Posted on June 5, 2026June 5, 2026 by Dale Phillips Pore Filling with Superglue Pore Filling with Superglue by Chuck Moore Originally published in American Lutherie #118, 2014 Since learning about the superglue (CA) pore-filling method from Steve Grimes in Maui, I’ve used it on at least four hundred ukuleles. It’s not for everybody though, and it will irritate your eyes. From what I’ve been able to find on the Internet, it is an irritant similar to pepper spray. Working in front of a fan is imperative, outdoors is recommended, and (as my grade school teachers used to say) neatness counts if you don’t want to end up with hands covered in glue and possibly stuck to your work. I’ve probably shown a hundred people how to do this. Some love it while others hate it. The best thing about it is that it is fast and effective. There is absolutely no shrink back if done properly. The company I get my CA glue from is CPH International in Los Angeles. They are super easy folks to work with and usually ship the same day they receive your order. Their website (www.starbond.com) has no prices. You must e-mail them for the price list. Pint bottles have cost $30 for as long as I’ve dealt with them, and a pint is by no means too much if you build a lot of instruments. The two types I use are EM-02 (thin) for general purpose and the EM 150 (medium) for grain filling. (The EM 2000 is too thick for pore filling.) EM 150 seems to be the perfect blend of viscosity and grain-filling capability. They will also give you a bunch of two ounce bottles with your order, so there is no need to buy any extras. As an aside, their aerosol cans of accelerator are good, but their pump bottles are junky. 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 May 26, 2026May 26, 2026 by Dale Phillips Uke Making for Guitar Makers Uke Making for Guitar Makers by Bob Gleason Originally published in American Lutherie #96, 2008 Ukuleles come in a wide variety. You’ve probably seen pineapple and cigar box ukes, so you know they are traditionally less defined than guitars. The size of the uke is defined by the scale length. There’s a guy in Japan who plays a baritone-size body with a soprano scale length, but it’s still a soprano uke. The names of the sizes, from smallest to largest, are soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. The first three are tuned the same (GCEA), while the baritone is tuned like the highest four strings of a guitar (DGBE). Traditionally, the shapes of the bodies are roughly guitar-like, though various builders have taken severe liberties with the shapes without incurring the wrath of most uke players. Nothing about uke construction is engraved in stone. 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 April 28, 2026April 28, 2026 by Dale Phillips That Fine Fake-Old Finish That Fine Fake-Old Finish by R.M. Motola Originally published in American Lutherie #117, 2014 I received an interesting question a while back from someone asking about ways to build a guitar so that it would have a darker tone or how to retrofit an existing instrument for darker tone. Although the term “darker” is fairly ambiguous and certainly open to personal interpretation, if I were to attempt to make an instrument sound darker myself, the first thing I would do to that end is give it a dark-colored finish. From a strictly sonic perspective, this advice is utterly foolish — the color of the paint is not going to affect the sound even a little bit. This is both intuitively obvious and could easily be confirmed using either measurement of the instrument’s sonic output or by blind listening evaluation. But although such techniques are useful for research purposes, they do not necessarily emulate the conditions under which instruments are “heard” in the real world. 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 April 24, 2026April 24, 2026 by Dale Phillips Questions: Best French Polish Procedure Questions: Best French Polish Procedure by Cyndy Burton Originally published in American Lutherie #109, 2012 Enrico Schiaffella from Rome, Italy asks: I am still looking for “the best way” for my French polish procedure. I would like to be assured about one point. Is it correct that French polish expert Cyndy Burton performs the pore-filling step using epoxy? What kind of epoxy? Is it possible to have a short version of her pore-filling procedure? Cyndy Burton from Portland, Oregon replies: Yes, I use Devcon five-minute epoxy, which is readily available in the U.S. A description of my method was published in AL#51 and is available in The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Five on p. 496. If you have difficulty locating it, please drop me an e-mail (cyndyb@hevanet.com). Caveat: not all epoxies are compatible with shellac.
Posted on April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 by Dale Phillips A Rubbed-Oil Finish Method for Classical Guitar A Rubbed-Oil Finish Method for Classical Guitar by Kevin Aram based on his 2014 Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #127, 2014 The purpose of this article is to explain the methods I use to oil finish my guitars. It is based on the workshop I gave at the 2014 GAL Convention. The workshop itself was a tad anarchic and the transcription of the proceedings was rather rambling, so it was decided that a rewrite was the way to go. I am not referring to a brushed-oil-varnish type of finish that you might find on a violin or cello or indeed some guitars. This is a rubbed oil finish using a Liberon Finishing Oil. This is the only product I recommend, and I understand it is widely available in the U.S. as well as here in England and elsewhere. It is made from tung oil with added driers. The people at Liberon aren’t saying any more than this. It is fairly pleasant to use (on a par with shellac) and the smell will not send you running from your workshop. If you check out the Liberon website, there is a safety sheet. The main precaution to take is to not leave any cloths that have been used to apply the oil in the workshop, as it is possible for them to self-combust. Safely dispose of them straight away. 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.
