Posted on April 21, 2023May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips Travel Lute Travel Lute by Ben Cohen Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010 I am an amateur luthier and a lutenist. I recently attended a reunion of sorts with a number of singers from my old early music ensemble at Oberlin College, and I regretted not having a lute handy to be able to accompany some friends on lute songs. I travel with a mandolin because it fits in the airplane overhead bin and allows me to play Bach suites and choros while my flight is delayed. Lutes aren’t good for air travel. The funny shape makes them hard to fit in the overhead bin. While there are some small 6-course instruments that might squeeze into an overhead bin, most lutenists would prefer to travel with an 8-course instrument to cover as much repertoire as possible. Lutes are also delicate and expensive. Flying with a lute usually requires some kind of super-protective flight case, awkward and expensive. Guitars do not make decent lute substitutes. The guitar has only six strings, and they are not spaced at all like a lute. The world needs a good travel lute. A banjo approach struck me as the way to go, since the lute has such a thin top that it sounds more like a banjo than any other wooden plucked string instrument. I used a Remo 12" pretuned hand drum that I had on hand. 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, 2023March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Musty Instrument Odors Questions: Musty Instrument Odors by Ed Pastor Originally published in American Lutherie #66, 2001 Kelly Johnston from Cleveland, OH asks: Is there a safe way to get a musty smell out of an old and valuable guitar? Ed Pastor of Hemphill, TX answers: Make a sachet of cedar shavings (Western red or Tennessee cedar should work) in a piece of panty hose or fine gauze, place inside of soundhole if one is present; if f-holes are present, squeeze the sachet into one of the holes and suspend for several days to a week. If there is a case with the instrument, place it in direct sunlight outdoors for at least four hours and then place a small sachet of cedar shavings in the case. ◆
Posted on April 21, 2023May 29, 2025 by Dale Phillips Constructing an Under-Saddle Transducer Constructing an Under-Saddle Transducer by R.M. Mottola Originally published in American Lutherie #68, 2001 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Piezoelectric transducers or pickups (I use the terms interchangeably) are popularly used to “electrify” acoustic instruments, and are increasingly found embedded in the bridge saddles of electric instruments as well. Manufactured transducers are available from a number of sources, but this article provides instructions for making an undersaddle piezo pickup for a flattop guitar from basic materials. If you know which end of a soldering iron to grab hold of, you can build this pickup. Piezo material will generate an electrical charge when mechanically deformed. There are four types of piezo materials used in the manufacture of instrument transducers: lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic chips, PZT ceramic “bender” disks, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) plastic film, and PVDF coaxial cable. PZT chips find their way into first-generation undersaddle guitar transducers, transducers for various bowed instruments, and manufactured archtop guitar and mandolin bridges. PZT disks consist of PZT material bonded to thin brass disks, and are commonly used for soundboard pickups for flattop guitars and for bridge-mounted pickups for upright basses. PVDF film may be found in all sorts of transducers from undersaddle guitar transducers to under-bridge-foot transducers for bass viols. PVDF coax cable is manufactured just like the single-conductor shielded cable used to make instrument cables, except that instead of an insulating material between the center conductor and the outer shielding braid, we find PVDF material. It is used in manufactured undersaddle pickups for acoustic guitars and is the material that will be used to construct a transducer in this article. 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 Letter: Hurdy-Gurdy Letter: Hurdy-Gurdy by Wilfried Ulrich Originally published in American Lutherie #68, 2001 Dear Guild, Imagine a special magazine where famous and other pretty good hurdy-gurdy builders inform others to build better hurdy-gurdies. What would you think about a guy who got a parcel with a lot of scrap that makes you laugh when looking at the parts, but which are supposed to have the potential to become a guitar? But what the heck is a guitar? When he finished that monster, it had a beautiful big soundhole where you can hide your socks and underwear when traveling, and he showed it to his wife. “Look baby, that’s what they call a guitar! It makes noise when you scratch over the strings!” “Hah! Good one! What an awful long neck — you can wave that thing like a tennis racket. Why that strange corpus-form like an ‘8’? It cost eight bucks, eh?” Imagine! 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 Letter: Vacuum Clamp Letter: Vacuum Clamp by David Haxton Originally published in American Lutherie #67, 2001 GAL: I share Jon Calkin’s enthusiasm for the dished workboard (see AL#65). I know it’s made my guitars better. But he could trade all his clamps and dedicated workstations for a much simpler and, I would say better, solution: the use of a vacuum pump. You get absolutely even clamping pressure across the entire face of the plate and no dents from over-tightened clamps. In fact, I preshape and sand all my braces before gluing, lessening the need for chisel work after glue-up, and the whole procedure is quicker. I’ve also used my vacuum pump to make radiused sanding blocks for fretwork and laminated linings, and they make great hold-downs. My pump came from a mail-order surplus supply company for about $80.
