Posted on April 16, 2026April 16, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Bound Fretboard It Worked for Me: Bound Fretboard by Greg Nelson Originally published in American Lutherie #114, 2013 Removing the last little bits of the tang when preparing a fret for a bound fretboard is not all that difficult to do by hand with a fine file, but here is a small jig that powers the operation and removes some of the drudgery. The pictures should prove self-explanatory. I use a Foredom tool, but the idea of the jig can easily be adapted to almost any rotary tool. Almost any bit capable of grinding the fret material will do. My jig is set up to use a diamond wheel. I must stress that this is simply for cleaning up what is left after clipping the bulk of the tang off. Even at that, and at low speed, the tang can get hot quickly. ◆ Both photos by Greg Nelson.
Posted on April 14, 2026April 14, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Purfled Bindings It Worked for Me: Purfled Bindings by John Calkin Originally published in Ameican Lutherie #106, 2011 Some of these tips I discovered long ago, but I don’t think I ever wrote them down. Some are recent developments. They may seem obvious once you know them, but each one made a noticeable difference in the quality of my work. Huss & Dalton buys almost all its wooden binding stock from Michael Gurian. It comes prepurfled. The price is pretty good, but you have to buy a whole lay-up, which may entail as many as 100 pieces. As you might expect, Gurian makes up planks of binding stock and then saws out the individual strips. The black in a black/maple/black purfling is fiber. I assume that when the plank of binding/purfling is sawn into strips the purfling is down, and the saw blade leaves a bit of fiber burr on each corner that stands proud of the strip. If allowed to remain, the installed binding strip will sit on the burr, and if enough binding/purfling is scraped away when it is dressed to the sides, the burr is eliminated and a gap remains between the bottom black line of purfling and the rib. Finish won’t flow in there, so the gap has to be filled manually beforehand. It’s much easier to sand away the burr before binding proceeds. After the bent binding is rough-fitted to the guitar, I sand the bottom edge of the binding with an 80-grit sanding stick. The black fiber will turn to gray when sanded, and that color change is enough to tell you the job has been completed. Any more sanding will change the thickness of the bottom line, which is also to be avoided. 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 March 19, 2026March 19, 2026 by Dale Phillips Taming the Wild Wood Binding Taming the Wild Wood Binding by Tom Harper Originally published in American Lutherie #114, 2013 Like many folks, I built my first guitar following the book Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology by William Cumpiano and Jonathan Natelson. Every task had me holding my breath and hoping for a good outcome. It pretty much worked; by the time I finished the book, I was the proud owner of what could be the world’s ugliest guitar, but it was still a guitar. The book’s introduction to the binding and purfling process states, “Purflings should be restricted to veneer lines around the soundboard, back, and back stripe.” I followed the dictum, completing my first guitar blissfully unaware of the pitfalls awaiting me when I would attempt to add side purfling. I didn’t have long to wait. Guitar #2 was my first attempt to incorporate side purflings. I wish I could jump in the Wayback machine and review the disaster that unfolded. It never crossed my mind to try to bend them to shape before attempting to glue them in with the binding. What a mess. There were also gaps between the plates and the bindings that had to be filled. Gaps continued to be a problem for a number of my beginning instruments. 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 February 20, 2026February 20, 2026 by Dale Phillips Torres Guitar Restoration Torres Guitar Restoration by R.E. Bruné Originally published in American Lutherie #33, 1993 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume Three, 2004 In March of 1986 I received in my workshop an 11-string guitar by Antonio Torres made in Almeria in 1884, and numbered #71. This instrument being perhaps unique in the world today for Torres’ work, it was imperative that it be adequately documented and ideally, restored as close as possible to original playing condition. The owner was quite anxious to pursue this course also, with the ultimate goal of selling it on the open market. Surviving guitars by Torres are quite rare, being limited to fewer than seventy known instruments, and this example is perhaps the only 11-string example remaining, although Prat alludes to two others in his Diccionario under the listing for Torres. It is not clear whether he is referring to the same instrument owned by several different people or different instruments owned by different people. Although Torres numbered his instruments made from 1880 until he died in 1892, apparently there is no surviving record of the details of each instrument nor who the original owners were. (Editor’s Note: After this article was written, José Romanillos published his excellent book, Antonio de Torres, Guitar Maker — His Life and Work. In it he presents photos, drawings, and descriptions of another surviving Torres 11-string, #83. Author Bruné urges all to acquire and study this book.) 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 15, 2025July 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips An American in Mirecourt An American in Mirecourt Violin Construction as Learned by an Apprentice to René Morizot by Paul Schuback from his 1995 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #63, 2000 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 See also, An American in Mirecourt, Part Two by Paul Schuback When I started out, my idea was to make lutes. I haven’t made one yet, and the more time goes by, the less likely it is that I ever will, but that was my intention — to go to France and study lute making. I found out that lute building was not easy to learn, and violin making was more lucrative, so I decided to become a violin maker. I studied with René Morizot from 1962 to 1965. Between 1900 and the 1960s, to graduate from a violin apprenticeship program like I went through, you had to be able to make a violin in the white (en blanc), including the scroll, in a week. You started Tuesday morning, and by Saturday night, working eight hours a day, you had to have it done. That may seem fast, but it’s really not. Friends of mine, older guys, would actually make two violins a week, not including cutting the scrolls. They’d have a scroll maker cut the scrolls and necks, then they’d set them into their instruments. Cottage-industry people who worked at home could make up to six violins a week, in the white, ready to be varnished. It was piece work, and they were paid by the numbers that they made. If they made the six by Saturday, they’d get their quota. If they made more, they’d get bonuses. They were cheap instruments, but they worked. 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.
