Posted on January 19, 2010September 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: Shoptalk 6 Review: Shoptalk 6 Reviewed by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #73, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Shoptalk 6 Stewart-MacDonald Video, 90 minutes, 2002 www.stewmac.com I look forward to each new edition of the Shoptalk videos. They show off the new Stew-Mac tools in the best soft-sell manner by simply demonstrating how they work in a real guitar shop; and on top of that there is always plenty of good randomly gathered information that has nothing to do with selling stuff. The camera work has become excellent, Stew-Mac has developed a fine team of on-camera luthiers, and the cost of the videos is always too low to pass up. You couldn’t beat that combination with a stick. Dan Erlewine leads off with an exhibition of nifty new tools. The BridgeSaver is a set of small hand tools used to repair worn bridge plates and to restore the bridge-pin area of guitar tops. Removing a shot bridge plate has become a last-ditch effort that is frowned upon by vintage folks who wish to maintain instrument originality as much as possible, and by luthiers because it is time consuming and sometimes dangerous to the guitar top. The BridgeSaver removes wood around wallowed-out or misplaced bridge-plate material and/or top material and cuts a mating disk of new wood (not included) to precisely mate with the newly formed hole. The exact procedure is better seen than described. The catalog pictures are good enough to give you the idea, but the video ought to light you up if you’ve done any old-style bridge-plate work in the past. 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 5, 2010May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: Guitar Voicing Class with Ervin Somogyi Review: Guitar Voicing Class with Ervin Somogyi Reviewed by Joe Herrick Originally published in American Lutherie #95, 2008 I’m a hobby builder making two or three guitars a year. I learned to make guitars six years ago by taking a two-week, one-on-one course with an experienced luthier. I went on to make seven more guitars exactly the way I was taught, just following the numbers for top thickness, brace height, brace profile, and so on. I didn’t want to make changes, only to have the guitars not be as good as I knew they would be if I just followed the “recipe.” They sounded good, but I was missing out on how much better they could be. I learned the mechanics of how to build a guitar from my first teacher. Ervin Somogyi’s class taught me the why and encouraged me to grow. Ervin gives you a starting point, and then the knowledge and the challenge to move beyond that starting point with your soundboards. Ervin is a fun, patient, and exceptional teacher, passionate about guitars and life. He enjoys being challenged and everything is fair game for further discussion. He does not come across as a know-it-all with canned responses for each question. He would often ask what we thought and then built on that with his own knowledge and experience. And he was not above saying, “I don’t know.” The class has a 4" binder of handouts. Ervin follows a syllabus that builds methodically from the ground up, but we tweaked the syllabus as we went along to delve into areas that we, as a class, wanted to pursue. 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.
