Posted on August 7, 2026August 7, 2026 by Dale Phillips “Restomodding” Wall-Hanger Guitars “Restomodding” Wall-Hanger Guitars by Roger Häggström Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 Cheap guitars were made in great numbers all over the world at the beginning of the last century. In Sweden, the driving force behind a burgeoning interest in guitars was the independent church movement. The prevailing sentiment was that every able-bodied parishioner should be able to play three chords on a guitar at prayer meetings and fundraisers (Photo 1). Many of these instruments still exist, mostly in unplayable condition. I have found ways to restore these wonderful old guitars and make them play and sound better than ever. I love the bass-balanced sound of old-style ladder bracing in a small steel-strung parlor guitar. The complex sounds keep me wanting to play another chord. Modern X bracing gives more bass but also less varied tone, in my opinion. 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 June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 by Dale Phillips Bridge Shaping and Routing Jig Bridge Shaping and Routing Jig by Paul Woolson Originally published in American Lutherie #79, 2004 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Ah, the bridge. From my research, this extremely important, yet often overlooked, element of the guitar has had little written about it. Many builders I’ve talked to are so daunted by the task of making bridges that they simply buy them premade and stick them on. To me, this is an injustice to the overall design of the guitar, often making the bridge look like an afterthought. You might notice that I use a very nontraditional bridge shape (Photo 1). I’ve chosen a design that complements many different elements of the guitars I build. From headstock, to fingerboard extension, to bridge, I try to incorporate the same design elements. I prefer to make all of my bridges from ebony. However, the following information can be used for almost any shape or wood choice, including standard winged bridges. The scallops of the winged bridge would have to be created in another step which could be easily done on a table saw, or by some other method. 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 June 12, 2026June 12, 2026 by Dale Phillips Let’s Catch Up With Graham Caldersmith Let's Catch Up With Graham Caldersmith by Juan Oscar Azaret Originally published in American Lutherie #132, 2017 Hop on a plane in Boston. Fly twenty-seven hours to Sydney, then connect on a prop plane to Port Macquarie on the coast of New South Wales. Rent a car (no, the steering wheel is not on that side, dummy), and drive 60KM southwest. (Stay to the left, the left, the LEFT!) Oops, here comes a traffic circle — drive around clockwise, cars on your right have the right of way, remember to exit left, and stay left. Why is that left wheel always grabbing the shoulder... where the heck is it, anyway? Now out of the city (whew!) and on beautiful Australian farmland — rolling green hills in the mild August winter. Past the logging town of Wauchope and the hamlet of Byabarra. The road narrows to a winding switchback climb up the steep slopes of Bago Bluff, and finally we find ourselves on a high plateau of rich farmland in the town of Comboyne, NSW, population two hundred. Comboyne is the home of luthier Graham Caldersmith and his partner Angela MacPherson (Photo 1). On a recent trip to visit our son in Australia, I took the time to spend a delightful day with Graham and Angela in their enchanting home/workshop/tea house where I learned much about lutherie and acoustics, and enjoyed their wonderful hospitality. 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 June 11, 2026June 11, 2026 by Dale Phillips Building an Adjustable Bridge Building an Adjustable Bridge by Thomas C. DeVeau Originally published in American Lutherie #81, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 In my part-time business of making citterns and one-of-a-kind instruments, I find that the adjustable bridges in most catalogs don’t meet my specifications, so I make my own. Now I control the size, shape, and string spacing, and can use woods that match the woods that I use in my instruments. The following describes how I make the bridge design I came up with. For this bridge I use thumbwheel-and-post sets obtained from Stewart-MacDonald, part #3960, and their fretwire, part #148. Start with a piece of 3/4˝-thick stock. Place the outside strings on the instrument and measure the space between them at the bridge position (Photo 1). Add 2˝ and cut a block to this length. Find the center of this length and extend centerlines around the block. On each side of the centerline, mark half the outside string width to establish the outside string positions. Draw lines 1/4˝ outside these string-position marks to establish the positions of the thumbwheel posts. 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 April 22, 2026April 22, 2026 by Dale Phillips Simple Jigs for Making a Pyramid Bridge Simple Jigs for Making a Pyramid Bridge by John C. Bartlett Originally published in American Lutherie #114, 2013 After many years building guitars and mandolins, I had the occasion to build a left-handed guitar for my daughter. She very much liked the pyramid bridge on my personal instrument, a 12-fret 000 slot-head patterned after the 1930s Martins, and asked that I use one on her guitar. That, in fact, was the only pyramid bridge I had ever used on a guitar in over twenty years of building, and I purchased it from Stewart-MacDonald. I’d already decided to use pyramid bridges on my traditional 12-fret instruments going forward when she requested one for her guitar. Although I’d never actually made one, I thought it would be cost effective to make my own. I knew it would be a challenge, so I did considerable research on the subject. I didn’t find much. One Internet posting called for hand carving, and another showed jigs and techniques for shaper tables and table saws. I don’t have a table saw or a shaper table, so I practiced hand carving methods. The results were OK but not really satisfactory, and it was very time consuming. I’d gone through a number of plywood models before carving my first rosewood and ebony bridges when I decided that if I wanted a reduction in hand work and consistency in my results, I should use the tools I have to solve the problem. 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.
