Author: Dale Phillips

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Questions: Luthier Craig Pederson

Questions: Luthier Craig Pederson

by Gordon Pritchard

Originally published in American Lutherie #96, 2008

 

Scott Freilich from Santa Fe, New Mexico asks:

Have you heard of a guy named Craig Pederson? He built some beautiful acoustics in Santa Fe in the late '80s.

Guitar by Craig Pederson. Photo by Scott Freilich.

Gordon Pritchard from U.S. Virgin Islands replies:

I have a Jazz model by Craig Pederson. The one you have was mine and I sold it to a guy in England. Both guitars were built for and purchased by a terrific guitarist named Steve Katz who now lives in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Steve is a good friend of mine, and is how I ended up with these guitars. Both were built in the ’80s. From what I can find out, Craig Pederson now teaches school somewhere in New York. ◆

Jazz guitar by Craig Pederson. Both photos by Gordon Pritchard.
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Questions: Workbench Plans

Questions: Workbench Plans

by Ellis McMullin and Wolodymyr Smishkewych

Originally published in American Lutherie #81, 2005

 

Kevin from cyberspace asks:

Where can I find plans for a guitar builder’s workbench?


Ellis McMullin of Kent City, Michigan answers:

The short answer is that you can use any workbench with the proper jigs and fixtures. I doubt you will find two identical benches unless they are in the same shop.

The longer answer: I recommend The Workbench Book by Scott Landis (Taunton Press, 1998; ISBN: 1561582700) as a guide in choosing a workbench style. In Chapter 14, workbenches used by Dan Erlewine, Ervin Somogyi, Mark Stanley, and Richard Schneider are discussed. A general plan of the bench that Richard used is included in the book. The book is a wealth of information and includes four detailed plans of workbenches in the Appendix.


Wolodymyr Smishkewych of Bloomington, Indiana adds:

In addition to the Landis book, if you have a spare barber’s or dentist’s chair handy, you might take a look at AL#9, “Barber Chair Workbench” by Michael Sanden (also in The Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume One, p. 343). In the end, your bench will be a combination of your needs, ideas both yours and others’, and the materials at hand. And your needs will be dictated by what you build, as in my case: what is the best bench height for hurdy-gurdies? Good luck!

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Questions: Ossification of Guitar Soundboards

Questions: Ossification of Guitar Soundboards

by Benz Tschannen

Originally published in American Lutherie #93, 2008

 

see also,
Questions: Ossifying Wood by Rick Rubin

 

Benz Tschannen from the Internet asks:

Reading the “Secrets of Stradivari” by Sacconi, I wonder if anyone has experimented with using the “ossification” process described in the varnish chapter on a guitar top and with what results.

 

Benz Tschannen from Fallon, NV provides an update to a question he asked in AL#89 about “ossification” of guitar soundboards:

I did some experimenting: Two pieces of spruce and two pieces of cedar, ≈2"×4"×.10", washed one each with a solution of sodium silicate, the other with water. Let dry, then coated with two coats of shellac each. After a year the result is inconclusive. Sometimes the silicate pieces seem higher pitched, sometimes the water washed ones do. The big change is in color: the silicate turns the spruce yellow and the cedar a darker brown. I don’t want to find out what it does to the colors of the rosette, so I am abandoning this quest for now. ◆

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Questions: Kit Fiddle Drawings

Questions: Kit Fiddle Drawings

by Robert Hickey

Originally published in American Lutherie #90, 2007

 

■ Robert Hickey of Liberty, North Carolina asks:

Last weekend I learned about “kit fiddles” (also called dancing master’s violins) while visiting the historical area at Williamsburg, Virginia. Where could I obtain detailed drawings of the instrument?


Robert Hickey answers his own question:

Thanks for passing on the info from Darcy Kuronen at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, pointing to the kit violin at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. Michael Latcham, Curator of Musical Instruments there, mentioned the oddity of this instrument and also that the instrument has no sides, and they are not even sure if it was ever a viable instrument. But he did refer to luthier Claude Lebet in Rome (www.claudelebet.com), who examined their instrument and has information on other such instruments. He has written a book on the subject, La Pochette du Maître à Danser, which includes text in both French and English. It is a history of kit violins from the 1400s to the present with a wealth of photos of instruments held in museums mostly in Europe, but a dearth of drawings from which an instrument could be constructed. These instruments were made in a variety of sizes and styles to no particular standard other than the ability to fit into a coat pocket of the time. This lack of standardization may well be the reason that there are few if any plans available. It seems that the builder is free to do whatever works. I wonder if there was any bracing inside. These instruments were much more than curios for several hundred years. The era’s greatest luthiers made many of them, including Stradivari. Too bad they fell from favor. ◆

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Questions: 3 String Balalaika Tuner

Questions: 3 String Balalaika Tuner

by Francis Kosheleff

Originally published in American Lutherie #71, 2002

 

Bob Mussro from cyberspace asks:

I’m trying to find replacement tuners for a three-string balalaika. Would you have such or know of a source?


Francis Kosheleff from Los Gatos, CA responds:

The easy solution to the problem is to remove the old tuners, plug the three holes , and get single tuners like Schaller or Gotoh. Drill a hole on the treble side of the peghead for one tuner (steel A string ). Do the same on the other side for the two nylon E strings.

The hard solution, if you absolutely need a perfect, identical, replacement is to send somebody you trust to Russia to search for the craftsman or the factory who made your instrument and buy the replacement
tuners. (Good luck!)

Another (expensive) solution is to have somebody (professional) build a copy of your tuners. And finally you can alter two of the three tuners by making a longer shaft (a small length of thin tubing) that will reach the edge of the peghead from the existing holes. It’s not too difficult to do. I have done that a couple of times. ◆