Category: +Instruments

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Quick Cuts: The “Wintonbeast” 7-String Lap Steel Guitar

Quick Cuts: The “Wintonbeast” 7-String Lap Steel Guitar

by David Worthy

Originally published in American Lutherie #87, 2006



I don't know how the more unusual projects get off the ground for most people, but I vaguely remember a campfire beside the Guinness tent at the Fairbridge Folk Festival (about an hour’s drive south of Perth in Western Australia), and the usual guitar-head beer-talk that naturally ensues. Somehow eighteen months later I sent Andrew Winton a drawing with (almost) every silly idea I could think of for him to consider — and to my surprise he said, “Yeah, looks great!” So I built it. Andrew lives in Perth. I live in Melbourne, 2500 miles away.

The brief proposed seven strings, the word “orchestral” was in there, and “piano,” and, of course, “lap steel.” Andrew’s final preferred tuning was A a E a e a´ b´. String gauges run (low to high) .082", .045", .056", .045", .032", .017", and .017". The first six strings have a 27" scale; the 7th has a 36" scale. The top is western red cedar; the back and sides are Australian blackwood, as is the neck. It is bound in curly maple, and all the black is ebony. It was built in the Spanish style and required a few little inventions on the way.

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Fourth International Puerto Rican Tiple Conference

Fourth International Puerto Rican Tiple Conference

by C.F. Casey

Originally published in American Lutherie #86, 2006



What am I doing here? I’ve never been a speaker at an international conference before! And it’s not in my native language! These thoughts raced through my head on the evening of February 11, 2006, as I sat at a long table in a restaurant in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Others present were my wife, singer-songwriter Kate Ferris; Tiple Conference founder José “Pepito” Reyes; and two dozen other Tiple Movement officials, conference organizers, speakers, and spouses. It was the pre-conference supper.

It all started a year earlier, when American Lutherie editor Tim Olsen asked me to review a couple of books, one of which was in Spanish. As I had spent four years studying music in Mexico and still have a great love for the language, I was delighted. The book was El Tiple Puertorriqueño (see review in AL#81). In the course of writing the review, I needed the answers to a couple of questions and contacted author Pepito Reyes by phone. Thus began a correspondence that led to his inviting me to be a guest speaker at the Conference.

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Ukuleles Are For Real!

Ukulele Are For Real!

by Bob Gleason

Originally published in American Lutherie #1, 1985



Two years ago, when I moved to Hawaii, I told my cabinet maker shop partner that I’d never build a ukulele. I just did not consider them real instruments. I mean, when they were regularly on sale from the wholesaler at $10 to $15 each, how could I think of them as anything but toys? Well, two years down the road they earn me at least 50% of my income and sell for $275 to $500. In Hawaii they are a very real instrument.

The ukulele is commonly thought of as being Hawaiian in ethnic origin. Not so; it is of Portuguese descent. It has evolved from a small guitar called a Braguinha brought to Hawaii by the Portuguese around 1879. In Hawaiian the name ukulele means jumping flea. This refers to the rapid movement of the fingers while playing.

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Questions: Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages

Questions: Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages

by Wes Brandt

Originally published in American Lutherie #85, 2006

 

Fabio Ragghianti of Pietrasanta, Italy asks:

I’m looking for plans for stringed instruments of the Middle Ages: citara (kithara), fidula, and such.


Wes Brandt of Amsterdam, Holland responds:

No known examples of necked European stringed instruments survive from before about 1500, so they are known mainly through iconography and the written word. We can only surmise the thicknesses and internal structure. Also, seriously consider the type of stringing and string tension as you develop your own plan. The Early Music Shop in England (www.e-m-s.com/cat/stringinstruments/stringed.htm) has kits that may provide starting points for sizes and dimensions but are not to be taken as “historically correct.” A good site for photos and iconography is www.instrumentsmedievaux.org. Spend time on the Internet looking for references to books, journals, articles, essays, and iconography, then use interlibrary loans. Look for string makers such as NRI (www.nrinstruments.demon.co.uk/Guide.html), also early music societies, players, and other makers; and of course plans (``drawings’’ in England). Try searching in other languages as well; obviously you must learn the translated name of the instrument. ◆