Posted on January 10, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Start by Building a Dulcimer Letter: Start by Building a Dulcimer by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #24, 1990 Dear Members, Novice luthiers need a wood that is available, inexpensive, worthy of respect, and that they are not afraid of. A couple times a year would-be guitar makers come to my shop for advice. They have done some homework, so they know the theoretical aspects of choosing wood. They won’t mail-order because this is their first step into lutherie and they want to choose the wood personally. Most find their way to the Martin factory, and when they show up again it is with a box of wood and parts that cost them a half day and at least $350. They view the wood as not only expensive, but irreplaceable. In their minds they can hear the rain forests crashing down. Months later, they want to talk guitarmaking. No, they haven’t quite started yet. They should build a little shrine and place their wood on its altar; better to sacrifice it to the lutherie gods than to splinter their dream in the workshop. 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 8, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Ivory Lute: Questions Remain Ivory Lute: Questions Remain by Robert Lundberg Originally published in American Lutherie #32, 1992 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 See also, 6-Course Ivory Lute labeled Magno dieffopruchar a venetia, ca. 1550 in the collection of J. & A. Beare Ltd. by Ken Sribnick and Gayle Miller Ivory Lute: Picture This by Ken Sribnick and Gayle Miller The paucity of historical 6-course lutes is well known, so lute makers were understandably excited when the beautiful ivory lute labeled Magno dieffoprucher a venetia surfaced at Christie’s auction house for their May sale in 1981. It sold for ₤4500, which was well below the estimate, and ended up in the collection at Charles Beare’s violin shop (J. & A. Beare Ltd., 7 Broadwick Street, London W1) where I was unsuccessful in getting access to examine it on two subsequent occasions. In July of 1982, while the lute was open in the Beare workrooms, the English lute maker Stephen Barber (11a Peacock Yard, London S.E. 17) published a nicely detailed and informative set of measured drawings consisting of two sheets with interior and exterior views plus notes. These were a welcome addition to a very short list of really complete museum-quality lute drawings. We are shown a nine-rib, somewhat shallow ivory body with dark spacers. The body, counter cap, neck block, and neck dimensions and materials conform to expectations. However, there are also depicted many unusual or unexpected features. The construction of the belly, particularly in the thicknessing, is not at all what one would expect. Also some, if not all, of the bars must be replacements. The bridge, pegbox, and nut are certainly not original. I should add that over the years there has been considerable discussion as to whether or not this lute (together with several others sharing the same provenance) is really from the mid-16th century, or whether it is a composite, or a complete fake. 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 8, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Ivory Lute: Picture This Ivory Lute: Picture This by Ken Sribnick and Gayle Miller Originally published in American Lutherie #32, 1992 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 see also, 6-Course Ivory Lute labeled Magno dieffopruchar a venetia, ca. 1550 in the collection of J. & A. Beare Ltd. by Ken Sribnick and Gayle Miller Ivory Lute: Questions Remain by Robert Lundberg These photographs prove that any luthier — right or left handed — can contribute to our Guild and its journal. Though early music is a favorite at our house, neither of us has ever met a lute we fell in love with. It’s all played on guitar. Robert Lundberg didn’t know us when he asked for some shots of what may be the only surviving 6-course Renaissance lute in original condition. We were to be in London the following month. So it was that we found ourselves using the hallway pay phone in our little tourist hotel to call Mr. Charles Beare of John & Arthur Beare Violins. He owns the lute. You’ve read his name in the New York/Los Angeles/London Times when there’s an auction at Sotheby’s/Christie’s of a Strad/Amati/Not Electric violin for over $1/2/3 million. Write ahead? Hey, we don’t even sharpen the chisels before we start! Her job is to answer the phone. She tells people not to bring in granddad’s fiddle even if it does say Stradivari. She filters for the real calls. For some reason we told it all to her instead of asking for Mr. Beare’s secretary. “I’ll ring you back,” she said. She didn’t sound committed. Our hotel didn’t even have a switchboard, just that hall phone. We paid too much airfare to bet on her call so we went out for the day. Returning that night, we found a little note by the phone. We were amazed to discover that Mr. Beare would be happy to have us photograph his lute and could we plan to spend some time to chat as well? 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 1, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud, Part Two Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud with Peter Kyvelos, Part Two by R.M. Mottola previously published in American Lutherie #95, 2008 See Also, “Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud with Peter Kyvelos, Part One” by R.M. Mottola The Top The top of the oud is “flat” and features ladder bracing and one to three sound holes with fretwork rosettes in them. However, the top is constructed to either passively encourage or actively shape the kind of bellied-in-front-of-the-bridge, humped-up-behind-the-bridge distortion common to all instruments with string anchors at the glued on bridge. More on this in a bit. Peter uses German spruce for his tops and he generally joins and then thickness sands tops well in advance of building, inventorying the joined tops for years before actually using them (Photo 1). Finished top thickness will average around 2MM, depending on the stiffness of the wood, so tops are thickness sanded accordingly at this point. The first steps in preparing the top are to cut it to shape and then mark and cut channels for the sound hole purfling (Photo 2). He uses a custom made fly cutter to cut the channels. His purfling scheme is pretty simple, and he generally uses black and white fiber violin purfling strips for this. The ends of the purfling strips are mitered and dry fitted before being glued. There is no fingerboard extension to hide the butt joint, so this work is a bit finicky (Photo 3). The purfling is glued into the channels and then scraped down once the glue dries. Then the sound holes are cut out. 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 1, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Three Holes are Better than One Three Holes are Better than One by Robert Ruck previously published in American Lutherie #91, 2007 See also, “There’s a Hole in the Bucket” by Cyndy Burton “Sideways” by John Monteleone “Herr Helmholtz’ Tube” by Mike Doolin Classical guitar maker Robert Ruck pioneered sideports for nylon string gutiars. He describes how the idea materialized out of several experiences going back to the begining of his career in the ’60s. A strong advocate, he now offers ports as an option on all of his guitars. Since late 1999, I have regularly used sideports in my guitars. My experience with the resulting 150 or so ported classical and flamenco guitars with various designs is consistent, predictable, and all positive. There is an increase in loudness both for the player and for listeners. In listening tests with several fine players, we have concluded that the guitar is louder for the audience, too. The fundamental tone quality of the guitar stays the same, but it is louder, has stronger trebles, and has a more balanced quality for the player, opening up an area of sound around the player that is not normally heard. Since we as players sit somewhat asymmetrically to the guitar and the conventional soundhole is positioned to our right, there is an area on the left side of our heads that does not receive as much sound as the right side. We grow up hearing the guitar this way, so we never question it. Players comment that it’s as if one is hearing the guitar in stereo for the first time. 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.
