Posted on June 6, 2024January 17, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Parlor Guitar Plans Questions: Parlor Guitar Plans by Walter Carter Originally published in American Lutherie #90, 2007 ■ Robert W. from the Internet asks: I have been looking on the web for plans for a parlor guitar with floating bridge and tailpiece rather than a pin bridge. Can’t find them. Any ideas? Could you tell me the names of some of the instruments that used this construction so I can look them up? Walter Carter of Nashville replies: I don’t know of any published plans for parlor guitars with floating bridges. Haynes would be the most commonly seen vintage examples, although they are rare. I came across some others in catalogs from Lyon & Healy, from the early 1900s. One catalog is for distributors. It says nothing about L&H but the guitars are clearly theirs, under such models/brands as Jupiter, Columbus, Lakeside, and Marquette. All are cheap ($7–$13) and all have a simple stamped metal tailpiece. From the same general period, another catalog has Lyon & Healy brand College Line guitars with the same cheap tailpieces, priced $3.50–$10. ◆ Christopher D. Tallon provided this picture of the body of an 1856 Haynes guitar with the back off and the center reinforcing strut removed. Photo by Christopher D. Tallon. A catalog illustration of a Jupiter guitar by Lyon & Healy.
Posted on June 6, 2024January 17, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter to the Editor: Domino Guitar Article in AL#85 Letter to the Editor: Domino Guitar Article in AL#85 by Scott van Linge Originally published in American Lutherie #88, 2006 Hi Tim, I read with interest the article on resurrecting the ’30s Regal Le Domino guitar in AL#85. On p. 48, the second picture from the top shows the body with the back removed and the remaining two lower bout back braces still in place. What caught my eye is that they were — (drum roll) — parabolic both lengthwise and possibly in cross section, although that aspect is hard to discern. Similarly, the remaining upper transverse brace on the top is also parabolic, lengthwise. While rounded, it is not parabolic in cross section. The replacement back braces, are instead, fashioned after the heavy ones used by Martin in the ’50s, and appear noticeably taller than the original parabolic ones. From my viewpoint, they inevitably will dampen the back, preventing it from having the reinforcing capability that the original parabolic braces would have afforded. In addition to using parabolic braces on the back, Martin used some on the top, specifically the short side braces and the arms of the X brace, during their “golden era” — a fact that most luthiers and companies who copy what Martin did then (including Martin, now) seem to have missed. In fact, I have only revoiced one guitar (a Collings) that had side braces perfectly parabolic and balanced to the forces on them, so that I did not have to reshape them to bring out the highs. Apparently in lutherie, as in politics, certain lessons from the past are sometimes lost or deemed unimportant. ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024January 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Les Paul Flametop Plans Questions: Les Paul Flametop Plans by Saul Koll Originally published in American Lutherie #70, 2002 David E. Johnson from cyberspace asks: Is it possible to get plans for a 1959–1960 Les Paul Flametop or 1957 Les Paul Custom Black Beauty? Saul Koll of Portland, OR responds: I am aware of plans for a late ’50s Les Paul Custom drawn by Don MacRostie from Stewart MacDonald, part #857 (800-848-2273; www.stewmac.com). I would recommend this to anyone interested in making electric guitars, even for someone who wasn’t particularly interested in making Les Pauls. There are many internal dimensions and construction details that are quite useful. Good luck! ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024January 17, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Kit Fiddle Drawings Questions: Kit Fiddle Drawings by Robert Hickey Originally published in American Lutherie #90, 2007 ■ Robert Hickey of Liberty, North Carolina asks: Last weekend I learned about “kit fiddles” (also called dancing master’s violins) while visiting the historical area at Williamsburg, Virginia. Where could I obtain detailed drawings of the instrument? Robert Hickey answers his own question: Thanks for passing on the info from Darcy Kuronen at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, pointing to the kit violin at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. Michael Latcham, Curator of Musical Instruments there, mentioned the oddity of this instrument and also that the instrument has no sides, and they are not even sure if it was ever a viable instrument. But he did refer to luthier Claude Lebet in Rome (www.claudelebet.com), who examined their instrument and has information on other such instruments. He has written a book on the subject, La Pochette du Maître à Danser, which includes text in both French and English. It is a history of kit violins from the 1400s to the present with a wealth of photos of instruments held in museums mostly in Europe, but a dearth of drawings from which an instrument could be constructed. These instruments were made in a variety of sizes and styles to no particular standard other than the ability to fit into a coat pocket of the time. This lack of standardization may well be the reason that there are few if any plans available. It seems that the builder is free to do whatever works. I wonder if there was any bracing inside. These instruments were much more than curios for several hundred years. The era’s greatest luthiers made many of them, including Stradivari. Too bad they fell from favor. ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024January 16, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter: Zimmerman Company Made Old 7-String Guitars Letter to the Editor: Zimmerman Company Made Old 7-String Guitars by Gerhard J. Oldiges Originally published in American Lutherie #78, 2004 Tim, I enjoyed reading Fred Casey’s article about the 7-string “Russian Guitar” and would like to add some information about “Jul. Heinr. Zimmermann, RIGA.” Zimmermann is originally a German wholesale company from Leipzig specializing in dealing with Russia and Eastern Europe. A reprint of a pre-1900 catalog (published 1984) mentions offices in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Riga, and London, and shows all kinds of instruments, including harps from Lyon & Healy, orchestra instruments, lots of plucked instruments, and “7-string guitars, Russian tuning” (p. 34). The guitar shown in this chapter is quite exactly the instrument Fred Casey is writing about. I am not sure if Zimmermann had their own production in Leipzig. Paul de Wit’s World Directory of the Musical Instrument Industry from 1925/26 lists Jul. Heinr. Zimmermann as wholesaler and exporter in Leipzig and a Zimmerman factory in Markneukirchen/Saxony (founded 1919). Although the catalog also shows two photographs of a violin workshop and a brass workshop it also might be possible that Zimmermann bought other instruments like guitars from the makers in Saxony. Anyway, I think that Fred Casey’s guitar was not made in Russia. After reading the Zimmermann catalog and knowing the style of guitars made in Saxony around the turn of the century, it seems obvious to me that this guitar was also, like the other 7-string guitar (with a Zimmermann label), made somewhere in Germany (Leipzig or Markneukirchen) and brought to Russia by Jul. Heinr. Zimmermann. ◆
