Posted on July 7, 2024May 6, 2025 by Dale Phillips Heat Pressing Necks Heat Pressing Necks by Tim Olsen Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #86, 1978 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1998 Heat pressing a neck to improve the playing action is a rather simple process both in theory and practice. Basically, the procedure involves heating the neck to soften the wood resins and the fretboard-to-neck glue joint. Then the neck is held in the desired position until it is thoroughly cooled and the glue and resins are hardened again. I will assume that you know what neck shape you’re shooting for, although this is a subject of much subtlety and debate. The heat pressing setup that I used for several years consisted of one 250W Sears infrared bulb (red), a porcelain socket on a clip base, two C-clamps, several 1/4" leather pads, and the edge of my bench. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 7, 2024May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips Novice Notes Novice Notes by Donald Curry Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, 5, #3, 1977 Editor’s Note: This column marks the last of the regular “Novice Notes” series which has run in the GALQ for a full year now. Mr. Curry assures us that he will continue to follow the Guild’s activities with interest, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him most warmly for the excellent and reliable manner in which he has presented this informative series. This final step in the making of an instrument is the finish, which includes preparation of the wood, applying the finishing material, and the final polishing. This subject probably has more diversity than any other in lutherie. Every luthier and every book on the subject differ as to how to produce a proper finish. Many different methods have proved equally successful and for this reason I will not go through a specific procedure but comment on some important aspects often overlooked. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 7, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Smokies Dulcimer Convention Smokies Dulcimer Convention by Vicki Runnion Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, 5, #3, 1977 My good friends at the Folk Life Center of the Smokies, in Cosby, Tennessee, got together with some folks (now new friends from the Guild of American Luthiers and the publishers of Dulcimer Players News, and co-sponsored what I hope was the first of many annual dulcimer conventions there. The beautiful wooded Folk Life Center land n Cosby was the site for a weekend (June 10-12) full of music and other delights. Players, builders and lovers of both the plucked mountain dulcimer and the hammered dulcimer came from near and far (Florida, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, etc.) to celebrate the dulcimer. Performer Bonnie Carol won the understanding laughter of the audience late Saturday evening, with a song (composed by friends of hers) that poked gentle fun at people who still manage to hold on to the view of the dulcimer as merely an uncomplicated traditional instrument capable of only the simplest style of playing. Had any of these people been with us this weekend, I’m sure they myth would have been exploded. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 7, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Waterborne Solutions Waterborne Solutions by Mike Doolin and John Greven from their 2001 GAL Convention demonstration Originally published in American Lutherie #73, 2003 Doolin: Waterborne finishes and methods of working with them are constantly evolving. New products come out every year and old formulas are continually being updated. This workshop is like a snapshot of what John and I were doing at the time, and our techniques have continued to evolve. We trade techniques back and forth and share our results with new products as they become available. We never seem to be using exactly the same products or techniques; this just goes to show that there is no perfect finish product or technique yet. However, John and I agree that the products which have become available in the last few years are finally up to the task of producing a finish worthy of a fine handmade guitar. Before we get into the nitty-gritty, I want to talk about what waterborne finish is. First, think of lacquer and shellac. Both lacquer and shellac are resins dissolved in solvent. Spray it on, the solvents evaporate out, and that’s it. There’s no structural cross-linking reaction going on. Anytime after the finish is dry, you can use lacquer thinner to wipe the lacquer off the guitar. The same is true for pure shellac, which is always soluble in alcohol. That’s useful for a finish which will be rubbed out, particularly if you’re going to be touching up at a later time. You can melt that coat in. Otherwise, if the subsequent coat has to stick by a mechanical bond, you get a witness line if you sand through the top coat. One of the advantages of the new waterborne finishes is that they seem to do that — to burn into their previous coats. That’s one of the things we’re looking for. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 7, 2024May 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Fret Spacing Without a Calculator Fret Spacing Without a Calculator by Scott Antes Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #11, 1975 In Calculating Fret Scales, Data Sheet #4, we discussed fret scale calculation with the use of an electronic calculator. This data sheet is for use by those who either have no access to such a calculator, are too proud to use one, or who are interested in making only a partial fret scale; for instance, that of a dulcimer. And a short addendum to DS #4, please note that in any fret scale, the point known as ‘bridge’ is a hypothetical point at which the actual bridge would be located if the string height and fret height were both zero, or if a number of other impossible conditions were to exist. The hypothetical bridge point exists for calculation purposes only. To find the actual bridge point, the amount of compensation deemed necessary is added to the hypothetical string length from which the fret scale was calculated. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
