Posted on September 1, 2026September 1, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Classical Guitar Peghead It Worked for Me: Classical Guitar Peghead by George A. Smith Originally published in American Lutherie #86, 2006 To shape the end of a classical guitar peghead, a router can be used with a simple template which is screwed into the areas where the tuning-machine slots will be. But I prefer a system which gives better support so that there is less of a chance of the router wobbling and making errors. My peghead-shaping jig is made of 1/2˝ Baltic birch plywood, is larger than the guitar’s head, and uses interchangeable 1/4˝ thick templates. Before routing, the peghead’s centerline, dimensions, and side taper are established, and the end shape is traced onto the head. The neck is left rough to facilitate clamping. The shape is then bandsawn about 1.5MM outside the traced line. The jig is centered on the head and secured with two screws where the slots will be. I use a 3/8˝×2 1/4˝ long pattern bit #102-0632B from Eagle America. The bit’s bearing should run low on the pattern. Lower bit into the open area of jig and hold the router fast while turning it on. Rout the design, return the bit to the open area, and turn off the router. Do not remove the router until the bit has stopped turning. 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 August 28, 2026August 28, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Kevin Aram Meet the Maker: Kevin Aram by Cyndy Burton Originally published in American Lutherie #104, 2010 In May of 2010, Jeff Elliott and I celebrated thirty years together in life and lutherie by traveling to England. The trip was conceived twenty years ago after the 1990 GAL Convention, when husband and wife Kevin and Alison Aram visited us following the convention where Kevin gave a comprehensive lecture on Julian Bream’s 1973 José Romanillos guitar. He presented not only the plan of that landmark guitar, but the fascinating story surrounding it in AL#25 (BRBAL3). Kevin and Alison had long ago given up that we’d ever make it across the pond, but we did (on luthier time!), and they graciously welcomed us into their home. They live on a very old farm in north Devonshire in a substantial stucco-faced stone building that once housed dairy cows. They are surrounded by stunningly beautiful rolling countryside and the sounds of sheep and cows in the neighboring pastures and their own hens clucking nearby. The nearest town is ten miles down a mostly single-lane road. But they have wireless, and UPS delivers. 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 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 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 8, 2026July 8, 2026 by Dale Phillips Review: Vincente Arias (1833-1914) The Forgotten Luthier Review: Vincente Arias (1833-1914) The Forgotten Luthier by Kevin Aram Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 Vicente Arias (1833-1914), The Forgotten Luthier Alberto Martinez, Clémentine Jouffroy, Editors (many other contributors) ISBN 979-1090267-56-5 Camino Verde, Paris France, 2021 https://caminoverde.com I first became aware of Vicente Arias in 1978 when I bought a copy of the book Guitars: From the Renaissance to Rock by Tom and Mary Anne Evans. In the section entitled “The Modern Classical Guitar,” there is a listing for an Arias guitar from 1874. The entry has a short description of the guitar together with the dimensions, three photographs, and the information that he lived and worked in the town of Ciudad Real which is in the Provence of La Mancha in Spain. Fast forward to 1984 when my wife and I spent a month driving around Central, Southern, and Eastern Spain. As a part of this holiday we decided to follow the journey taken by Don Quixote in the famous book, and so, tourist brochure in hand, we visited and stayed in a number of towns in La Mancha including Ciudad Real. 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.
