Posted on June 6, 2024May 27, 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, 2024May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter: Ray Cowell Ukes Letter: Ray Cowell Ukes by Thomas Johnson Originally published in American Lutherie #99, 2009 Dear Tim: A ukulele revival is underway in the U.K. Of special interest here is Ray Cowell, who has crafted a pair of ukes from the Titanic’s sister ship, the RMS Olympic. Captain Edward Smith was the Olympic’s first skipper, and he went on to his last command aboard the Titanic. The Olympic was dismantled in 1937, and local industries purchased salvaged timbers and fittings for further use. Ray worked as an engineer in coal mines in the early ‘60s under appalling conditions. He shifted to the paint manufacturing industry, where he developed specialized machinery; when his job evaporated, he bought and developed his own successful factory that serviced the paint industry. One of the factory’s existing buildings was fitted with materials salvaged from the Olympic: paneling, lighting, floor tile, decking, and even the main staircase. 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 June 6, 2024May 28, 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. ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Morales Guitar Questions: Morales Guitar by Tatsuo Miyachi Originally published in American Lutherie #93, 2008 Mark Botten from the Internet asks: I have a 12 string acoustic guitar with the brand name Morales. It has a lovely tone and I am trying to find out more about the guitar's heritage. It was made in Japan. The inside marking does not clearly indicate manufacturer. Can you tell me where I can find more info about this guitar? Tatsuo Miyachi from Tokyo, Japan responds: Morales is a brand of Zen-On Music Company Ltd., a large sheet-music publishing company in Japan which also sells a wide range of musical instruments. They still sell steel string guitars under the Morales brand, but I have no idea whether they still manufacture those inexpensive guitars themselves. They also sell Morales guitar strings and picks. 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 June 6, 2024May 27, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Bass Theorbo Questions: Bass Theorbo by Gregg Miner Originally published in American Lutherie #88, 2006 Roger G. from Woodlands Australia asks: While on holiday in Venice I ran across a busker playing this instrument, which I think is a bass theorbo. I’d like to make one. Are plans available? Any info on dimensions, tuning, construction, or materials would help. And is there music written for this instrument? Gregg Miner of Harpguitars.net replies: What you saw is a fairly common “hybrid” instrument that, strangely, has yet to have a commonly accepted English name. I have an entire page of them in the Hybrids Gallery of Harpguitars.net, and I classify this one as a “theorboed guitar-lute.” Historically, these were most often sold in German catalogs under the name “basslaute” (English: bass lute). This is a confusing term (and inappropriate, in my opinion) as the instrument is neither a true lute, nor a bass version of same. Similarly, the 6-string guitar-lute (our common American term) without the theorbo-style extension for additional bass strings was simply sold as a “lute.” These instruments were meant to generically emulate the appearance of a historical lute or theorbo. They share the lute’s body, but in every other way are like a guitar. In fact, the theorboed guitar-lute is tuned and played exactly like a harp guitar (similarly called a “bass guitar” in Europe). The six fretted strings (originally gut, now nylon) are tuned to standard guitar tuning, and the four to six bass strings (occasionally two, three, or nine) most commonly tuned DCBA[GF] (descending from the neck’s low E). There is also an alternate “re-entrant” tuning. 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.
