Posted on July 25, 2023May 12, 2025 by Dale Phillips In Memoriam: Chris Herbert Chris Herbert Nov. 22, 1955 - May 30, 2022 by The Herbert Family Published online by Guild of American Luthiers, July, 2023 Chris Herbert was probably Denver’s premier guitar repairman. He moved to Denver in 1980 from Columbus, Ohio, with excellent woodworking skills and a love of music. He was mentored at the now defunct Feretta’s Guitar Store where he learned his craft and began his career. He took to it very quickly and became the go-to luthier for almost every guitarist who played vintage instruments in Colorado. He worked on guitars for countless Colorado musicians, including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Hot Rize, The Nacho Men, The Mother Folkers and many, many others. When touring musicians came to town, he was always the one they called — Jewel, Mason Williams, Andy Gibb, Duke Robillard, the Subdudes. When Mason Williams asked how much he owed, Chris said, “Just play me Classical Gas!” That was Chris. All photos courtesy of the Herbert Family except as noted. He worked mainly on S. Broadway, but in his later years, preferred to work out of his home. He built a few custom instruments in the early days, and his second custom guitar is now owned by Nick Beier of San Diego. He also collected Golden Era Martin and Gibson guitars which are now worth a fortune; many of these went into his friends’ collections. His favorite guitar was the Blackguard Telecaster. Everyone who knew Chris commented on his love of old instruments and the care that went into fixing their myriad problems that developed over the years. He was a perfectionist and it showed. For years, he was a certified Martin repair person and had an excellent relationship with Martin and their longtime employee and historian David Musselwhite. Chris called himself a humanist and felt a strong sense of compassion for displaced and oppressed people. He cherished his abundant friendships with local and nationally recognized musicians, good buddies, and neighbors, and his close ties to his siblings. Chris was a fan of other builders, including Denny Stevens. Denny also lived in Colorado, but tragically developed ALS and passed away in 2009. Chris owned a 1973 Denny Stevens guitar, which was the last guitar in Chris’ estate. The Herbert Family kindly donated it to the Guild of American Luthiers, in memory of master luthier Chris Herbert. It was sold in the Guild’s Benefit Auction in July 2023, the proceeds of which go to further the Guild’s mission of information sharing among luthiers like Chris. — At the 2023 GAL Convention Benefit Auction. Photo by Steve McElrath.
Posted on April 21, 2023May 29, 2025 by Dale Phillips Battery-Powered Instrument Amplifiers Battery-Powered Instrument Amplifiers by Joseph Ennis Originally published in American Lutherie #69, 2002 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 After reading Francis Kosheleff’s description of building speaker enclosures which resemble instrument bodies, I thought I would offer my experience of what has worked for me. I have added battery-powered amplifiers and speakers inside instrument bodies to either augment the sound of a weak instrument like a harp or mandolin, or just to act as stage monitors. The thing left unspoken in Mr. Kosheleff’s article is that not just any speaker will work well. The speaker should be chosen to match the instrument body resonance. The first air resonance of a hollow body instrument is essentially the same as the Helmholtz resonance of a tuned speaker cabinet. The same math applies. The formula is given below. 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 April 21, 2023May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Two-Storey Dulcimer The Two-Storey Dulcimer by Roger Alan Skipper Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010 I read John Calkin’s “Dulcimer 101” in AL#98 with interest, but with little expectation of practical application. I’ve never built a dulcimer; I’ve never wished to build one (sung to the “Purple Cow” jingle). Within a month, though, my best customer and great friend Dr. Gerry Snelson asked me to do exactly that. Perhaps anticipating my reluctance to regress to such a basic instrument, Gerry came armed with photos of high-end dulcimers, video clips of accomplished players, and with his normal bundle of challenging demands and fresh ideas. 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 April 21, 2023May 29, 2025 by Dale Phillips Calculating Soundbox Volume Calculating Soundbox Volume by Dave Raley Originally published in American Lutherie #70, 2002 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Want to design a new guitar shape and maintain an equal volume of enclosed air by adjusting the height of the sides? Here’s how to calculate volumes. Accuracy is a function of how long you want to spend measuring and calculating. Consider two bodies: Figs. 1a and 2a. The body in Fig. 1 is 18" on the X axis and 4" on the Z axis. Suppose that you wish to make the body in Fig. 2 have the same volume as the body in Fig. 1 while maintaining the same X axis. Fig. 3 defines the axes regardless of the way the figures are turned. 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 April 21, 2023May 29, 2025 by Dale Phillips Product Reviews: Ameritage Cases Product Reviews: Ameritage Cases by R.M. Mottola Originally published in American Lutherie #68, 2001 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Ameritage Cases My friend and mentor Jim Mouradian of Mouradian Guitars is a clever guy. He builds a thoroughly modern electric bass called the Reality. It has a trim upper horn and swoopy waist cut that you would never confuse for a ’50s-styled Fender Jazz bass. But if you were to take just the outline of the Fender and lay it over the outline of Jim’s bass, you’d notice an interesting thing. The outline of the Reality is identical to that of the Jazz in a few places, and in the places where it is different, it is always smaller. Thus Jim’s instrument fits perfectly snug inside an off-the-shelf aftermarket Jazz bass case. This detail gives Jim a lot of options when it comes to cases. Like I said, he’s a clever guy. Those of us who build instruments for which “standard” cases are not available have to have cases custom made. Some builders need custom cases simply because they don’t want their instruments seen in anything less. There are a number of custom case makers. I’d like to share my experiences with one of them. Ameritage Carrying Cases is the musical instrument division of GWW Inc., a manufacturer that makes cases for just about anything. I found them via their website and asked for quotes for four cases for acoustic-electric basses I was building. I knew that custom cases would be needed for these, and I knew they would fit into standard Jazz bass cases but would rattle around inside. This last bit of information turns out to be kind of important. You can look at an instrument case as having two major components — the outer hard shell, and the padding between the shell and the instrument. If a manufacturer has to custom build the shell, then you are looking at one expensive case. But if they can use one of their existing shells, then the only thing that is unique for your case is the padding, and that makes for a more reasonable price. My instruments would fit into the standard rectangular electric-bass case shell. 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.
