Posted on January 10, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Weissenborn Guitar Questions: Weissenborn Guitar by Marvin E. Shaw Originally published in American Lutherie #39, 1994 Marvin E. Shaw from Gainesville, Florida responds to Bob May’s inquiry regarding his Weissenborn guitar: Herman W. Weissenborn built koa wood guitars designed for Hawaiian-style playing. He built them from 1916 until his death in 1936. I believe his shop was in Los Angeles, CA. His designs were unique and rather interesting, but apparently were not widely accepted.
Posted on January 10, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: The Hammered Dulcimer Business Letter: The Hammered Dulcimer Business by Christopher Foss Originally published in American Lutherie #63, 2000 Hey Tim, Back in 1991 I noticed a letter from John Calkin in AL#26 complete with photos of a mandolin family he’d made. The sides weren’t smoothly curved, but kerfed in four places and bent at those angles. They looked pretty cool, and John stated he’d made them in three days from lumber to spraying. I thought if he could do that, surely I could build one with bent sides in somewhat the same time. So I set to work in my Dad’s shop and made a nice little flattop mandolin. It’s based roughly on an antique Washburn where a large block forms little horns and the sides are glued to the ends of the block. You actually see part of the block in the finished instrument. I got it done in twenty-one hours honest time including designing, making the jigs, spraying, fretting, and everything. I still have that instrument and still play it. 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 10, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Luthiers Must Offer What Factories Can’t Letter: Luthiers Must Offer What Factories Can’t by Alan Carruth Originally published in American Lutherie #63, 2000 GAL, I was very taken with Woody Vernice’s review of the Taylor neck design video in AL#62, but I think he sells himself short. As impressive as the video is, I don’t think the joint is beyond the ability of most luthiers to cut to the required accuracy. Of course, it would take us longer by hand than it takes Bob’s machine! Woody’s overall point is well taken, though. If we are to justify our existence (and our prices!) we have to be offering something that the factories can’t. If you leave out the stash of endangered materials, two possibilities spring to mind: visual art, and tone. There are a number of builders exploiting the aspect of visual creativity. In most cases this takes the form of some sort of “applied” art; whether it be a distinctive soundhole rosette, carving, or inlay work. Often the decorative scheme of an entire guitar will be keyed to one such distinctive element, making it a unique work. In some ways this is the path of least resistance. Luthiers have always built highly-decorated instruments for the elite market. It is easy to add a little pizzazz by slapping on a bunch of pearl, but that way leads in the end to the Rococo and Mannerism: the elaboration of form to the ultimate detriment of function. 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 10, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Superglue Finish Interaction Questions: Superglue Finish Interaction by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #61, 2000 John Calkin of Greenville, Virginia responds to Milan Sabljic’s question regarding wenge and Willy Ware’s questions regarding superglue’s interaction with finishes. Wenge is hard, yet very brittle. Splinters are a constant threat. There’s also a striking difference in hardness between the wood from different seasons. I recently made a copy of a Gibson L-00 with wenge sides that were sort of quartered and a back that was flatsawn. Keeping the back free of ripples was a nasty task involving a lot of block sanding. It’s almost as bad as softwood in this respect. Wenge is also one of those surprise woods that attack some people. The man who gave me my first piece of wenge said it gave him an intense headache when he resawed it. The exact same board had no affect on me. 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 10, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Zero Fret Advantage Questions: Zero Fret Advantage by Steve Klein Originally published in American Lutherie #61, 2000 Greg Pacetti of Fairbanks, Alaska asks: Can you tell what the advantage is in having a zero fret at the top like on the Klein and Selmer guitars instead of a regular nut? Steve Klein of Sonoma, California responds: I feel the zero fret is the only way to have an open string and fretted string sound the same. I’ve found two other things I like about this arrangement: 1. By using a slightly higher fretwire for my zero fret, I can easily set the string height over the first fret for all the strings at once by filing the top of the zero fret down; 2. This also affects intonation by moving the string termination point forward. There are other articles that explain in more detail the reasons one might want to do that.
