Posted on June 20, 2019May 28, 2025 by Dale Phillips Guitar Swap! Guitar Swap! guitars and text by John Calkin and Steve Kinnaird previously published in American Lutherie #81, 2005 John Calkin: When I suggested to Texas luthier Steve Kinnaird that we build each other a guitar I had no specific agenda in mind. Though I spend my work weeks building acoustic guitar bodies for Huss & Dalton, I feel it’s important to build an occasional complete instrument just to keep in practice. Company policy prevented me from building flattops for sale but not from building for trade or gift. And frankly, I had enough nice guitars sitting around the house that I didn’t feel like building another for myself. Trading guitars with Steve sounded like fun. We were already good friends who trusted each other, and we knew each other’s work well enough to know that we were on equal footing as luthiers. Most of the fun for me was in not telling Steve what I wanted or expected in my guitar. He, too, decided that surprise would be the most delicious element of the swap. 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 20, 2019May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Searching for Blue Significance Searching for Blue Significance by John Calkin previously published in American Lutherie #56, 1998 I guess I heard about Scott Chinery’s collection of blue guitars at the same time as everyone else. The photo of a necklace of sky-colored archtops lounging on the grass appeared in magazines well outside the field of music. And my reaction was probably the same as everyone else’s — where does this guy get his money? I was glad Chinery had dumped so much bread into the lutherie community, but otherwise I didn’t see the point. So when the staid Smithsonian Institution decided to house the collection for awhile, I was amused and confounded. What was going on here? I knew two things for sure. First, as a connoisseur of vintage instruments and a collector of wide renown, Scott Chinery was a man to be reckoned with. In the early ’90s he made a short video (available from Stew-Mac) which skimmed off some of the creamier bits of his collection for the home viewer, and let’s just say that any one piece would make any musician’s day turn golden. If the above question about his money seems rude, you should know that Chinery is very up-front about the subject on video and freely talks about what he paid for certain pieces and what sort of tempting offers he has refused for his vintage groovies. My friend and guitar teacher, Mitch Block, played a party at Chinery’s New Jersey home and came back stupefied by the shear quantity of fine (not to mention important) guitars he saw there. 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 20, 2019May 27, 2025 by Dale Phillips The New Violin Family The New Violin Family by Alan Carruth previously published in American Lutherie #86, 2006 See also, Meet the Maker: Carleen Hutchins by Alan Carruth The Catgut Acoustical Society and the New Violin Family Association by Robert J. Spear These diagrams are intended to show the relative sizes of the octet instruments; dimensions shown are not definitive. Detailed full-scale plans are available from the New Violin Family Association. The neck of the small bass as shown here is longer than might be expected. This is to ease the transition between a standard bass viol and the octet small bass. Small basses have also been built successfully with necks that are more in scale with the instrument body. The largest five instruments are played on endpins. 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 19, 2019May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips A Friendly Interview with Donald Warnock A Friendly Interview with Donald Warnock by David B. Sheppard previously published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly 8 #2, 1980 Could you say something about when and how you happened to get into instrument building? How did you choose early instruments as opposed to making copies of Martin guitars? My interest in musical instruments came through a generalized association of the guitar with good times and nice sounds. It was the typical instrument when I was growing up. I was always charmed by the possibilities and the actuality of the guitar as a music making machine. As I grew up, I became interested in the fine arts and spent a lot of time studying and practicing as a painter. However, I found that I didn’t really want to pursue a career as a fine artist because I wasn’t much interested in promoting my work or producing a consistent body of work. What I like to do is stand in front of an easel and explore visual possibilities. That was getting me nowhere as far as establishing myself as a self-sustaining individual. I did other things for awhile, among which was restoration of prints, drawings and paintings. I was fascinated with ancient methods and the incredible results that were possible when a tradition which was extremely practical in the decorative and the visual dine arts was handed down from master to apprentice. The ease with which materials could be manipulated in an artistic way always intrigued me. This kind of exploration, although I didn’t pursue it fully in painting, has turned out to be very useful in certain aspects of instrument making such as varnishing, carving or the designing of decorative elements. 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 14, 2010May 28, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance by Douglas Alton Smith Review: A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance by Douglas Alton Smith Reviewed by Bryan Johanson Originally published in American Lutherie #73, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance Douglas Alton Smith ISBN 0-9714071-0-X Lute Society of America, 389pp. 2002 www.lutehistory.com Being a witness to history is an exciting and dynamic experience. Every day we follow events that shape our future and define our past. Music history during the past century turned out to be one of the most fluid and exciting periods ever experienced. We saw the rise to dominance of the recording industry and the decline and continued struggle of the music-publishing business. Composers, once the driving, creative force in music history, were marginalized by the surge of dynamic performers seeking their turn in the driver’s seat. This new wave of musical leadership created performance vehicles for themselves largely by exploring music of the past. As a result, buried treasures have been rediscovered. The music of Bach is no longer an occasional academic event, but a daily