Posted on June 13, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Dulcimers as a Business (or Running Dogs, Part 2) Dulcimers as a Business (or Running Dogs, Part 2) from his 1975 GAL Convention lecture by J.R. Beall Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Newsletter, Volume 3 #4, 1975 I believe that a luthier ought to be able to make a living at what he does, if at all possible. I build dulcimers in the summertime starting (depending on how I feel after Christmas) February, maybe March. Every year I design and put out a new model, and that’s purely to alleviate the boredom, with also an eye toward improving the breed a little bit. It will last up until fall, maybe September, October by the time I finish building dulcimers, and by that time I’m ready to finish building dulcimers. Then I go on to building other things. Folk Philosophy I think to me at least, it seems the important thing about an instrument is that it plays and sounds well. If one spends too much time in decoration, you get into a financial situation where you can’t afford to sell it for the amount of time you’ve got into it. And again, this is my basic philosophy: To build things and build them well, and yet build them fast enough that you can make a pretty good living doing it. Now, there are probably some other people who’ve built dulcimers fairly rapidly. But frequently you can see signs of that in the inferior quality of the product. 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 June 6, 2024May 5, 2025 by Dale Phillips Dulcimer Gluing Jig Dulcimer Gluing Jig by Tony Pizzo Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #70, 1978 and Lutherie Tools, 1990 This is a fairly easy-to-make jig for gluing dulcimer sides to bottoms, end blocks, and scrolls. It is adjustable in three planes (length, width, and with minor changes, depth) and adjustments can be made to adapt it for gluing psalteries, scheitholts, or any other type of non-necked chordophone. The jig consists of a sheet of 1/2" plywood fitted with movable dowels running along a series of parallel channels. Shafts of 1/4" threaded rod running through the dowel centers allow the dowels to be tightened in a prearranged pattern. Angle iron brackets which rest on the top of the dowels can be tightened down to hold the sides down against the bottom during gluing while at the same time ensuring that the sides are held in the pattern already set for them. 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 12, 2021May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips An Ingenious Epinette An Ingenious Epinette by John Bromka Originally published in American Lutherie #31, 1992 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 While attending a festival of bourdon (drone) instruments in Lissberg, Germany in May of 1991, I saw and heard this ingenious épinette des Vosges, made by Gilles Pequinot, a native of the Vosges region of France. He was interested in hearing about the GAL and very happy to share his design with fellow luthiers through American Lutherie. The traditional soundbox for the épinette is found on this example in the slender, tapered, rectangular box that constitutes the middle portion or upper deck. Gilles has added a fancier and much bigger secondary soundbox underneath the ancestral original soundbox, as seems to be the custom now for the new breed of more cosmopolitan épinette players. It’s rather like what we Americans are doing with hollowed fingerboards on mountain dulcimers, only more so. As you might imagine, the sound of this épinette is hereby amplified to a rich, silvery ringing presence. And it even held its own while Gille’s wife led us through a workshop of dancing bourrées. 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 6, 2010May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: Fine Woodworking Design Book Five Review: Fine Woodworking Design Book Five by Scott Landis Reviewed by Harry Fleishman Originally published in American Lutherie #26, 1991 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 Fine Woodworking Design Book Five Essay by Scott Landis: Northwest Woodworkers Taunton Press, 1990 ISBN 0-942391-28-4 The first thing I noticed when I received my copy of Fine Woodworking’s Design Book Five was the handsome coffee-table quality of the photographs. This volume is both the largest so far, with 259 photos, all color, and the best looking, with many full-page pictures and a uniformly high standard of reproduction. The second thing I noticed was that none of my instruments were represented. Oh well, I like it anyway. Will it appeal to luthiers in general? Probably. I think there are good ideas to be found looking at all sorts of good woodworking, and there are a lot of truly beautiful items here. Is it the great American guitar book? Absolutely not. 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 6, 2010May 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers by L. Allen Smith Review: A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers by L. Allen Smith Reviewed by James Flynn Originally published in American Lutherie #7, 1986 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers L. Allen Smith University of Missouri Press P.O. Box 7088, Columbia, MO 65205 Columbia & London, 1983 L. Allen Smith worked long and hard over his doctoral dissertation from whence this book was derived. It is handsome, containing descriptions of 193 instruments in the zither and dulcimer family, most accompanied by photographs. In the foreword, Jean Ritchie sets forth her very authoritative views on the origin of the dulcimer and offers her judgements as to why early study teams were not able to uncover many dulcimers in Appalachia. The book falls far short of resolving, on a scientific basis, the birth place(s) of the dulcimer. The pre-revival instruments Smith describes were made prior to 1940, and his field work, searching for these early dulcimers, was done in the early 1970s. As most of us who have travelled these eastern mountains know, old dulcimers have been swept up long ago and it is anyone’s guess as to where they are now hanging. Nevertheless, Smith found 193 instruments and classified them into five categories as follows: 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. Review: A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers by L. Allen Smith Reviewed by James Flynn Originally published in American Lutherie #7, 1986 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers L. Allen Smith University of Missouri Press P.O. Box 7088, Columbia, MO 65205 Columbia & London, 1983 L. Allen Smith worked long and hard over his doctoral dissertation from whence this book was derived. It is handsome, containing descriptions of 193 instruments in the zither and dulcimer family, most accompanied by photographs. In the foreword, Jean Ritchie sets forth her very authoritative views on the origin of the dulcimer and offers her judgements as to why early study teams were not able to uncover many dulcimers in Appalachia. The book falls far short of resolving, on a scientific basis, the birth place(s) of the dulcimer. The pre-revival instruments Smith describes were made prior to 1940, and his field work, searching for these early dulcimers, was done in the early 1970s. As most of us who have travelled these eastern mountains know, old dulcimers have been swept up long ago and it is anyone’s guess as to where they are now hanging. Nevertheless, Smith found 193 instruments and classified them into five categories as follows: Type A: Pennsylvania German zithers with straight sides, 37 Type B: Pennsylvania German zithers with a half-bout, 3 Type C: Dulcimers with straight sides, 11 Type D: Dulcimers with a single bout, 71 (2 # 34s) Type E: Dulcimers with double bouts, 71 (2 # 17s) Smith’s conclusion that specific styles of instruments were organic to certain geographic locations is hard to justify when only 73 of the 193 instruments have been positively verified as to birthplace. These data become further weakened when 25 of the 73 are attributed to three makers (Thomas, Amburgey, and Hicks). While Smith did rely heavily on Allen H. Eaton’s classic Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands (Dover, 1937/1973) he failed to point out that the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild and its forerunners were organized to give recognition to mountain craftsmen and to market their products. Where did the estimated 1500 dulcimers go that were produced by Kentuckian James Edward Thomas? Were they marketed by the Guild and did they influence the design of other makers? Although Smith states that the book’s primary purpose is to catalogue early instruments, he opens the door to these unanswered questions by addressing the subject. For the serious luthier, there is little of value here. However, it is an interesting compilation of some early instruments and is worthwhile if only to provoke more research and study of this wonderful but neglected true American folk instrument. ◆
