Posted on July 6, 2020March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips White, Yellow, and Hide Glues White, Yellow, and Hide Glues by Lawrence D. Brown Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #174, 1981 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 This article originally appeared in the FoMRHI Quarterly No. 18, and appears here (revised and expanded) with the kind permission of that organization. Ultimately, the quality of a musical instrument depends not only on the sweetness of its tone but also on its continued service and durability in a variety of climates. Deterioration of an instrument may occur from internal or external forces. External forces are those that come from hard use or from string tension. Internal forces are the result of the natural tendency of all woods to shrink, warp, and shift position in response to changes in moisture content. Poorly shaped parts that have been forced together by clamping pressure are also capable of generating internal forces by the steady pull on the joint caused by the misalignment. The structural integrity of the instrument, its ability to stay together and retain an attractive appearance over a number of years, depends on four things: the choice of carefully sawn woods with a uniform, low moisture content; the type and design of the joints used; the experience and expertise of the builder; and the adhesive used in construction. The concern here is glue, although some discussion of closely related factors such as joint design and humidity is unavoidable. 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 July 6, 2020February 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Summer/Spring Wood Questions: Summer/Spring Wood by Byron Will Originally published in American Lutherie #33, 1993 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 Anonymous asks: I’ve heard people talk about “strong” winter grain in spruce and cedar and others talk about summer growth and spring growth, or summer wood and spring wood. Which is which? Does it depend on where you are? Also there seem to be different ideas about what is desirable. It seems as if violin makers want strong, dark lines and guitar makers don’t care so much. 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 June 22, 2020March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips Brazilian Guitar Makers Brazilian Guitarmakers by Roberto Gomes Originally published in American Lutherie #33, 1993 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 The guitar has been the main musical instrument in Brazil since it was brought by the Portuguese colonizers centuries ago. In those times, Baroque guitars were the most common string instruments. They had five courses of gut or wire strings. Since then it hasn’t changed much, as we can see in the “Brazilian viola” which is used for a kind of Brazilian country music called musica sertaneja (countryside music). The shape of the soundbox of this viola today resembles more a small classic guitar. Unfortunately there are very few records of those times, making it difficult to make a better study of those guitars and their makers. It’s known that most of the instruments were made in Portugal, Italy, and France. The first decade of this century brought three immigrant families from Italy: the Gianninis, the DiGiorgios, and the DelVecchios. These families were luthiers in their country of origin and later they founded the main Brazilian guitar factories which became the backbone of Brazilian-made guitars for nearly eighty years. They made mostly classic guitars and some violins, along with Brazilian violas. They also made mandolins, first with vaulted backs like lutes and later with flat backs, which are used to play choro music. 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 June 17, 2020May 2, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Donald Warnock Meet the Maker: Donald Warnock by Cyndy Burton Originally published in American Lutherie #26, 1991 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 Are you working entirely by yourself now? Yes. I have had many people in my shop over the years, one fellow for three years. My main teaching efforts consisted of my sojourn at Boston University where I taught the general concepts required to design and make plucked and bowed instruments for early music performance. That was two days a week for upwards of ten years. (See p. 16 for a description of that program.) What kinds of projects are you working on right now? To a large extent my workaday occupation is in filling orders that were placed a year and a half to two years ago. I try to finish instruments in almost the exact same order in which they are accepted. At the moment I am working on two undersized 7-string French bass viols I’ve designed to meet the size and proportion requirements of two customers. They are specifically for French music for two bass viols, but will also be used in conjunction with other instruments. These are a matched pair, and are intended for use in halls of restricted size. The fact that they are small is more for the convenience of the players. Ordinarily the French viol was a little larger than the later English concert bass, although it seems probable that the French Baroque players preferred English instruments renecked to suit their basically lute-style technique. Such instruments set the standard for tonal characteristics. And it’s interesting that the French, in the case of viols, repeated what they’d done with the harpsichord, namely took the Flemish harpsichords and adapted them to their own musical usage. I have another standard bass I’m working on that will be patterned on the Smithsonian Barak Norman. And I have four tenor viols: two will have back, sides, and neck of maple and two will be figured pear. I just finished a treble and a tenor shortly before I left for this convention and also received an order for a treble. 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 June 17, 2020March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips Hellfire! or How Not To Build A Banjo Hellfire! or How Not To Build A Banjo by Harold Turner Originally published in American Lutherie #32, 1992 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 My grandfather came down from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in the year of 1907. He was a jack-of-all-trades like most of the original settlers in the area, but living was hard so he pursued a career in a textile plant south of the border in South Carolina, where he became locally famous for building fine furniture and musical instruments, especially violins. He died in 1927 from influenza. My father was only one year old when his father passed away, and this specter of a wonderful man always hung over him. Dad was a great carpenter and cabinet maker, and became a well-known woodcarver, but those musical instruments just wouldn’t go together right for him. 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.
