorge Gonzalez Jr., several important statements are made in connection with the tiple. The first of them says that, “The origin of the tiple is still a subject of debate, but the modern tiple is thought to have been developed in Colombia.” It states further that “...the early Colombian tiple had four single gut strings which later evolved into four courses of triple steel strings with a requintilla (the center string of each course, tuned an octave lower than the others) on the lower three courses. There are also examples of Colombian tiples with ten steel strings in which the outer courses are double and the inner courses are triple.” Lastly, “The tiple is, in essence, a small guitar indigenous to Spain and many South American nations. Construction is similar, if not identical, to that of a guitar.” 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 October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Dealer: Armin Kelly Meet the Dealer: Armin Kelly by Cyndy Burton Originally published in American Lutherie #80, 2004 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 I see your ads for Guitars International everywhere. Can you tell me how you got started dealing in classical guitars? I made a very serious mistake! (laughs) From the time I was fifteen until I was thirty, I studied classical guitar very intensively with several very musical teachers. But at some point I realized I had to decide whether this was what I wanted to continue doing the rest of my life or not. I felt that I’d hit my peak as a player, and I wanted to explore other things. So I stopped playing — not an easy thing to do — and eventually sold my guitars. Playing classical guitar had been an all-consuming endeavor for me, and I couldn’t do it part time and remain happy. Instead, I returned to school and studied English literature and literary criticism at Columbia University and teacher methodology at Harvard University. Later I taught English for several years, both at university and high-school levels. 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 October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Charles Beare Meet the Maker: Charles Beare by Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #82, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2017 In the violin world, Charles Beare is one of the people whose opinion matters. His passion for instruments has inspired him to achieve an internationally recognized level of expertise. His London-based business, J&A Beare Ltd., was established in 1865, and he is the fourth generation Beare to sit at its helm. Last November he attended the Violin Society of America’s 32nd Convention to lecture and to help judge their 16th International Competition. He graciously took time out of his busy schedule there to tell me a little about his life and his love for the instruments. I don’t know if you are aware, but you have been in the pages of our journal before. Oh really? When was that? 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 October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Pierre-Yves Fuchs Meet the Maker: Pierre-Yves Fuchs by Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #83, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 I attended the 2004 Violin Society of America Convention and competition in Portland, Oregon, at the invitation of Paul Schuback, who was hosting the event. He offered to arrange interviews with internationally recognized experts Charles Beare (see p. 312) and Bernard Millant, who were there to lecture and judge the competition. However, as both men were very busy with their appointed duties, and everyone seemed to want a piece of their time, I had a lot of time to talk with participants, listen to lectures, peruse the commercial exhibit hall, and generally hang around. The commercial exhibition hall was filled with displays of instruments, tools, bows, wood, and accessories. Many of the displays were amazingly elaborate, which made the table of Swiss bow maker Pierre-Yves Fuchs stand out to me. Here was a casually dressed guy sitting behind a few bows on a black cloth, and that was about it. He didn’t seem to be getting much action, so I stopped to chat. I had to leave before the winners were announced, so I was pleased and impressed to find out that Pierre had won gold medals in all four bow categories —violin, viola, cello, and bass — and he received the honorary designation hors concours (out of competition) from the VSA. He received another gold medal in a competition in Paris two weeks later. 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 October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips From Russia, With Strings Attached From Russia, With Strings Attached by C.F. Casey Originally published in American Luthier #75, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Last year my wife and I received an invitation from some new friends to visit at their place about an hour’s drive from us. David Neufeld had a violin he wanted me to check over, as he was thinking about getting back into playing it. As it turned out, the fiddle was in good shape and didn’t need my attentions. However, when I walked into their house for the first time, I spotted something hanging on the wall that made my jaw drop: an obviously old guitar with tuners all on one side. Naturally I rushed over for a closer look, and what I saw piqued my interest even more. For one thing, it was a 7-stringer. For another, the neck was attached to the body with a screw, which could be tightened or loosened with a clock key. The guitar belongs to Maggie Andres, David’s partner, and had belonged to her grandmother, who was of Russian Mennonite stock. Sometime in the ’60s, while clearing up his mother’s estate, Maggie’s father had found the guitar in pieces, lying behind a door where it had been discarded by his brothers and sisters. He kept it and put it back together. 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. Posts pagination Previous 1 … 3 4 5 … 188 Next
