Posted on January 9, 2020May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips In Praise of the Plywood Bass In Praise of the Plywood Bass by Frederick C. Lyman, Jr. Originally published in American Lutherie #4, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 see also, Building a Plywood Bass by Richard Ennis It has been said that in order to produce fine wines, one must have had generations of alcoholics in one’s family. Only then can one approach the problem with the necessary patience, devotion, and understanding that will result in superior, classic vintages. Mere cleverness or mere industry will not suffice; one has to be locked into the project by the merciless and irreversible forces of destiny. Similarly, those who are involved in the production of bass sounds seem to require a kind of demonic motivation. They must be attuned, in a special way, to the pulsations of the subaudible register, the tone-feelings that seem to arise from the nether regions. From this unholy obsession with the depths of auditory sensibility comes a fundamental understanding which will forever elude the fiddlers and flautists. What we mean is that bassists have a deep need to make those sounds, and they will find a way to do it. It’s not a question of what is practical or expedient or wise: Bassists are driven. They have a pathological fascination with deep sounds; they are not well without them. 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 January 19, 2010September 10, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Upright Bass Questions: Upright Bass by James Condino and Randy DeBey Originally published in American Lutherie #80, 2004 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2013 Dan Poehnelt of Marshfield, WI asks: I have a client who would like me to make him an upright bass. Do you have any idea where I can get some specs or instructions to make one of these? Rhett Runolfson of Springville, UT asks: I mostly work with guitars but the local music store said that if I helped them with setups on their orchestral instruments, which are shipped in from the Orient, I could probably get some of their guitar work too. Well... I’m getting my butt kicked on this bass. I have to remove the fingerboard and shave the neck down to get the proper angle. How do I get the fingerboard off? Heat and a seam knife don’t seem to be doing the job. And what is the proper angle for the neck for a contra bass? Is there a book that I could pick up on orchestral instruments that could tell me these things or would someone know a secret on this Oriental glue that is impervious to heat? 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. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on January 16, 2010June 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips In Memoriam: Jim Mouradian In Memoriam: Jim Mouradian April 2, 1950 – January 24, 2017 by R.M. Mottola Originally published in American Lutherie #130, 2017 Boston area luthier and repairman Jim Mouradian died on January 14, 2017, at the age of sixty-six. With his son Jon, Jim ran the largest guitar repair shop in the New England area. He was also an electric bass player and played for a long time in the R&B band, Ronnie Earle and the Broadcasters. Jim was a masterful repairman who brought the same level of precision and care whether working on the instruments of famous professionals or beginning guitarists. He was probably the most happy and content guy I have ever met. He expressed gratitude daily that he got to do work that he loved for a living, and that he got to work beside his son. His list of clients and list of dear friends were one and the same. He was generous to a fault, particularly with his time. I met him before I had any connection with lutherie. I had brought him a cheap electric bass in need of a part. We talked for a long time — about the bass, people we knew in common, and about hot rods (Jim was an avid fan of muscle cars from the 1960s). Then he rummaged around in a parts box, pulled out the part needed to fix my bass, handed it to me, made sure I understood that he was confident that I could do the repair myself, and sent me on my way, no charge. His death brought forward dozens of similar stories of his generosity. His rates were more than reasonable and he regularly lowered them substantially for folks with limited ability to pay. Photo courtesy of Jon Mouradian In addition to repair work, Jim built a couple of different lines of solidbody electric basses. He got into lutherie in what he has described as “backwards.” His very first lutherie project was a custom electric bass for Chris Squire of the band Yes. This instrument is played in the band’s Owner of a Lonely Heart video. I personally owe Jim a great debt of gratitude for having gotten me started in lutherie. From his initial suggestion that I build an instrument, through his continued advice and guidance and encouragement, he gave me a focus and a purpose at a time of great need in my life. I miss him terribly.
