Posted on December 21, 2021June 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Restoring a “Church Bass” Restoring a “Church Bass” by Frederick C. Lyman Originally published in American Lutherie #98, 2009 “Restoration” is not really a good term for what is done by luthiers who work on old bass fiddles. They are trying to create an instrument that has not existed before, using pieces that give it historical continuity and prestige. Connection with the past, recent or distant, is important to musicians. Having an instrument that can be connected to a previous musical era seems to do a lot to build a player’s confidence and help him or her form a conception of music-to-be. So given an old instrument that needs a lot of work to be playable, the repairman tries to keep in mind the continuing identity of that particular fiddle. It must seem that there is an unbroken link between what was in the mind of the original creator, and the present-day sound. If this is an illusion, that may be better yet, as we are already in a realm of rampant subjectivity. 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 December 21, 2021May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Power of Circles The Power of Circles by Michael Darnton from his 2004 GAL Convention lecture Originally published in American Lutherie #87, 2006 Violins and guitars that are strong visually have a solid underlying structure that you might not see if you’re just casually looking. But it’s there. Designers of the past constructed a shape with straightedge and compass on concrete geometric forms. There are many equally valid ways to look at designs, but I hope everyone will at least consider the concept that I’m going to talk about today: that strong instrument design comes most easily from the consistent use of very simple geometric shapes. This doesn’t eliminate creativity and new forms. Rather, it can strengthen the impact of any design, traditional or modern, by drawing on a common language to promote immediate visual understanding, usually on a subconscious, but effective, level. 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 December 21, 2021May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips Early Engelmann Early Engelmann by Jan Callister Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly Volume 10 #3, 1982, updated 1993 and Luthier Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1997 In 1975, while completing my third guitar, I became very interested in the interplay of the different woods and their significance in the construction of a guitar. Most beginning guitarmakers, I am sure, have had the same interest. However, I questioned the use of European spruce as the most esteemed tonewood. Why didn’t our own domestic spruce wood have the same qualities? I began researching the literature to gain information on our own domestic spruce and its use for musical instruments. I found some references concerning Sitka spruce, mainly short paragraphs relating to tonal characteristics of violins. I couldn’t help wondering if the Engelmann spruce from the forests on the mountains just east of my home near Salt Lake City might have possibilities for guitarmaking. My research revealed hints that Engelmann had been used successfully by a few violinmakers as far back as the 1900s. A local industrial arts professor noted for his knowledge of woods, however, told me that Engelmann had no merit as a tonewood. Undaunted, I continued my research and found positive confirmation of Engelmann’s tonal value from Peter Prier of the American Violin Making School in Salt Lake City, Sam Daniels from Jerome, Idaho, and some records of R. Peter Larsen who had built over 100 violins in the late 19th century and said Engelmann was “superior in tone to Italian wood.” 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 October 26, 2021May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips Prepping Rough Planks for Solid Bodies Prepping Rough Planks for Solid Bodies by John Calkin Published online by Guild of American Luthiers, October 2021 There are plenty of places online where we can purchase prepped electric guitar body blanks. But who can refuse free wood when it is offered? Several rough planks of 2"×9"×12' poplar came to me out of the blue. They had been painted on two sides, but so what? They had spent years in a dry barn. I cut them down to 6' to fit them in my little pickup truck, hauled them home, and stored them in my mower shed for two more years. All photos by John Calkin I have been working on electric ukuleles, mandolins, and mini guitars, and that is where the poplar is destined to be used. The first step was to cut a plank into 15" lengths using a sled on the table saw. Though it looks like the plank will be run against the fence, there will be plenty of clearance after the cut is set up. Two pieces sat evenly on the saw deck so I proceeded to run them through the drum sander, first the humped side and then the cupped side. One edge was sanded flat (but not perfectly) on the 6"×48" belt sander in order to run it evenly against the table saw fence while the other side was trimmed clean and perpendicular to the faces. In this photo, the second edge is about to be trimmed. That's as far as I will take them for now. They are shy of the 1 3/4" thickness used for most Fender electrics but plenty thick enough for smaller solidbodies. When the time comes, the shorter length will be sliced up to widen the longer piece as necessary, making the bit still covered in red paint irrelevant. Once joined the blank may be thinned even more to accept a top of figured wood, but that lies in the future. The three blanks off the board that rocked too much on a flat surface would still rock after thickness sanding, so they will get a slightly different treatment later. ◆
Posted on October 25, 2021May 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips ’Way Down Upon the Amazon River ’Way Down Upon the Amazon River by John Curtis from his 1986 GAL Convention talk Originally published in American Lutherie #10, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 There are many South American exotics that are perfectly viable species for instrument building. It’s hard to get luthiers to go along with that, however. Everyone wants perfectly-quartered Brazilian rosewood. The reason I mention alternative woods is that the true Dalbergia nigra, the Brazilian rosewood that luthiers love and would sell their cars and dogs for, is getting to be very hard to find. We at Luthiers Mercantile found this out the hard way a few years ago, in much the same way that the Martin Co. did. You have to pay for the wood up front, which puts you at great risk; you just have to trust the person you are buying from. 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.
