Posted on August 4, 2026August 4, 2026 by Dale Phillips Review: José Luis Romanillos Guitars, The Guijosa Period, 1993-2015 Review: José Luis Romanillos Guitars, The Guijosa Period, 1993-2015 by Mónica Esparza Originally published in American Lutherie #142, 2021 José Luis Romanillos Guitars, The Guijosa Period, 1993–2015 Josep Melo i Valls ISBN 978-84-09-14184-5 Barcelona: Spain, MeloGuitars Editions, 2020 Standard edition: €350. Signed deluxe edition: €700 Available from editions.Meloguitars.com After twenty-five years in the making, José Luis Romanillos Guitars, The Guijosa Period, 1993–2015 is now available. It is an outstanding work in its visual beauty as well as the depth of explicitly detailed information presented both in photos and verbally in Spanish and English. The large book/box set (39CM H × 29CM W × 9CM T total) includes a substantial book with foldouts, plus an attractive box that contains twenty-five folded photographs of the full-scale front and back views of each instrument. Twenty guitars, four vihuelas, and one rebec are presented as well as an additional foldout that shows full-scale top and back bracing patterns and neck and fingerboard profiles from Romanillos’ Torres and Hauser models. I got involved with this project in 2011 when the author, Josep Melo, a notable instrument maker and a personal friend, called me from his shop in Barcelona. He wanted to visit California to photograph and study in great detail a guitar built by José Romanillos for Pepe Romero. Josep said that he was going to write a book about the guitars that José Romanillos built after he moved back to his native Spain from England. He asked me to contact the Romero family to try to get an appointment to see Pepe’s 1993 “La Compañera,” the first guitar José completed after his return to Spain. Needless to say, that was quite a favor to ask. He had a lot of confidence that I would be able to just pick up the phone and make this happen. Well, I did. 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 July 31, 2026July 31, 2026 by Dale Phillips Effects of Grain Orientation on Brace Deflection Effects of Grain Orientation on Brace Deflection by Greg Nelson with Benjamin Nelson Originally published in American Lutherie #127, 2016 I have always taken it on faith that perfectly quartersawn wood had to be superior to diagonal- or plain-cut wood when it comes to bracing. I never felt the need to question this common wisdom until when reading The Responsive Guitar, I discovered that Ervin Somogyi had done a test that created doubt about how accurate this assumption might be. He invited further testing, and that is what inspired me to spend some time and material to check things out. I come to lutherie work without any formal scientific training. This sort of testing demands a scientific method, so I invited my son, Dr. Benjamin Nelson, to participate. His field of expertise is astronomy (mostly extrasolar planets), but having grown up in our house, he is not unfamiliar with wooden instrument construction. 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 July 31, 2026July 31, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Alan Carruth Meet the Maker: Alan Carruth by Tom Harper Originally published in American Lutherie #112, 2012 If curiosity really did kill the cat, the cat should have talked things over with Alan Carruth before the situation got so desperate. Alan has been curious all his life and has not only survived, but thrives on it. Fortunately for us, Alan’s curiosity has been regularly applied to the musical instrument world for around forty years and he likes to share what he learns. He has been actively involved with the Guild for at least thirty years, researches musical acoustics, teaches lutherie, produced a DVD demonstrating his method of free plate tuning, and can be found providing lots of information in various Internet venues for instrument builders. He also produces a line of imaginary tools, but you will need to go to his website to learn more about them. I got a chance to sit down with Alan several times during the last GAL Convention to find out more about what makes him tick. Tell us a little about your formative musical interests? I mostly listened to classical music as a kid, but like lots of other people, I got interested in folk music when the ’60s folk scare happened. That’s when I got my first guitar, which was a cheap nylon-string Japanese import called a Howard, named after the son of the guy who imported it. I wanted a guitar with nylon strings because that’s what Paul of Peter, Paul, and Mary played. Or was that Peter? I can never keep those guys straight. 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 July 30, 2026July 30, 2026 by Dale Phillips Review: The Diary of Agustin Barrios Mangoré: His Concert Autograph Book by Richard Pinnell and Frederick Sheppard Review: The Diary of Agustin Barrios Mangoré: His Concert Autograph Book by Richard Pinnell and Frederick Sheppard by Bryan Johanson Originally published in American Lutherie #143, 2021 The Diary of Agustín Barrios Mangoré: His Concert Autograph Book (1932–1939, The Diplomatic Edition) ISBN 978-8409213269 Richard Pinnell and Frederick Sheppard Leon, Spain: Asociación CaminoArtes, 2018–2019 “Agustín Barrios was an entertainer, myth maker, brilliant conversationalist, and revered houseguest.” Frederick Sheppard. Soundboard magazine, October 2019 Classical guitarist and composer Agustín Pío Barrios was born in Paraguay in 1885 and died in El Salvador in 1944. With the exception of an extended holiday in Europe, Barrios spent his entire life traveling and performing in the countries of Central and South America. It is safe to say that Barrios’ music is greatly admired, performed, and taught by the current generation of classical guitarists. 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 July 24, 2026July 24, 2026 by Dale Phillips Design Analysis of Torres Guitars: Based on the Catalog by Romanillos Design Analysis of Torres Guitars: Based on the Catalog by Romanillos by John Saucier Originally published in American Lutherie #113, 2013 José Romanillos has provided an invaluable resource for those interested in Torres’ guitars with his book Antonio de Torres, Guitar Maker — His Life and Work. Romanillos has cataloged eighty-eight Torres instruments divided into the two periods, or “epochs,” Torres was active building guitars. This includes thirty-nine instruments from the first epoch (1854–1868), and forty-nine instruments from the second epoch (1875–1892). With the dimensional data provided in Romanillos’ catalog, it is possible to investigate some of Torres’ design principles. Romanillos has assigned a catalog number to each instrument to designate its construction sequence. Guitars from the first epoch are given the designation “FE” followed by a construction sequence number. First-epoch instruments were not numbered by Torres so Romanillos has assigned them sequence numbers. Guitars from the second epoch are given the designation “SE” followed by a construction sequence number. In some cases, the catalog number has been augmented with a letter (A, B, C, etc.) where a new instrument has come to light since the original catalog. The letter “U” has been used to designate an instrument where the sequence number on the label (typically added by Torres for second-epoch labels) is missing or illegible. 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.
