Posted on June 30, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Grading on the Curves Grading on the Curves: Fitting Bars and Bridges on Archtop Guitars by Steve Andersen from his 2006 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #91, 2007 The first thing I’ll show you today is how I fit tone bars to the top. Then I’ll talk about fitting the base of a bridge to a top, first with this router jig that indexes off the top and gets me really close to the final shape, then moving on to the final fitting. I brought some extra materials if anyone wants to try hand-fitting an ebony bridge or a tone bar. I use the term tone bar, because I think of braces as being structural. If you built a flattop guitar without braces, it would just fold up. An archtop could be built without braces and it would hold up fine. The archtop’s bars are not so much for structure, so I call them tone bars. One thing that helps me in the fitting process is that my arching is very consistent from guitar to guitar. The arching templates for my guitars started out based on a D’Angelico New Yorker, and have evolved over the years to what I’m using today. So while I have several body sizes, they have similarities based on what I’ve found works well for my sound. 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.
Posted on June 6, 2024May 7, 2025 by Dale Phillips String Spacing String Spacing by Sylvan Wells Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #103, 1979 After reviewing most, if not all books on guitar construction I realized that there was no proper spacing for cutting slots for strings in the nut or laying out centers in order to drill the holes for bridge pins. It really is quite simple and I’ll explain the method and then conclude it with the mathematics already completed in an easy to use table. First, it is essential to understand that although you are placing six points you are really dealing with 5 spacings (Space between strings, 1–2, 2–3, 3–4, 4–5, 5–6). The distance for those 6 spacings is determined by the distance desired from the centers of the outside holes (E & E or 1 & 6). For the bridges, the distance is the same as the width of the neck at the 12th fret. That distance centered on the bridge blank are the center points for holes 1 & 6. 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.
