Flattop Guitars 2 Flattop Guitars 2: An American Lutherie Anthology$20.00 – $25.00 Flattop Guitars 2, the fourth book in our American Lutherie Anthology series. It’s a full-color, soft cover, 100-page book with articles selected from the 1983-2014 issues of American Lutherie on the topic of flattop guitars. Unlike most of the original issues of AL, this book is printed in full color. Choose Membership Status Choose an optionMemberNon-memberClear Flattop Guitars 2: An American Lutherie Anthology quantity Add to cart SKU: N/A Category: Books Additional information Additional information Choose Membership Status Member, Non-member Related products Lutherie Tools $28.00 – $33.00 Select options The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2000-2002 $50.00 – $55.00 Select options Classical Guitars: An American Lutherie Anthology $20.00 – $25.00 Select options GAL Instrument Plan #6: 20’s Gibson L-O Guitar by Ted Davis This plan is coming up on forty years old and is still a popular item. Get the full-scale drawing on the GAL website. Steiny and the Everly Guitar by Tim Olsen This story from 1987 is the tale of one luthier’s connection to famous musicians, the Everly Brothers. Have you ever made a guitar with solid gold frets and binding? Robert Steinegger has. GAL Instrument Plan #8: 1918 Martin 1-18, #13336 by Ted Davis Here’s your chance to get a thorough preview of our full-scale drawing before you order it. Martin’s size 1 is a very small flattop guitar, less than 13 inches at the lower bout. A Talk with Bob Taylor by Phillip Lea Few people in Guitarland are as outspoken and clear-headed as Bob Taylor. Here’s a fascinating look at what the industry-leading innovator was doing thirty years ago, as CNC gear was just starting to be a possibility. Travels in French Lutherie by Paul Hostetter Nowadays, Gypsy jazz played on Selmer-style guitars is a solid and enduring category. But in the early 1990s it was just finding its legs. Musician, scholar, and luthier Paul Hostetter hit the road to hunt down the facts about Mario Maccaferri’s distinctive design work and his difficult relationship with the Selmer Company. A Selmer Primer by François Charle and Paul Hostetter François Charle is a French expert on French guitars, and by now he has literally written the book on the subject. Here he gives us the basic facts we need in order to join the conversation. Meet the Maker: Maurice Dupont by Paul Hostetter Meet a French guitar maker whose specialty is the recreation of Selmer guitars, starting with spruce logs. Thoughts on Steel String Guitar Making by Jean Larrivée A lot has happened in the thirty years since this talk was first published. But a lot had already happened, too. At the time, Larrivée had overseen the creation of 15,000 acoustic guitars and 12,000 electrics. Much of what he has to say pertains as strongly to the one-off builder as it would to another industry giant, and he doesn’t hold back on anything. Meet the Maker: Chris Jenkins by Steve Kinnaird Texas luthier Jenkins has become an inspiration to those who have seen his work, and he drew his own inspiration and instruction from Charles Fox, Harry Fleishman, Ervin Somogyi, and Fred Carlson. He’s a classic example of what can be accomplished by seeking out talented teachers rather than fiddling one’s own way up the learning curve. Meet the Maker: Scott Baxendale by Steve Wiencrot Baxendale has lived a hyperactive life as a repairman and builder in several parts of America. In the early days he worked a stint for pioneer flattop maker Stuart Mossman and then became the owner of the Mossman company. He was a repairman for the Hard Rock Cafe chain and Gruhn Guitars before opening his own shops in Denver. Few luthiers live as hard or cover as much territory. Meet the Maker: Michael Dunn by Jonathon Peterson Canadian Michael Dunn studied guitar making in Spain but ended up specializing in quintessentially French Maccaferri-style guitars with the internal soundbox and everything. His choices of inlay, marquetry, and body woods is original, playful, and stunning. He is also a lutherie teacher of note. Building for Playability by David Freeman Here are some things you’ll want to know if you are trying to make comfortable, inviting, and musically empowering instruments rather than just guitar-shaped objects. In this article taken from his 2008 GAL Convention workshop, Freeman is not the least bit shy about reconfiguring the guitar’s shape or features to make musicians better and happier. Finding Your Voice by Dana Bourgeois Bourgeois gave a workshop at our 2008 GAL Convention in which he demonstrated the process of voicing a braced soundboard for a steel string guitar. Here he steps us through the process and discusses what he intends with all the tiny adjustments. pg 59, "I want to get nice clear musical responses holding and tapping in a number of different locations. (tapping) Can you hear those different pitches? There’s a sort of musical sound."pg 60, "Audience: Could you demonstrate once more, but hold the top so that we can see the braces, and tap on the brace side?"pg 61, (Again tapping, but this time in his accustomed way.) That’s the same brace, but the response is different (Photo 5).pg 61, "I’ll do a little tapping again on a top that’s been voiced."pg 61, "Now I’m going to tap one of these other tops using the same holding locations so you get a sense of where the differences are."pg 62, "I’ve whacked off enough wood that this should have changed."pg 63, "I’ve trimmed the ends, and I’ve made the braces more triangular, and I’m getting a little more flexibility side-to-side. (tapping) Listen to the difference. There’s a chord there."pg 63, "This has still got a ways to go, but it’s not as bright as it was before. We’re getting into the flexibility range that’s kind of nice for this guitar. Let me just make a comparison with the top that is 80% finished."pg 64, "The tones are coming down a little. That’s all on the same brace. Holding and tapping in the same places, where I was getting muffled response before, I’m actually getting some tone now."pg 64, "OK, I’ve got good flex here. (tapping) The antinodes are moving around a little bit, but we are getting a clear low. Hear how long that lasts? That’s the lowest one so far. And these other tones are sounding full and musical."pg 64, "OK, I’m getting some good flexibility, so let’s see what we sound like. (tapping) I’m trying to find nodes where I can hold it, and I will mark them so that you can try it. (tapping) There’s one. That’s nice. (tapping) That’s a nice one. (tapping) There’s my “bong” sound. There’s three good holding points."pg 64, "Number 1 is the one that I did back in the shop; Number 2 is the one that I’ve done right now; and Number 3 is the unfinished one just for reference. Let me tap Number 3 again to give you a sense of where we’ve come from. (tapping) There are some musical tones there, but there are also some that are kind of clunky, and it’s way too stiff. And here is Number 2 (tapping). Number 1 and Number 2 are 80%. I think Number 2 is a little farther along than Number 1 now because it’s closer to the flexibility that I’m interested in." How I build Forty Eight Guitars a Year With Almost No Tooling by John Greven John Greven is famous for making a lot of guitars of different shapes and sizes, in his basement, all by himself, with a very limited set of tools. Here we get the step-by-step rundown, based on his lecture to the 2011 GAL Convention. We believe this is the most popular article we have ever printed. The two issues in which it appears, AL#117 and #118, sold out years ago. John Greven: Bracemaker Fretboard Shaper Slotting Fretboard Shaping a Bridge Spraying Body Spraying Neck