Posted on October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Dealer: Armin Kelly Meet the Dealer: Armin Kelly by Cyndy Burton Originally published in American Lutherie #80, 2004 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 I see your ads for Guitars International everywhere. Can you tell me how you got started dealing in classical guitars? I made a very serious mistake! (laughs) From the time I was fifteen until I was thirty, I studied classical guitar very intensively with several very musical teachers. But at some point I realized I had to decide whether this was what I wanted to continue doing the rest of my life or not. I felt that I’d hit my peak as a player, and I wanted to explore other things. So I stopped playing — not an easy thing to do — and eventually sold my guitars. Playing classical guitar had been an all-consuming endeavor for me, and I couldn’t do it part time and remain happy. Instead, I returned to school and studied English literature and literary criticism at Columbia University and teacher methodology at Harvard University. Later I taught English for several years, both at university and high-school levels. 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 October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Charles Beare Meet the Maker: Charles Beare by Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #82, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2017 In the violin world, Charles Beare is one of the people whose opinion matters. His passion for instruments has inspired him to achieve an internationally recognized level of expertise. His London-based business, J&A Beare Ltd., was established in 1865, and he is the fourth generation Beare to sit at its helm. Last November he attended the Violin Society of America’s 32nd Convention to lecture and to help judge their 16th International Competition. He graciously took time out of his busy schedule there to tell me a little about his life and his love for the instruments. I don’t know if you are aware, but you have been in the pages of our journal before. Oh really? When was that? 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 October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Pierre-Yves Fuchs Meet the Maker: Pierre-Yves Fuchs by Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #83, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 I attended the 2004 Violin Society of America Convention and competition in Portland, Oregon, at the invitation of Paul Schuback, who was hosting the event. He offered to arrange interviews with internationally recognized experts Charles Beare (see p. 312) and Bernard Millant, who were there to lecture and judge the competition. However, as both men were very busy with their appointed duties, and everyone seemed to want a piece of their time, I had a lot of time to talk with participants, listen to lectures, peruse the commercial exhibit hall, and generally hang around. The commercial exhibition hall was filled with displays of instruments, tools, bows, wood, and accessories. Many of the displays were amazingly elaborate, which made the table of Swiss bow maker Pierre-Yves Fuchs stand out to me. Here was a casually dressed guy sitting behind a few bows on a black cloth, and that was about it. He didn’t seem to be getting much action, so I stopped to chat. I had to leave before the winners were announced, so I was pleased and impressed to find out that Pierre had won gold medals in all four bow categories —violin, viola, cello, and bass — and he received the honorary designation hors concours (out of competition) from the VSA. He received another gold medal in a competition in Paris two weeks later. 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 October 9, 2025October 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips From Russia, With Strings Attached From Russia, With Strings Attached by C.F. Casey Originally published in American Luthier #75, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Last year my wife and I received an invitation from some new friends to visit at their place about an hour’s drive from us. David Neufeld had a violin he wanted me to check over, as he was thinking about getting back into playing it. As it turned out, the fiddle was in good shape and didn’t need my attentions. However, when I walked into their house for the first time, I spotted something hanging on the wall that made my jaw drop: an obviously old guitar with tuners all on one side. Naturally I rushed over for a closer look, and what I saw piqued my interest even more. For one thing, it was a 7-stringer. For another, the neck was attached to the body with a screw, which could be tightened or loosened with a clock key. The guitar belongs to Maggie Andres, David’s partner, and had belonged to her grandmother, who was of Russian Mennonite stock. Sometime in the ’60s, while clearing up his mother’s estate, Maggie’s father had found the guitar in pieces, lying behind a door where it had been discarded by his brothers and sisters. He kept it and put it back together. 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.
