Posted on April 29, 2021March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips Rosin Varnishes Rosin Varnishes by Louis DeGrazia Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #226, 1982 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Rosin varnishes are shunned by master violin makers because they are soft, “chippy,” and do not adhere well. Yet they are not so bad in these respects that they could not be used by an amateur or beginner on instruments with no pretension to outlast their maker. Pale rosin is a wonderful, natural, wood-derived resin that can be very easily made into a variety of beautiful and acoustically suitable varnishes both of the spirit and oil type. Its solubility in both alcohol and turpentine and its compatibility with oils and other resins make it a versatile ingredient that can help in combining normally incompatible substances to achieve special properties. Rosin varnishes have been around for centuries and in some respects they resemble those of the old Cremonese masters. Pale rosin in powdered form can be obtained from pharmaceutical companies which use it in preparation of salves and ointments. This is the purest grade and is recommended for varnish making. Rosin can be added to many varnishes to add body and to make them softer. Adding rosin to shellac makes a “woodcarver’s varnish” that can be prepared in just a few minutes, although it is best to let it stand overnight. This varnish brushes well, dries considerably slower than straight shellac, has good luster, and is much softer than shellac. To prepare, simply dissolve as much rosin as will go into solution in orange shellac and strain. 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 29, 2021March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips In Defense of the Amateur In Defense of the Amateur by Nicholas Von Robison Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly Volume11, #4, 1983 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1998 This is an age of specialists, and I am by nature as well as habit an amateur. This is a dangerous thing to confess because full-time luthiers are likely to turn up their noses. “What you really mean is,” they say, “a dilettante; a playboy of the art and science of lutherie.” I’m afraid they are at least partly right. When once asked if I had a claim to fame, the best I could come up with was: I think I know more about lutherie than any other horticulturalist and more about plant life than any other luthier. I could put up a solemn defense of we who choose the overall view. “Amateur” literally means lover, and an amateur of lutherie very often loves the wonderful world of musical instruments in a way that the specialist builder probably did when he or she was young but maybe has forgotten while trying to keep up with all the knowledge that has unfolded in the past ten years. The important thing is that amateurs are lovers of whatever they are amateurs of. At least that is the excuse I give myself. I think what I have wanted most out of life is to find living itself rewarding. I’m sure that I have wanted that more than I wanted wealth or fame. As Thoreau said, “I don’t want to feel when I come to die that I have never lived.” Like Thoreau, I am inclined to say that I came into this world not primarily to make it a better place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. And that is part of the amateur spirit. I haven’t always been happy. Who has? But I have usually been interested and involved. 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 29, 2021March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips Electronic Aiding of Stringed Instrument Sound Comment on Electronic Aiding of Stringed Instrument Sound by R.W. Burhans Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #10, 1975 Introduction In perspective we should view modern sound reproduction as an “Electronic Art” which requires somewhat different types of skills than the “Mechanical Art” developed by the Luthier. The same type of careful attention to detail are required in both and there is no substitute for long hours at the workbench with a lot of reading of the literature published in periodicals like: Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics, Rolling Stone, Guitar Player, Electronotes Newsletter, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, and even Scientific American. There is even a trade quarterly circulated to music shops, Musical Product News and Musical Electronics, which is a sales promotion and product announcement type with information on the myread of stuff on the current market. Still others are dB the sound studio engineers magazine, a magazine called Audio, and another DB, Down Beat. 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 29, 2021March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips The David Sturgill Story The David Sturgill Story by David Sturgill Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Newsletter Volume 2 #1, 1974 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars (?), 1998 See also, Sturgill on Wood by David Sturgill I have been making musical instruments since I was twelve years old. That makes 45 years. I still have the first instrument I made: a five-string banjo with a cat skin head. Since that first crude beginning I have made many instruments including violins, mandolins, and guitars. I have built many electric instruments, but my first love is for acoustic instruments, and today I do no build electrics. For thirty years I lived in the Washington D.C. area where I was employed by the Bell Telegram Co. I was in the General Engineering Dept., in the field of electronics and switching systems. I took a deferred pension and resigned in 1968. I wanted to have some time left to do something more rewarding and enjoyable than pushing a pencil. 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 29, 2021March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips Sturgill on Wood Sturgill on Wood by David Sturgill Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #2, #6, #9, 1974, 1975 and Guild of American Luthiers Newsletter Vol. 2 #2, 1974 See also, The David Sturgill Story by David Sturgill Wood for Instrument Making I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to have had an opportunity to become intimately acquainted with one of the greatest of the American luthiers, Herman Weaver of Baltimore, MD and Washington, D.C. Our friendship grew from the time I first met him in 1940 until his death twenty-five years later. Aside from our warm personal relationship, he took a great interest in my own work and taught me many things from his own background of fifty years experience as a luthier. Many of these things I would have been years discovering for myself or may never have learned. Herman Weaver, like most luthiers I have known, was also a philosopher, and even this was reflected in his work. He was often unorthodox in his approach to many problems which confront the would-be luthier. While he was a strong supporter of proven traditions, he did not hesitate to experiment and to discard tradition if it was not supported by his own discoveries. Early in our friendship I started asking him about woods for musical instruments, especially violins. He answered my questions as I asked them, but one day he summed it all up in one paragraph when he said, “wood is something you can learn about, but it is almost impossible to teach anyone else except in generalities. The luthier must have an instinct about woods, he must be able to hold it in his hands and hear in his mind the tones it will produce in an instrument. He must sense the texture and the grain and the character of a piece of wood and I do not know how to teach anyone these things.” 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.
