Posted on October 30, 2026October 30, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Charles Fox Meet the Maker: Charles Fox by Fred Carlson Originally published in American Lutherie #52, 1997 I had the opportunity (blind luck, you might call it) to study with Charles Fox in 1975 at the beginning of his School for Guitar Research and Design’s rise to prominence as one of the premier guitar-building schools in the country. Much more recently, in August of 1995, I attended a session of The American School of Lutherie, Charles’s updated take on lutherie education. I had been asked by the GAL to interview Charles, but our schedules made it difficult to connect. We finally sat down and had a fine, rambling phone conversation in late fall of ’95. What follows here is my notes from that conversation, organized into this interview format with a bit of journalistic license. Charles, I know you have a background in the fine arts; in fact, I remember seeing some paintings of yours back in Vermont. Is that what led you to lutherie? In a way, I still think of myself as a painter who is currently not working. In the mid to late ’60s I was studying flamenco guitar, taking lessons through Sherry-Brenner, who import fine guitars. I found that they had materials for guitar construction, and a British instructional pamphlet; I built a guitar at home, and loved it. I stopped playing, built another and another, a couple of flamencos, a classic, and then a couple of steel strings which sold immediately. 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 October 30, 2026October 30, 2026 by Dale Phillips Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part One Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part One by Eugene Clark with Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #71, 2002 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 See also, Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part Two by Eugene Clark with Jonathon Peterson At our 2001 convention, Eugene Clark presented a well-attended and very well-received workshop on traditional Spanish rosette construction. Eugene is my neighbor, and by happy coincidence he was dyeing veneers and building rosettes shortly after the convention. Eugene, a lot of builders these days just buy premade rosettes, or work with rings or designs made from commercial purfling strips, or construct rosettes from pieces of natural material rather than constructing a mosaic. Why bother with all this extra work? 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 October 19, 2026October 30, 2026 by Dale Phillips The Al-Tho Design, an Experiment in Classical Guitar Bracing The Al-Tho Design, an Experiment in Classical Guitar Bracing by Alain Bieber Originally published in American Lutherie #95, 2008 Like many others, my addiction to classical guitar building started with more or less faithful copies of the Masters. Then came my “creative” period when I indulged in aesthetic fantasies such as the Minotaur (see AL#70). After that, my interest for historical models increased gradually and I copied lutes and romantic guitars as well as I could. We amateurs are more free to experiment than professionals. When we are very lucky, this is for the better — but more often for worse. A professional builder, among other advantages, receives direct information from an informed and exacting clientele. Concert players have precise ideas about what they like, so builders are driven to follow a conservative path which excludes large risks. Then when success comes, they may regretfully find that they lack the time to experiment. 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 October 19, 2026October 30, 2026 by Dale Phillips 2003 Manuel Reyes Flamenco Guitar Notes on GAL Instrument Plan #53 2003 Manuel Reyes Flamenco Guitar by Tom Blackshear Originally published in American Lutherie #84, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 See also, Manuel Reyes: Guitarrero by R.E. Bruné The plan is straightforward and not complicated, but there are things that are difficult to show on a drawing; and there are things I’ve learned from my own experience that can help someone following the plan to make a very good flamenco guitar the first time. I’ll try to distinguish between what I think Reyes did to achieve the results that I saw and those things which I do to achieve similar ends. The top shape and dimensions as drawn assume an idealized symmetrical form not reflecting the exact shape of the individual instrument. I’d like to thank Chris Kamen of Classic Guitars International (www.classicguitar.com) for allowing me access to this instrument. The top. The top is of medium density and that is an important consideration. If it were a less dense, soft top, the final top thicknesses, 2.1MM in the center and 2.0MM at the edges would be too thin. The plan does not show any arching of the top, and it’s basically built flat. However, there is a small amount of rounding or pull up from string tension, and additionally there is about a 1/16˝ “lift” approximately 2˝ from the bottom edge which is greatest over the “inserts” — four 1/64˝-thick spruce patches between the inner five fan bars. Those five fan braces are slightly bent at that point. I don’t know how Reyes builds this in, but I do it with 1˝ wide 1/32˝ thick shims mounted on my flat workboard along the bottom edge. In other words, I glue on the fan bars flat against the shimmed workboard, which causes them to bend at that point. It’s important to clamp lightly; otherwise you cause a nasty looking distortion. When the top is under tension, it will pull up to about 1/16˝ in that area. The other two fan bars are perfectly flat. The shimming and the string tension make the part of the lower bout behind the bridge appear domed somewhat from side to side. But sighting from the soundhole to the bottom of the lower bout, it’s basically flat to the area of lift, just over those spruce inserts. 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 October 16, 2026October 30, 2026 by Dale Phillips Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part Two Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part Two by Eugene Clark with Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #73, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 See also, Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part One by Eugene Clark with Jonathon Peterson I’m told that there is an old Chinese proverb that says, “The beginning of wisdom is to put the right names on things.” The right name for this process is “intarsia.” The Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines intarsia as, “a mosaic usually of wood fitted into a support; also: the art or process of making such a mosaic.” When you cut a relief, a space to receive mosaic inlay, you’re doing intarsia. Marquetry, strictly speaking, is veneer work where the design is assembled as a veneer and then applied to a surface. Everything belongs in its context, and Spain is part of the context here. When I say Spanish guitar to an American group, it takes a while to explain what I mean. Spanish language, Spanish thought, the sounds and smells of Spain gave birth to this instrument. Spanish guitars are generally modular in design, often from tip to tip. There will be a basic building unit for the entire instrument, and everything on the instrument is coherent with that building unit. The great makers of Spain worked in both decimal and fractional inches, and when they could afford it, used expensive machinist’s rules. If you measure their instruments with the same tools that they used you may see the logic of their design, with every component placed along a grid according to a chosen building unit. 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.
