Posted on July 10, 2026July 10, 2026 by Dale Phillips Finding Waldo Finding Waldo The First Family of American f-Hole Mandolins, Mandolas, and Mandocellos by Paul Ruppa Originally published in American Lutherie #117, 2014 In 1973, I bought a Vega cylinder-back, two-point mandocello for $175. The seller was luthier David Colburn who ran the Vintage Fret Shop in Holderness, New Hampshire. A few years later, I started living with an unyielding interest in finding out about the history of mandocellos. It was not until I began reading through the Library of Congress’ microfilm reproduction of their The Cadenza magazine collection (1894–1924) that I thought I might have uncovered some answers. Yes, it was there that I found Waldo. The American tenor mandola and mandocello were first developed by employees of the Barrows Music Company in Saginaw, Michigan. The instruments were marketed under the Barrows’ brand, “Waldo.” No one knows when they were given the names tenor mandola and mandocello, who named them, or exactly when the first Waldo tenor mandola and mandocello were built. 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.
Posted on July 8, 2026July 8, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Shop-Made Deadblow Hammer It Worked for Me: Shop-Made Deadblow Hammer by Steve Kennel Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 I’m poised to fret a fresh guitar neck and had, in the past, used a well-polished machinist’s hammer. It just seems a little too metal-on-metal for the project, so, well, a dead-blow hammer with non-marring faces seemed to be the thing to get. Some days you just don’t want to leave the driveway and online shopping is annoying. So I scouted around the premises and came up with this. It’s kinda ugly but I really like the price and it exceeds my hopes for its functionality. 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 It Worked for Me: Pre-bend Rosette Rings It Worked for Me: Pre-bend Rosette Rings by Dan Alexander Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 I’ve been learning to build acoustic guitars for a couple of years. I’m getting there. One of the minor issues I’ve had is gluing purfling strips into routed channels around the soundhole without breaking the fragile little strips. Routing the channels is a piece of cake with this StewMac Dremel accessory, but when you have gloves on, and the channel is full of epoxy, getting the strips into the slots can be problematic. So, I made this jig to deal with it (Photo 1). I place the strips into the channels, which is easy when there are no gloves and no glue. Then I use my heat gun to heat the strips, and Bob’s your uncle. The strips come out of the jig prebent, and gluing them into the rosette is no problem! Best thing: I made the jig in fifteen minutes from a scrap of plywood. Cost: Zipski, baby! ◆ Photo 1. Photo by Dan Alexander.
Posted on July 8, 2026July 8, 2026 by Dale Phillips Measuring Resonant Frequencies of an Acoustic Guitar Measuring Resonant Frequencies of an Acoustic Guitar by Mark French Originally published in American Lutherie #143, 2021 Many luthiers track resonant frequencies of their acoustic guitars, often with the goal of meeting some target values. It’s common for the first two resonant frequencies of a full-sized acoustic guitar to be near 100Hz and 200Hz respectively. Some builders use detailed frequency measurements during the build process. For example, Greg Byers described his methods in his 2017 GAL Convention workshop (AL#134). Another good discussion is in Volume 1 of Contemporary Acoustic Guitar Design and Build by Trevor Gore and Gerard Gilet. Resonant frequencies are a function of the ratio of stiffness over mass. Specifically, frequency is proportional to √(stiffness/mass). This simple relationship is harder to apply at higher modes, but it describes the effect of the structure on the lowest modes well enough for us. In practice, it’s easier to reduce resonant frequencies than to increase them. Selectively thinning parts of the top or shaving braces reduces stiffness more than mass, and so tends to reduce resonant frequencies. It’s very uncommon for luthiers to add anything, either mass or stiffness, to their guitars in order to modify dynamic response, though it is certainly a valid thing to do. Trevor Gore is the only one who comes to mind, though there may be others I’ve not heard of. 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.
