Posted on March 6, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Building the Kamanché Building the Kamanché by Nasser Shirazi Originally published in American Lutherie #4, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 The word kamanché in the Persian language (Farsi) means “small bow.” This instrument, with varying shape, size, and material, is widely used in Middle Eastern countries. The kamanché described in this article is modeled after the Persian (Iranian) instrument. The kamanché is a very old instrument and possibly dates back as much as 1500–2000 years, being another form of the ancient Indian ravanstron. In 1418 A.D. Ben Abd-ul-Cadir wrote a treatise (the manuscript of which is in the University of Leyden) which shows that its existence today has changed little since that time. A 16th-century Iranian miniature painting in the Khamza of the poet Nizami shows a kamanché very similar to the one described below. Various early European travelers to Iran have described it also. Among these are Sir W. Ouseley in 1819,1 and Sir Percy M. Sykes.2 Sykes describes a kamanché in Khorasan, an eastern province of Iran, as follows: “...made of walnut wood. The total length is 37", with fingerboard 9" in length. The instrument is handled like a violoncello; but in shape resembles a mandolin with a long spike of worked iron. The belly is constructed from a pumpkin covered with parchment and mounted with stripes of bone radiating from a turquoise. The neck is pierced on each side with three holes, and with a hollow at the back, 3" in length; there are three wire strings and six pegs, three of which are dummies. The bow resembles our double-bass bows and is 22" in length; it is made of gypchin wood and has a strap and a loop with which to tighten the horsehair. To complete the equipment, a bit of beeswax is tied on to serve as rosin.” 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 March 6, 2024March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Ken Parker’s Uncut Personal Take on the Genesis of the American Archtop Guitar Ken Parker’s Uncut Personal Take on the Genesis of the American Archtop Guitar as told to Mike Doolin Published online by Guild of American Luthiers, July 2023 First, let’s note that a well developed, centuries long tradition of plucked, fretted instruments travelled to America from Europe, just like CF Martin did in 1833. He was the key figure in the evolution of the 6-string American guitar, and the importance of his work as a ferocious, persistent, successful instrument inventor cannot be overstated. Although there were other builders who did exceptional work and have had some continuing influence, CF laid the groundwork for the flattop designs we still revere and copy today. There is no analog in the field of archtops, which have kind of stumbled from insult to injury, as I’ll try to explain. It’s my view, and you don’t have to like it, but I’ve been obsessed, and paying a lot of attention for a long time, so I hope you’ll give me your ears. Circa 1890, brilliant oddball Orville Gibson decides to try to improve fretted instruments for his own use as a hobbyist. He played mandolins, which were becoming very popular, and he saw room for improvement and his artistic expression. He didn’t care much about the guitar, and so didn’t make many of them, maybe a dozen, some think even fewer. Orville concentrated his efforts on mandolins and harp guitars. He turned out to be a talented and prolific builder, and was active as a musician and performer. Orville had no training as an instrument maker or woodworker. He grew up on a farm in Western NY state during the second Industrial Revolution, and we all know that farm girls and boys can do a lot with a little. He moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, a fast growing manufacturing center ripe with opportunities, full of startups and others eager to make their mark in the modern world. He was self-financed, working day gigs as a sales guy in a shoe store, then in a restaurant, whatever it took. Sound familiar? He made a close friend, Thaddeus McHugh, an expert woodworker, who may have had some training in Lutherie. Thad had a great singing voice they performed together. More on this important guy later… Orville was a good musician and although I’m sure he knew about violins, when he designed his arched mandolins and guitars, he followed his own design instincts. Some of his innovations were good, and others… well let’s say there was very little that he took from violin family bowed instrument construction. 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 March 6, 2024May 28, 2025 by Dale Phillips Using the Golden Section to Design a Kamanché Using the Golden Section to Design a Kamanché by Ahanali Jahandideh, Mitra Jahandideh, Hadi Abbaszadeh, and Samad Jahandideh Originally published in American Lutherie #98, 2009 The kamanché is a Persian bowed string instrument related to the violin. (See “Building the Kamanché” by Nasser Shirazi, AL#4, p. 27 and BRBAL1, p. 126, and GAL Instrument Plan #9. The kamanché has a long neck and a spheroid sound chamber made from gourd or wooden staves, which is usually covered on the playing side with skin from a lamb, goat, or fish. It is widely played in classical music of Iran, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, with slight variations in structure. The Golden Section (also known as the Golden Mean, Ratio, or Proportion) is a ratio defined by the number phi (Φ=1.618033988...). It has been used in designing violins and other musical instruments, but for the first time we used it to design an Iranian instrument. 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 March 6, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Making a Weissenborn-Style Guitar Making a Weissenborn-style Guitar by John Calkin previously published in American Lutherie #102, 2010 “You shouldn’t write a Weissenborn story,” said Lamar Scomp, “’cuz I don’t want to build one.” Lamar tends to take everything personally, and the rest of humanity be damned. “You didn’t want to build a dulcimer either, until I twisted your arm. But you had fun with it, didn’t you?” I said. “Yup.” “And didn’t you tell me that playing dulcimer was making you a better guitar player?” “Yeah,” said Lamar suspiciously, like he could see the trap in front of him and knew he was going to step in it anyway. “Well, a Weissenborn is sort of the ultimate dulcimer on its way to becoming a guitar. The plates are flat, but braced like a guitar. My version has no taper to the sides, just like a dulcimer. Since it’s meant to be played with a slide, there are no frets to mess with, and setting the high action is a breeze. And it’s fun to play. I think you should check out some ace players on YouTube. You’ll be impressed.” “I don’t believe nothin’ I see online. It’s all computerized trickery,” he said. “OK, Lamar. But the Weissenborn is your next step on the way to making guitars. I think you need to build one.” 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 March 4, 2024May 8, 2025 by Dale Phillips Seedlac Seedlac by Nicholas Von Robison Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #150, 1980 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Seedlac resin, when combined with alcohol, gives a magnificent spirit varnish suitable for spraying or French polishing with qualities far superior to its better known cousin shellac. It’s more transparent, faster drying, harder, and more resistant to scuffing and moisture. The latter quality is of particular value as sweaty hands can play havoc on a shellac-based finish on a musical instrument. With all this going for it, it is not well known or used by luthiers to a great extent. The primary reason is that the major paint and varnish manufacturers buy most of the crop for their own needs, leaving little for the small-scale importers. About 60% of the resin is collected from an area between Calcutta and Central India with lesser amounts coming from Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. There is a distinct difference in the resin color from different areas. The lac west of Calcutta is yellow or orange, east and south of Calcutta it is red, a pale red in Assam, and a dark red in Thailand. The resin comes from various indigenous trees, primarily kusam (Scheichera trijuga) which has the best color (pale yellow) and quality, but others such as pala (Wrightia tomentosa), ber (Berrya amomilla), and ghont (Bursera serrata). Two crops occur each year, summer and winter, and they revolve around the life cycle of a scale-like insect (Laccifer lacca) which infests the host trees. This small (about the size of an apple seed) red critter was cultivated as early as 80 A.D. for the purplish dye it contains. But not until 1580, in the records of Akbar the Great, do we find any mention of seedlac resin for varnish making. 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.
