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.
Posted on August 1, 2022May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips Bridge Positioning Bridge Positioning by Eric Henderson Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #7, 1975 One procedure I use which your readers may find useful is that on my guitar top all the cross bracing and fan bracing is made up from the cuttings from the top blanks. For the cross bracing, I have to laminate two pieces together with the joint at right angles to the top. This procedure, I feel, guarantees that the woods are compatible. Another thing I do is when gluing the bridge I drill two small holes approximately 1/16" diam. in the slot for the ivory saddle, and when the bridge is precisely positioned, I drill through the top. The bridge can then be glued without being concerned about it moving because I temporarily inset two finishing nails in the two holes. The finishing nails are removed before the glue has completely set. The holes remaining are covered up by the ivory saddle. These are just two small items, but I would like to see the members who want to share small items like this write them up. ◆
Posted on June 22, 2020May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips Brazilian Guitar Makers Brazilian Guitarmakers by Roberto Gomes Originally published in American Lutherie #33, 1993 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 The guitar has been the main musical instrument in Brazil since it was brought by the Portuguese colonizers centuries ago. In those times, Baroque guitars were the most common string instruments. They had five courses of gut or wire strings. Since then it hasn’t changed much, as we can see in the “Brazilian viola” which is used for a kind of Brazilian country music called musica sertaneja (countryside music). The shape of the soundbox of this viola today resembles more a small classic guitar. Unfortunately there are very few records of those times, making it difficult to make a better study of those guitars and their makers. It’s known that most of the instruments were made in Portugal, Italy, and France. The first decade of this century brought three immigrant families from Italy: the Gianninis, the DiGiorgios, and the DelVecchios. These families were luthiers in their country of origin and later they founded the main Brazilian guitar factories which became the backbone of Brazilian-made guitars for nearly eighty years. They made mostly classic guitars and some violins, along with Brazilian violas. They also made mandolins, first with vaulted backs like lutes and later with flat backs, which are used to play choro music. 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 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Glued Vs Floating Bridge Questions: Glued Vs Floating Bridge by R.M. Mottola Originally published in American Lutherie #74, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Greg Pacetti of Fairbanks, Alaska asks: Why is it that most all flattop guitars have a glued-on bridge rather than a floating variety, as in the archtop guitar. I know that historically many have been produced this way, but the standard is still towards the fixed, glued-on bridge. I build a particular model in this configuration with good results. R.M. Mottola of Newtonville, Massachusetts answers: The short answer, to borrow a phrase from Fiddler on the Roof, is tradition. We like, or at least we have become accustomed to, the tone of instruments with glued-on bridges. The long answer (at least my long answer) is, well, longer, and much more speculative. 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.
