Posted on June 6, 2024January 16, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Where to Get Mandola Plans Questions: Where to Get Mandola Plans by Don MacRostie and Jim Hoover Originally published in American Lutherie #77, 2004 Don MacRostie of Athens (aka Stew-Mac), Ohio responds to Thierry, Bernus Turner, and other's questions regarding where to get a mandola plan. Although I don't know of a plan for a carved-top mandola, the following figures taken from a signed ``Loar'' mandola and a teen's H-1 serial# 75585 should be helpful in proportioning your own from a plan like the F-5 plan from Stew-Mac or GAL Plan #26. Archings on these two instruments were very much like the companion mandolins, and plate thicknesses were essentially the same as for the mandolin. The H-1 had two transverse braces on the top, with the rear brace under the bridge. The Loar was tone-bar braced. The one slightly unusual point on the Loar mandola is that the peghead and the body scrolls were not scaled up with the rest of the instrument. They were basically the same size and shape as those details on the mandolin. The book, The Mandolin Manual: The Art, Craft, and Science of the Mandolin and Mandola by John Troughton is available from Elderly Instruments (www.elderly.com/books/items/542-62.htm). Also, AL#51, Questions column gives some useful information and dimensions. Several websites offer plans for flattop mandolas, though I have not actually seen them: www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/ttwp2.html secure.mimf.com/order.htm www.art-robb.co.uk/plans.html Jim Hoover of New Holland, PA adds: The book Making Stringed Instruments — A Workshop Guide, by George Buchanan (Sterling Publishing) has a clean, scale drawing of a flat-top mandola as well as drawings of six other instruments, including violin, viola, cello, mandolin, and classical and archtop guitars with step-by-step do’s and don’ts.
Posted on June 6, 2024January 16, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter: Passing of Ivo Pires Letter: Passing of Ivo Pires by Mary Monteiro Originally published in American Lutherie #99, 2009 Dear Mr. Peterson, You may remember me — I contacted you a couple years ago when I was doing a Hall of Fame biography of my dearest friend, Ivo Pires. It is with heartbreaking regret that I write to tell you of the sudden death on April 20 of my dearest friend, Ivo Pires. He has left the entire community in shock. Did you know that he repaired Yo Yo Ma’s cello just before he went on his world tour? A couple weeks later there was delivered to his studio in the Berklee College of Music (Boston) a bouquet of flowers so big that everyone was in awe and couldn’t imagine who had sent it. Finally someone found the card and said, “Oh, Mr. Pires! It’s for you!” As he was telling me this story, I said, “Ivo, what did you do with the card?” He didn’t know! It could have been a collector’s item. But being the lovable and unpretentious person we all knew he was, it never occurred to him. ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024May 5, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo Review: Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo Reviewed by James Arial Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Newsletter Vol 2 #1, 1974 Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo Peer International Corporation 1740 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019 This book was published in 1968. It is a comprehensive study of the 5-string banjo including a very well written adn illustrated chapter on banjo construction. The seventeen pages in this section of the book describe all phases of construction except that of making a resonator. There is an excellent segment on inlaying using a unique technique of sandblasting to carve the recesses for fancy work. The book’s $10.95 retail price might scare off the casual luthier, but if you’re interested in Scruggs type picking as well as banjo making it is well worth the price. The technique used by Scruggs is very clearly described in step by step procedure. Thirty-five of his best known songs are presented in easily read tablature. ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024May 7, 2025 by Dale Phillips String Spacing String Spacing by Sylvan Wells Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #103, 1979 After reviewing most, if not all books on guitar construction I realized that there was no proper spacing for cutting slots for strings in the nut or laying out centers in order to drill the holes for bridge pins. It really is quite simple and I’ll explain the method and then conclude it with the mathematics already completed in an easy to use table. First, it is essential to understand that although you are placing six points you are really dealing with 5 spacings (Space between strings, 1–2, 2–3, 3–4, 4–5, 5–6). The distance for those 6 spacings is determined by the distance desired from the centers of the outside holes (E & E or 1 & 6). For the bridges, the distance is the same as the width of the neck at the 12th fret. That distance centered on the bridge blank are the center points for holes 1 & 6. 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 6, 2024January 16, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter: Patents and Acknowledgement Letter: Patents and Acknowledgement by Harry Fleishman Originally published in American Lutherie #81, 2005 Dear Tim, GAL members, and anyone else, Largely because of my involvement in GAL, I have some visible presence in the lutherie community. Because I have always been interested in solving the problems, imagined or real, that I saw in conventional instruments — whether that meant developing a more repair-and-adjust-friendly neck joint or trying to wring a stronger low end from my basses without introducing too much “twang” — I've preferred to take risks, accept failure, and appreciate occasional success. Additionally, and most importantly, I have worked hard over the thirty years I have been designing and building to maintain my integrity as a luthier, if nowhere else in my misbegotten life. (Bear with me, I’ll get to the point.) It is, therefore, with some consternation and much sadness that I have heard rumors questioning the legitimacy of my use of some of these unusual features. To be blunt, I’ve heard accusations that I have ripped people off for their ideas and not given appropriate credit, either in the form of acknowledgment or, in some cases, in the form of required licensing fees. 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.
