Posted on September 6, 2019March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Norman Pickering Meet the Maker: Norman Pickering by N.P., with Barbara Goldowsky previously published in American Lutherie #95, 2008 Norman Pickering does not understand the concept of retirement. He celebrated his ninety-second birthday on July 9, 2008, and he is still immersed in studying the properties of violin, viola, and cello bows. This is a logical follow-up to his lifelong study of the acoustics of bowed instruments, as a player, maker, and scientist. Though musical acoustics is his overriding passion, there have been lengthy, but fascinating detours along the way into fields as various as medical ultrasound, aircraft instrument design, and his most famous invention, the Pickering phonograph tonearm and cartridge. Rather than trying to condense his multiple careers and achievements into a question-and-answer interview, Norman agreed to share his life story — so far — in an essay he wrote after moving to our current home in East Hampton. I think AL readers will enjoy it. With characteristic modesty, he calls it simply “Biography.” — Barbara Goldowsky I was born in 1916 in a small fishing and farming town where both sides of my family had lived for at least three generations. Just at that time it was on the way to being submerged in the borough of Brooklyn by development and road building. By the time I was seven years old it was no longer the integrated semi-isolated village my parents and grandparents had known. My mother’s family were farmers and my father and his father were engineers. My future education was decreed almost from birth: I would follow my father’s plan for me. And so I did; after a happy and successful time in grammar and high school, I entered Newark College of Engineering and finished in 1936, a few weeks before my twentieth birthday. I enjoyed engineering, but found that my interest in music was much too strong to be ignored. 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 30, 2019March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Meet the Forester: Andrea Florinett Meet the Forester: Andrea Florinett by Greg Hanson previously published in American Lutherie #93, 2008 In the summer of 2005, I took a step that many an amateur luthier eventually must — I ordered European spruce tops from a European source over the Internet. The Internet has become a vital vehicle for commerce, but when it comes to selecting tops for acoustic guitars, nothing can replace hands-on inspection, even for those of us with less than full-time professional experience. The tops that showed up on my doorstep two weeks after I clicked the “Submit Order” button exceeded my expectations, but I liked some better than others. How, then, to solve this problem other than trekking off to Europe to test, tap, and touch the so-called Holy Grail of the Mother Continent, Picea abies? As a professor of German and a fluent speaker of the language, I threw caution to the wind and wrote to Andrea Florinett of Tonewood Switzerland in Graubünden, Switzerland. I took advantage of the three main reasons many teachers become teachers — June, July, and August — to ask Andrea if I could work for him for a couple of weeks on a volunteer basis. I can only imagine what reservations the Florinett family might have had, but a week later I received a very welcoming e-mail from Annette Florinett, Andrea’s wife, accepting my offer. Tonewood Switzerland is largely a family-run operation with one full-time employee, and they were glad to gain a helping, albeit inexperienced, hand. 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 23, 2019March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Gibson Banjo Information Gibson Banjo Information by Tom Morgan previously published as Data Sheet #28, 1976 Recent popularity of the banjo and a need for wider dessemination of various bits of information have prompted this writing. Much of the information is based only on opinions formed during approximately ten years of experience working on banjos, while the instruments themselves were made over a period of 60 or more years. It should then be remembered that many variations are likely to have occurred. During the years banjos have been manufactured, one strong contrast is noticeable. During the time of its wide popularity around 1920–1930, the tenor banjo was the style. The people then playing 5-string often makes it desireable to convert these. Gibson banjos used a designation of RB for regular banjo of 5-string, TB for tenor banjo, MB for mandolin banjo, and so forth. Therefore, reference to a model-00, for example, should be understood to represent the different possible models that were, or may have been made (MD-00, RB-00, etc.) The shell or rims were made to be an interchangeable basis for either of the different types, and a mandolin banjo can be converted to a 5-string banjo by installing a different neck. Problems in fitting may be encountered due to several shapes of the heel, and two sizes of lag screw (8-32 and 10-32 threads) being used. Also, shell diameters vary from about six inches in some banjo ukes to a 24 inch banjo bass. The most popular sizes were 10 1/2 and 11 inches, with the 11" size the only one well suited for upgrading with one of the better MASTERTONE tone rings. 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 23, 2019March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Intonation in the Real World Intonation in the Real World by Mike Doolin from his 2006 GAL Convention lecture previously published in American Lutherie #92, 2007 Getting guitars to play in tune has been a major topic of interest for many years, both for guitar players and guitar makers, and it has been a major source of frustration as well. During our current “Golden Age of Lutherie” the bar has been raised for standards of craft, playability, and tonal quality, as players have become more sophisticated in their expectations and builders have become better educated and more demanding of their own work. Expectations for accurate intonation have come along with all that: it’s no longer acceptable for a guitar to only play in tune for the first five frets, or in a few keys. Modern players are using the whole neck, exploring extended harmonies, and playing in ensembles with other instruments. They are looking for instruments that play in tune with themselves and with the rest of the musical world. It turns out that guitar intonation is a huge can of worms, because it is really two topics: ▶ What does it mean to be “in tune?” ▶ How do I make a guitar do that? 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 21, 2019March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud, Part One Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud with Peter Kyvelos, Part One by R.M. Mottola previously published in American Lutherie #94, 2008 See also, “Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud, with Peter Kyvelos Part Two” by R.M. Mottola Here in the USA, interest in ethnic music of all sorts has seen an increase in recent years. Probably driven by immigration from many parts of the world and by the rise of so-called world music, this increased popularity manifests itself for us in an increased interest in the stringed instruments used in various ethnic musical styles. For instance, we’ve seen much interest lately in the oud, also commonly spelled ud or ’ud. Starting off with absolutely no knowledge of a subject (as I did with this one), it is probably always a wise first step to consult the experts. Of course, with no knowledge of the subject, even the process of identifying subject-matter expertise is a problem, but I’ve always found that persistent and wide ranging investigation into just who the experts are is a fruitful approach. Eventually it becomes obvious that the same handful of names come up again and again in these queries. During the process of identifying those individuals most likely to be experts on the subject of the oud, it was both unusual and interesting that only one name came up repeatedly. Whether I asked musicians, luthiers, or academics, in this country or in the Middle East, the person that was universally regarded as the foremost expert on the oud was Peter Kyvelos. Working out of his shop Unique Strings in Belmont, Massachusetts, Peter Kyvelos has built close to 200 ouds and other Middle Eastern instruments. The shop, located in a section that is home to many Armenian and other Middle Eastern immigrants, also repairs pretty much all stringed instruments, plucked and bowed, domestic and foreign. But Middle Eastern instruments have been the focus of the shop and of the lutherie of Peter Kyvelos for the last thirty-five years. This dedication has earned Peter the reputation as the expert in this field. It has also earned him a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001. 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.
