Posted on August 1, 2022May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips Harpsichord Basics Harpsichord Basics by J.R. Beall Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Newsletter Volume 1, #2, 1973 Almost since the beginning of my career as a luthier, I have been obsessed with the desire to build harpsichords. My inclinations were, however, met with a great deal of difficulty resultig from the fact that in my part of the country, harpshichords and their makers are rare. After quite a long period of dilligent investigation, I did manage to compile a list of information on the subject and was able, successfully, to build my first instrument. The completion of my own scratchbuilt harpsichord was one of the most exciting and satisfying occurences of my career as a luthier, and I recommend it highly to those of you with similar aspirations. 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 1, 2022May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips Foam Cases Foam Cases by Reagan Cole Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #62, 1978 These paper-styrene laminates are very strong. I can safely sit on a board made up of 1” foam and two sides of cardboard. It is most convenient to use cloth hinges, elastic, snaps and velcro in your closure system. Styrene laminates also make good forms for laminating forms in vacuum presses. No deformation, as gas pressure in the foam “cells” equal outside air pressure. Suitable glues for styrene foam cores include: white glue, yellow glue, hot melt, pet, ether based impact adhesive (“Styro Bond”). Eposy works, but won’t cut with a hot wire. 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 1, 2022May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Conical Radius Fretboard Formula Conical Radius Fretboard Formula by Elaine Hartstein Originally published in American Lutherie #34, 1993 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 As a follow-up to Tim Earls’ article “In Search of the Perfect Cone” in American Lutherie #30, I’ve come up with a formula for finding the hypothetically-ideal radius for the fingerboard at any distance from the nut. Since a set of nonparallel strings cannot lie flat on a cylindrical fretboard, we wish to discover the geometry of the cone described by the strings. As Tim Olsen suggested, the outside strings (as opposed to the edges of the fingerboard) should define the cone. The cone defined by the fingerboard edge would give results with a smaller radius. 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 1, 2022May 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips Guitar Outline Formula Guitar Outline Formula by Leo Bidne Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #79, 1978 From taking several measurements of various guitars, I’ve discovered only slight differences from one to the next. These differences seem to contribute very little to the finished sound. The question is, what is the reason for making a guitar the shape that it is? What are the determining factors, besides the obvious ones? Can there be a “formula” that produces an “ideal” outline? This is what I set out to find. What I came up with, rather independently, so closely resembles, at least in dimension, the existing standard outline of the classic guitar as introduced by Torres, that I wonder if a similar technique may have been in use in the past, in some modified form. This formula, based on the string length, may be of no use to acoustical science, but it’s as fun as a math game, and twice as surprising. Although the information below describes how to derive an outline for a classic guitar with a string length of 65CM, joining the body at the 12th fret, it can also be used, with slight modifications, for other instruments, such as the flattop, the acoustic bass, the electric guitar, etc. Once the outline is established, the depth of the sound cavity can be adjusted with the sides, helping to establish the instruments sonority, as well as adjusting the soundboard bracing. 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 1, 2022May 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Design Diamond The Design Diamond by Dan Neil McCrimmon Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #100, 1978 The basic idea behind this geometry jazz is to have the elements of design organized in such a way to give a sense of cohesion to the total design. The drawing is of a classic guitar, other guitars will be different but should have simple relationships. I have not tried this with the violin but suspect it should fit in there somehow. The whole design is broken into simple subdivisions of the total length of the sides (i.e. 1/2, 1/3, 1/4). Line XY is half the length of AB. 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.
