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.
Posted on April 16, 2026April 16, 2026 by Dale Phillips Remembering Julian Bream Remembering Julian Bream by Cyndy Burton, José Romanillos, R.E. Bruné, Jeffrey R. Elliott, Kevin Aram, Gary Southwell, and Simon Ambridge Originally published in American Lutherie #142, 2021 Julian Bream was born on July 15, 1933, and died on August 14, 2020, one month after his 87th birthday. The accolades that followed were online and in print everywhere, and were consistently filled with superlatives praising his genius as a classical guitarist, his tireless commissioning and presentation of new guitar repertoire from notable contemporary composers, and his teaching and creating opportunities for the next generation of classical guitarists. But commonly overlooked in descriptions of Julian Bream’s achievements in his long career, are the fruits of his relationships with the handful of classical guitar makers he chose to build for him. He sought the best classical guitars possible to serve his musical purposes and, at the same time, inspired their makers to improve their art and craft. We are fortunate that those luthiers are represented here, and that they’ve offered memories of their interactions with Julian Bream. — Cyndy Burton 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 14, 2026April 14, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Purfled Bindings It Worked for Me: Purfled Bindings by John Calkin Originally published in Ameican Lutherie #106, 2011 Some of these tips I discovered long ago, but I don’t think I ever wrote them down. Some are recent developments. They may seem obvious once you know them, but each one made a noticeable difference in the quality of my work. Huss & Dalton buys almost all its wooden binding stock from Michael Gurian. It comes prepurfled. The price is pretty good, but you have to buy a whole lay-up, which may entail as many as 100 pieces. As you might expect, Gurian makes up planks of binding stock and then saws out the individual strips. The black in a black/maple/black purfling is fiber. I assume that when the plank of binding/purfling is sawn into strips the purfling is down, and the saw blade leaves a bit of fiber burr on each corner that stands proud of the strip. If allowed to remain, the installed binding strip will sit on the burr, and if enough binding/purfling is scraped away when it is dressed to the sides, the burr is eliminated and a gap remains between the bottom black line of purfling and the rib. Finish won’t flow in there, so the gap has to be filled manually beforehand. It’s much easier to sand away the burr before binding proceeds. After the bent binding is rough-fitted to the guitar, I sand the bottom edge of the binding with an 80-grit sanding stick. The black fiber will turn to gray when sanded, and that color change is enough to tell you the job has been completed. Any more sanding will change the thickness of the bottom line, which is also to be avoided. 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 8, 2026April 9, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: John Knutson Meet the Maker: John Knutson by Don Bradley Originally published in American Lutherie #127, 2016 It was an overcast day with a bit of sunshine as I drove down the long driveway to the house and buildings at the end of the drive. I’ve known John Knutson for some time, having met his daughter’s Mom many years back before I moved to Forestville. John lives only a few blocks away, but we mostly run into each other at the post office. Let’s stop in and meet John. Hey John, good to see you. Remind me — when did we meet? Hi, Don, good to see you too. We must have met at least twenty-some years ago. I’d have to think which girlfriend I was with... oh yeah, you were dating my ex-wife! (both laugh) Tell me about your early life. My twin sister and I were born in 1951 in Fort Knox, Kentucky. I’ve got three other sisters. We’re army brats. By the time I was seven, we’d lived in seven different places, but mostly stayed in Virginia from the second grade on. When I was six, my dad was commanding tanks in Southern Germany. I have a distinct memory of hearing “Hound Dog” by Elvis and Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” on the radio back then. I didn’t know much about music at that age, but remember those tunes vividly. We weren’t a musical family you know, unless you consider tanks a musical instrument. My twin sister and I did get chauffeured in a military jeep to the firing range on occasion. We moved to Fort Hood, Texas, in 1958. A friend of my father was Elvis’ commanding officer. Elvis had been drafted and was in basic training there. 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 7, 2026April 7, 2026 by Dale Phillips Classical Guitar Setup Classical Guitar Setup by Kevin Aram from his 2014 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #132, 2017 Thank you for turning out. I appreciate it. I put on this natty little microphone and now I feel like Dolly Parton at Glastonbury — without, of course, the rhinestones. (laughter) Bringing one of my guitars with me wasn’t possible, so a couple days ago I bought a guitar in Seattle for demo purposes. It’s brand new, cost about $300, is mass-produced in China, and has a solid top. Because I want to talk about setup from different angles, I’ll use this guitar, and assume you are interested in building new guitars and repairing older ones as well. To me, setting up a classical guitar means making it play as easily and as in tune as possible, and to make it sound as good as possible. And, most importantly, it must meet the player’s satisfaction. If you’re making a guitar for yourself, you just make it to suit you. Obviously, if you are making guitars for other people, then you have to take into account the way they play. Some people want a guitar that is harder to play. They’ve got a strong technique and they physically need to dig into the strings when they play. No two players are the same, so no two setups are the same. It’s a very personal thing. It’s a balance; on one side is “ease of playing” and on the other “tone” or “quality of sound.” Basically, the higher the action on the guitar, the harder it is to play and the more volume it will produce — all things being equal. The lower the action, the easier it is to play, the quieter it will be, and it will be more prone to buzzing and problems in the sound. 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.
