Posted on January 11, 2010May 28, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: Making and Playing Musical Instruments by Jack Botermans, Herman Dewit, and Hans Godefroy Review: Making and Playing Musical Instruments by Jack Botermans, Herman Dewit, and Hans Godefroy Reviewed by David Riggs Originally published in American Lutherie #58, 1999 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Five, 2008 Making and Playing Musical Instruments Jack Botermans, Herman Dewit, and Hans Godefroy University of Washington Press ISBN 0295969482 This book is primarily for hobbyists. Not that one could not find buyers for the kalimbas, alpenhorns, and talharpas made from descriptions to be found in its pages, as such instruments are staples at craft fairs, weekend markets, and other venues for ethnic and folk art. But it just might be of greater use to professionals than is apparent. The urge — or summons — to make something special for a musically inclined friend or relative will eventually strike anyone known to make instruments. Explaining the economic realities of instrument making is embarrassing at best. I have sat in the homes of luthiers in several countries and listened as they played a cheap offshore instrument. Believe me, you are not alone. This book may help provide a solution. 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, 2010May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Hurdy-Gurdies Questions: Hurdy-Gurdies by Debbie Suran, and Harry Schwab Originally published in American Lutherie #33, 1993 We received two more answers to Mario Daigle’s request for information regarding hurdy-gurdies. Debbie Suran from Deer Isle, ME writes: I know of one book devoted to the hurdy-gurdy: The Hurdy-Gurdy by Susan Palmer, David and Charles Publ., North Pomfret, VT 05053, ISBN 0-7153-7888-0. It’s rather dry, but you have to take what you can get. Harry Schwab from Plymouth, MI writes: A nice kit for the hurdy-gurdy is made by Musicmaker’s Kits, Inc., 423 S. Main, Stillwater, MN 55082.
Posted on January 6, 2010May 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: The Early History of the Viol by Ian Woodfield Review: The Early History of the Viol by Ian Woodfield Reviewed by Christopher Allworth Originally published in American Lutherie #5, 1986 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 The Early History of the Viol Ian Woodfield Cambridge University Press, 1984 Out of print (1999) This is for the instrument maker or prospective instrument maker with an historical bent who wants to be inspired into making viols. While this book will not tell him or her how to make a viol (see Bottenberg, Building a Treble Viola da Gamba, 1980, Concordia University) it will provide the historical information necessary for an understanding of the instrument’s evolution up to 1700. Thus, it will encourage the discerning maker especially. This book is a very significant one, for not only is it the first major volume on viols in twenty years, it is the first book to address the “new wave” of viol making; when, with Ian Harwood’s article “An Introduction to Renaissance Viols,” Early Music, October 1974, and the articles contributed by Pringle, Harwood/Edmunds, and Hadaway in Early Music’s second viol issue, October 1978, we became aware of the many faces of the viol as distinct from the rather all-purpose one to which we had become accustomed. In other words, the wave of fresh insights into the harpsichord field initiated by Frank Hubbard in his Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making, 1965, is now being repeated here in the field of viols and therefore Woodfield’s contribution is an exceedingly important and useful one. 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 6, 2010May 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: Geometry, Proportion, and the Art of Lutherie by Kevin Coates Review: Geometry, Proportion, and the Art of Lutherie by Kevin Coates Reviewed by R.E. Bruné Originally published in American Lutherie #4, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Geometry, Proportion, and the Art of Lutherie Kevin Coates Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1985 Out of print (1999) I have avoided reviewing books on the subject of lutherie in the past since most of them didn’t really merit reviewing. Books of the how-to type on the subject seem to find their market in spite of poor writing and illustration, lack of scholarship, and/or incompetence on the part of their authors. This book by Kevin Coates deserves mention for its total lack of any of the above shortcomings and really sits in a class by itself in terms of scholarship in lutherie in the English language. The book is a study of the application of geometry and proportion as understood by the makers of the Renaissance and Baroque Eras to their instruments. While this seems at face value to be a rather elementary endeavor, in fact it requires more than a superficial understanding of the principles of Euclidian geometry and the historical background of their application in the West, especially as they relate to lutherie. Consequently, one is very hard pressed to encounter ideas and writing on the subject in English from other sources, aside from a few articles on lutes and related instruments in the Galpin Society Journal by Friedman Hellwig and perhaps a handful of others. 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 6, 2010May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: Experimental Musical Instruments Review: Experimental Musical Instruments Reviewed by Fred Carlson Originally published in American Lutherie #3, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Experimental Musical Instruments A Newsletter for the Design, Construction, and Enjoyment of New Sound Sources Published bimonthly Magazine defunct (1999) Volume 1, #1 (1975) In a world of luthiers trying, with all the intensity luthiers are capable of, to see who can make the best Martin or Strad copy, this publication is a potential breath of fresh air. It is my personal opinion that we as luthiers have to not only continue traditions, but evolve, expand, even break out of them entirely at times, in order to keep them vibrant and meaningful. Experimental Musical Instruments is a newsletter that seems to me to get to the heart of this issue. Creation is what it’s all about: using existing knowledge as a basis to experiment, learn more, and have fun. And maybe make some real breakthroughs in the process. 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.
