Posted on January 11, 2010March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Product Reviews: Livos Oil Finish Product Reviews: Livos Oil Finish by Fred Carlson Originally published in American Lutherie #63, 2000 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Livos Oil Finish I’ve experimented with my share of different finishing materials over the twenty-odd years (twenty-eight, to be exact, and some of them have been very odd indeed) that I’ve been building wooden stringed instruments. From my early years working with my artist/luthier mentor Ken Ripportella, I remember various concoctions of linseed oil and beeswax; later came guitar building with all sorts of awful chemicals, starting with automotive acrylic lacquer and soon moving on to the more standard nitrocellulose brew. It took some years to get advanced to the point that we had an actual exhaust fan to draw the toxic solvent fumes out of the shop, and during one of those years I had a bed on a small loft above my workbench, next to the finishing room. When finishing was going on, I was breathing lacquer fumes day and night. By the time we finally got the exhaust fan and I learned how to use a respirator, a certain amount of damage had been done, and I began to experience a lot of discomfort when exposed to lacquer/solvent fumes, as well as other chemicals. Although I had no idea then that my ignorance would compromise my health, perhaps for the rest of my life, it became pretty obvious pretty fast that I couldn’t work around solvent-based finishes anymore. I had continued to use oil and wax finishes on some instruments, but had not been completely happy with either the acoustic or protective qualities of those finishes when applied to the top of a guitar. I’d taken to using oil and wax for everything but the top, for which I was using nitrocellulose until the mid‑’80s. My sensitivity problems caused me to switch to one of the early waterborne lacquer-like polymers, similar to what I still use today. 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 11, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Cleaning/Polishing of Violins Letter: Cleaning/Polishing of Violins by William T. Walls Originally published in American Lutherie #12, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Dear Guild Members, Reference is made to George Manno’s “Violin Q&A” regarding cleaning and polishing violins. I have been making, repairing, and restoring bowed instruments professionally for over fifty years and would like to offer my 2¢ worth. I strongly recommend that xylene and similar products for cleaning caked-on rosin be used with extreme caution, as some varnishes will dissolve or become tacky when wet with them. Test them in a small place in an area that will not be noticed if the varnish is susceptible to damage. If it appears that xylene is safe, rubbing with a cloth may require a lot of rubbing, and a lot of rubbing may damage the varnish. I have found the following to be completely safe, effective, and fast for any instrument regardless of how bad the rosin build-up is. 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 11, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Settling-In of Guitars Letter: Settling-In of Guitars by Chris von der Borch Originally published in American Lutherie #40, 1994 Dear Guild, I have been constructing classic, baroque, and steel string guitars since around 1960. It is a long-term hobby of mine, as is guitar playing (in real life I am a professor of marine geology). I have made about sixteen instruments, with latter classicals being based precisely on measurements of several well-known Fleta guitars, including top thickness gradations and strut dimensions. I have used a variety of highest-quality soundboard wood (cedar, Sitka spruce, European spruce) and Brazilian rosewood. Recently I completed my first Smallman-style guitar using a wafer thin cedar soundboard (1MM) combined with web strutting of balsa and carbon fibre and a series of rather heavy internal braces to reinforce soundboard support. Of all the above, only two are really satisfactory. One is a Sitka spruce Fleta-style guitar which matured after several years into a top instrument. The other success is the Smallman-style guitar, despite a slight fall off in “zippiness” from initial tune-up. Other guitars typically sounded brilliant, usually 24 hours after initial tune-up. This brilliance typically persisted for a couple of weeks, after which the tonal quality and sustain deadened somewhat and never returned. These guitars, on maturation, have become pleasant, run-of-the-mill instruments, but not world shakers! These observations imply, I feel, that the essential ingredients for superior tone were initially present, but a mechanical and not an acoustical problem has occurred. In short, stresses have set in, or the soundboards have lost some of their initial tension. I should add that up to now, all of my guitars have been constructed under careful humidity control and in such a way as to minimize any inbuilt stresses. 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 11, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Michigan Violin Makers Letter: Michigan Violin Makers by Scott Tribby, Treasurer, Michigan Violinmakers Association Originally published in American Lutherie #33, 1993 Dear Sir: The Michigan Violinmakers Association began informally in 1989, and in the spring of 1992 incorporated as a Michigan nonprofit corporation. Our members include those of us in the trade, amateur makers, and those just beginning to learn violinmaking or repair. We meet quarterly to exchange information and ideas on violinmaking and violins, tools, and other areas of interest. At each meeting there is a technical presentation, and the opportunity to view and play new instruments and the occasional important older violin. The quarterly newsletter is published the first of each meeting month.
Posted on January 11, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Thoughts on Bow Hairing Letter: Thoughts on Bow Hairing by Dale Randall Originally published in American Lutherie #92, 2007 Dear Tim: American Lutherie #91 is one of the best in years. Lots of good, useful, informative articles with great pictures. I especially liked the one on rehairing bows. I’m seventy-one and have been into lutherie for forty years. Rehairing can go like clockwork or drive you to drink. I must take exception with a few of Paul Hill’s methods. He is not the first to recommend starting at the tip and working toward the frog, but this is contrary to what I have learned. The hardest work the bow hair does is nearest to the frog end, therefore the thicker base end of the hair should be on that end. I have read that the finest violinists want the hair mixed end for end so half is in one direction and half in the other, assuming that hair takes rosin better in one direction. I also believe that one should never use hardwood for plugs and never use any glue on either end plug or wedge. I do use Paul’s method of tying and supergluing the hair to keep it together. I give mine a squeeze with opened-up pliers to make it sort of flat before it sets up, and dip the end in a little baking soda to speed the hardening. This is not to criticize Paul’s methods but to try to clear up the concept of which way the hair should be mounted. I like the way Paul shared his procedure with words and pictures.
