Posted on April 23, 2026April 23, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Baby Bottle It Worked for Me: Baby Bottle by Robert Sherman Originally published in American Lutherie #109, 2012 One of my favorite bench tools that I use every day is a simple baby bottle. It is a spill-proof fluid delivery system that dispenses one drop at a time, every time, and can be used easily with one hand. Whether I need a mild soapy solution as a cutting lubricant for block sanding during finishing, or pure water to wet a fingerboard while fretting or refretting, this tool is in constant use on my bench. If you make small batches of hot hide glue, you will appreciate how conveniently you can add a controlled amount of water to thin the mix. These are inexpensive and can be obtained at any pharmacy or supermarket in the baby section. I have been using the same bottle for more than ten years without any leakage or deterioration of the seals. But I do find that solvents can soften the rubber, so these are best suited for water-based cargo. For dropping alcohol, I still prefer a hot sauce bottle with the tiny hole at the top seal. Photo by Robert Sherman. My son is now twelve years old, but I can credit him for giving me the idea when he started eating solid foods and, ever the conservationist, I had to find a new use for his old baba. ◆
Posted on April 23, 2026April 23, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Ski Boot Holster It Worked for Me: Ski Boot Holster by Roger Alan Skipper Originally published in American Lutherie #109, 2012 Everywhere in the repair shop of Gruhn Guitars are examples of the little tricks of the trade that develop over time, like this ski-boot-become-cordless-drill-holster. ◆ Photo by Roger Alan Skipper.
Posted on April 23, 2026April 23, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Secure Classical Guitar Strings It Worked for Me: Secure Classical Guitar Strings by Michael Grossman Originally published in American Lutherie #109, 2012 There has to be a better way to secure your classical guitar strings, but nylon strings with ball ends are not commonly available. I’ve seen 6-, 12-, and 18-hole tieblocks, strings with beads or sticks tied on the ends. It occurred to me that with a single set of holes, vertically elongated, you can pass the strings through the hole, through a bead, and then back into the same hole. As the string is tightened, the bead is snugged against the tieblock (a small recess for it to settle into helps), trapping the short end of the string inside the hole. No unsightly ends sticking out, no knots, no strings wrapped around the block or around themselves. Photo by Michael Grossman. Two small caveats: make the tieblock (if that’s still the appropriate term) out of ebony or something equally strong, and enlarge the holes vertically, not horizontally. My first attempt, in bloodwood, ripped apart along the line of the holes. ◆
Posted on April 23, 2026April 23, 2026 by Dale Phillips Making a Truly Flat Sanding Bar Making a Truly Flat Sanding Bar by Mark French Originally published in American Lutherie #113, 2013 As any luthier knows, a flat sanding bar is an indispensable tool. Buying one can be expensive, but making one isn’t as hard as you might think. It is not difficult to use strips of sandpaper to sand rectangular aluminum tube or bar stock to an extremely flat condition. To start, I should be clear that I like using 3˝ sanding bars, which are wider than many of those commercially available. They are handy for a number of tasks, especially ensuring that necks and fretboards are flat before gluing them together. They are a nice alternative to a heavy granite surface plate and are much easier to tuck away when not needed. Certainly, narrower ones can be more useful for leveling frets, and they can also be made using the process described here. 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 22, 2026April 22, 2026 by Dale Phillips Hunting the Elusive Guitar Wolf Hunting the Elusive Guitar Wolf by Alan Carruth from his 2011 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #114, 2013 About that title: Please note that it’s hunting the wolf, not finding. These things are often hard to find, but generally easy to kill once you’ve found them. So I’m going to discuss what the wolf is, where it tends to lurk, and how you can go after it in a more-or-less organized fashion. As in any hunt, we’ll need to think about what the prey is, and its natural history: where it prowls, what it feeds on, and so forth. I use a pretty broad definition of a wolf: It’s a bad note linked to some feature of the resonant structure of the instrument or strings. “Bad” has to be seen in context: We usually want our guitars to be loud, but one loud note in the middle of a group of softer ones is a wolf, or a soft one in the middle of a bunch of loud ones is a wolf. Wolves can thud, or warble, or just plain sound different. Like pornography, it’s hard to define but easy to recognize. 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.
