Author: Dale Phillips

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Questions: Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages

Questions: Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages

by Wes Brandt

Originally published in American Lutherie #85, 2006

 

Fabio Ragghianti of Pietrasanta, Italy asks:

I’m looking for plans for stringed instruments of the Middle Ages: citara (kithara), fidula, and such.


Wes Brandt of Amsterdam, Holland responds:

No known examples of necked European stringed instruments survive from before about 1500, so they are known mainly through iconography and the written word. We can only surmise the thicknesses and internal structure. Also, seriously consider the type of stringing and string tension as you develop your own plan. The Early Music Shop in England (www.e-m-s.com/cat/stringinstruments/stringed.htm) has kits that may provide starting points for sizes and dimensions but are not to be taken as “historically correct.” A good site for photos and iconography is www.instrumentsmedievaux.org. Spend time on the Internet looking for references to books, journals, articles, essays, and iconography, then use interlibrary loans. Look for string makers such as NRI (www.nrinstruments.demon.co.uk/Guide.html), also early music societies, players, and other makers; and of course plans (``drawings’’ in England). Try searching in other languages as well; obviously you must learn the translated name of the instrument. ◆

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Accelerator for Superglue and More

Accelerator for Superglue and More

by Chris Pile

Originally published in American Lutherie #10, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000



I would like to inform fellow members of recent developments in the cyanoacrylate area of my repair business.

The makers of Jet have added two new products to their line which have quickly become indispensable in the completion of my daily work. The old, reliable Jet and Super-Jet have been joined by Slo-Jet and Jet-Set.

If you remember, Jet is the familiar thin, quick-setting superglue, and Super-Jet is thicker and slower to dry. Slo-Jet is even thicker and much slower to dry, consequently filling gaps and holes even better than was previously possible. As a matter of fact, it dries so slowly I’ve no idea how long it would take to cure if I wasn’t using the other new product — Jet-Set.

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Questions: Measuring Guitar Efficiency

Questions: Measuring Guitar Efficiency

by Alan Carruth

Originally published in American Lutherie #73, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015

 

Buck Montoya of Wichita, Kansas asks:

I’ve heard and read that acoustic guitars are horribly inefficient (less than 10% if I remember correctly). Is there a method of measuring a guitar’s efficiency that could be performed by the average luthier without the resources of a fully equipped lab?


Al Carruth of Newport, New Hampshire responds:

I think most instruments are pretty inefficient. Neville Fletcher and Tom Rossing discuss this in their book, The Physics of Musical Instruments. The figure that I’ve been given for the violin is about 2%, and Ervin Somogyi said at the GAL convention in ’92 that guitars run around 5% efficient.

It’s not easy to measure the efficiency of a guitar. For one thing there is so little power involved: any source of noise will throw the measurement off. For another thing, guitars are complex sources: even the headstock radiates some sound. You have to take measurements all around at all different frequencies and add them up to find the total. And you can’t take the measurements from close up, since the phase cancellation of the different radiating areas can skew the results. The cheapest calibrated microphone and preamp combination I know of costs several hundred dollars, and it’s probably the wrong kind of mike for this. I wish it were an easy measurement to make: I’d love to know how efficient my instruments are. But try as I might I can’t think of an easy way to do it.

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Questions: North American Wood

Questions: North American Wood

by Mark French, Ned Steinberger, and Alan Carruth

Originally published in American Lutherie #94, 2008



See also,
Questions: Nontropical Fingerboard Materials by Tom Theil



Larry L. from the Internet asks:

I’ve noticed that my choices in materials have evolved over the years to favor wood from North America. At this point I’d like to take the final step and eliminate all tropical hardwood. The two fingerboard materials that make the most sense to me are phenolic impregnated paper or cloth (Garolite, Micarta) and phenolic impregnated wood (Dymondwood, Pakkawood, Staminawood). I think I understand issues with machining these materials and fret installation, but I wonder how differential expansion/contraction with changes in humidity will affect the stability of necks with wood shafts and fingerboards made of these materials. Does anyone have experience here?


Mark French from West Lafayette, Indiana responds:

Any time you have differential expansion of two materials that are bonded, you have the possibility of large deformations. For example, one type of thermometer works by having a coiled bimetallic strip inside. When the temperature changes, the end of the coil moves a needle.

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 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.

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