Posted on January 16, 2010June 6, 2025 by Dale Phillips In Memoriam: Frederick C. Lyman In Memoriam: Frederick C. Lyman March 7, 1925 – July 20, 2011 by Ken McKay and Tim Olsen Originally published in American Lutherie #113, 2013 Fred Lyman wrote a column in the Journal of the American Society of Double Bassists for several years. I was given twenty or so back issues way back in 1988 by my bass teacher Paul Warburton. I wanted to make my own double bass, and I devoured every article. I finally got up the nerve to write to Fred. I hoped he would maybe give me a few pointers, but he started an extensive series of handwritten letters. He was a practical man, more interested in the outcome than any one process, and he always encouraged my ideas, no matter how off-base. He would write things like, “That is as good a theory as any, but make sure to keep enough wood in the top so it doesn’t sink, years down the road.” I loved those articles and letters. They were nearly the only thing available at the time, and they turned out to be timeless. I found out later that he was even more generous with his time and knowledge than I had imagined. We met only one time in 1993 when my wife, my year-old son, and I drove from upstate New York down to New Jersey to meet up and get some wood. I traded him an old church bass that I had restored which really had no value at the time for as much wood as I could carry in my station wagon. He even asked if I had ebony for the fingerboard. He just wanted to help me get started and have success. We stayed all day while he showed me his shop and jigs, and taught me what he could with the limited amount of time. We corresponded throughout the years that I made my first instruments. I really feel that a little bit if him lives in every instrument I have made since. Rest in Peace, Fred Lyman. — Ken McKay Fred Lyman at the 1980 GAL Convention in San Francisco, where he lectured on bass viol design. Photo by Dale Korsmo. Fred Lyman was a constant and gentle presence in the GAL from the mid-1970s through the 1990s. He was a generation older than most of us Lutherie Boomers, being already an accomplished self-taught bass builder in his 50s when we met him. I learned from his obituary that he earned a Purple Heart in WWII, graduated with honors from Yale, and became an art painter. So he was too old to have been a hippie, but perhaps he had a beatnik phase; I don’t know. Sometime in the 1990s he sent me a long dreamy CD of free jazz by his band The Squealers, a quintet that included two bass viols. Right from the start it was a constant stream of quiet generosity as he wrote letters and articles for our publications and attended GAL Conventions, sometimes as a presenter. Back in the ancient times when we offered paid lifetime memberships, he was one of the first to sign up. I never visited his shop, but I came to imagine it as a sort of Wonka Chocolate Factory of a place, based on the evidence supplied by the stream of artifacts that flowed from it to the GAL Benefit Auctions, starting at our first auction in 1984. Boxes began to arrive from Port Murray, New Jersey — lots of boxes. I thought we must have cleaned him out. But the Oompah-Loompahs must have been busy, because that proved to be only the beginning. Several more Benefit Auctions benefited from Fred’s generosity, the last being a record-setting trove of lutherie treasure at the 2008 Convention, when Fred was already in his 80s. Fred and his wife Charsie were true friends of the Guild in tough times, and the GAL staff remembers this with deep fondness and gratitude. Fred will surely be missed. — Tim Olsen
Posted on January 14, 2010May 28, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: The Setup and Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound by Chuck Traeger Review: The Setup and Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound by Chuck Traeger Reviewed by James Condino Originally published in American Lutherie #84, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Five, 2008 The Setup and Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound Chuck Traeger with David Brownell and William Merchant Henry Strobel ISBN 1-892210-06-1 www.henrystrobel.com Every once in a while a book comes along in a particular field that sets a new standard for future titles to strive for. Chuck Traeger’s The Setup and Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound is one of those gems. As a regular gigging double-bass player and luthier, I have been waiting for this text since I first picked up the instrument. Failed neck joints, broken scrolls, huge moisture cracks, and the general wear and tear of dragging around a very fragile refrigerator-sized item are part of daily life for the bass player and repairman. Chuck Traeger, who is referred to as “the Mercedes-Benz of (bass) repairmen” by his longtime friend and customer Ron Carter, didn’t come upon this overnight. He made his first professional jazz recordings in 1945 and played the double bass for over twenty years prior to becoming a repairman who specializes in the bass. His customer base and writing cover both the jazz and classical sides of the instrument. Chuck is a trained civil engineer from Columbia University. As such, his approach is that “there is a reason for everything. I want people to think in a different way about... the instrument, its repair, and setup.” To him it is a specialized art. 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.