concert hall occurrence. Compositions by great Renaissance composers Josquin, Palestrina, Morales, Gesualdo, and Victoria can now be heard on recordings and in concerts almost anywhere in the civilized world. Performers have continued to reach into the past with courage and curiosity, reviving repertoire like ancient plain chant, early Greek and Roman music, and the mystic compositions of Hildegard von Bingen. There seems to be no limit to the vast musical treasure trove of the past. This rediscovery of early and ancient music was one of the most important trends in the 20th century, and it appears to still be gaining momentum in this new millennium. In this brave new world of early music, scholarship, musicianship, and craftsmanship have become equal partners. One of the most impressive revivals during the last fifty years was the rebirth of the lute and its music. Once the most popular instrument in Europe, the lute was extinct by the end of the 19th century. Of the many thousands of compositions written for the lute, none were in circulation. Of the many thousands of instruments, only a handful survived as antique curiosities. As society entered the 20th century, the lute and its music was certifiably dead. However, a curious thing about musical instruments and their music is that death is not as terminal as it is for us mammals. There is no way to bring back a living dinosaur or any number of extinct species of birds, fish, and animals. But the lute, that’s a different story. With scholars like Douglas Alton Smith, luthiers like Robert Lundberg, and performers like Paul O’Dette working on its behalf, the revival of the lute is now in full flower. 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. Review: A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance by Douglas Alton Smith Reviewed by Bryan Johanson Originally published in American Lutherie #73, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance Douglas Alton Smith ISBN 0-9714071-0-X Lute Society of America, 389pp. 2002 www.lutehistory.com Being a witness to history is an exciting and dynamic experience. Every day we follow events that shape our future and define our past. Music history during the past century turned out to be one of the most fluid and exciting periods ever experienced. We saw the rise to dominance of the recording industry and the decline and continued struggle of the music-publishing business. Composers, once the driving, creative force in music history, were marginalized by the surge of dynamic performers seeking their turn in the driver’s seat. This new wave of musical leadership created performance vehicles for themselves largely by exploring music of the past. As a result, buried treasures have been rediscovered. The music of Bach is no longer an occasional academic event, but a daily concert hall occurrence. Compositions by great Renaissance composers Josquin, Palestrina, Morales, Gesualdo, and Victoria can now be heard on recordings and in concerts almost anywhere in the civilized world. Performers have continued to reach into the past with courage and curiosity, reviving repertoire like ancient plain chant, early Greek and Roman music, and the mystic compositions of Hildegard von Bingen. There seems to be no limit to the vast musical treasure trove of the past. This rediscovery of early and ancient music was one of the most important trends in the 20th century, and it appears to still be gaining momentum in this new millennium. In this brave new world of early music, scholarship, musicianship, and craftsmanship have become equal partners. One of the most impressive revivals during the last fifty years was the rebirth of the lute and its music. Once the most popular instrument in Europe, the lute was extinct by the end of the 19th century. Of the many thousands of compositions written for the lute, none were in circulation. Of the many thousands of instruments, only a handful survived as antique curiosities. As society entered the 20th century, the lute and its music was certifiably dead. However, a curious thing about musical instruments and their music is that death is not as terminal as it is for us mammals. There is no way to bring back a living dinosaur or any number of extinct species of birds, fish, and animals. But the lute, that’s a different story. With scholars like Douglas Alton Smith, luthiers like Robert Lundberg, and performers like Paul O’Dette working on its behalf, the revival of the lute is now in full flower. In his brilliant and beautiful new book, A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Douglas Alton Smith has given us a wonderfullywritten account of the rich history of that once seemingly extinct instrument. Although the lute is most immediately related to the Arabic oud, Mr. Smith takes pains to trace the origin of the lute to much earlier times. The lute’s connection to ancient Greek culture, with its influential philosophy, music theory, and aesthetics, shaped the development of the Renaissance lute as much as its more recent Arabic heritage. Tracing the origin of any string instrument into antiquity is a tricky business. There are many ways in which an author’s narrative can become bogged down in slogging through all the loose ends and fragmented bits. What is so refreshing about Mr. Smith’s book is the strength of its vision. His writing about the lute’s far-distant past is fluid and engaging. Once he moves us into the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, the historical evidence is much less speculative. He clearly traces the rise of the lute’s popularity, country by country. The reader will no doubt delight in the scope of the tale. Mr. Smith has woven many historical threads together to give us a complex and complete picture of the lute as it existed in society. To follow the early history of the lute is to also follow the early history of music. The lute was such an important part of the musical culture of Europe that any musical development was immediately reflected in the lute’s repertoire or construction. In addition to the part played by the lute in music culture and society, Mr. Smith also traces the history of its construction. Once the book gets rolling into the more familiar terrain of the Renaissance, Mr. Smith traces the lute’s history by region and performer. There are chapters on the lute in Italy, Central and Eastern Europe, France and the Lowlands, and England. Naturally we are treated to mini-biographies of such musical giants as the brilliant and influential Francesco Canova da Milano, Vincenzo Galilei, Lorenzino di Roma, Hans and Melchior Newsidler, Valentine Bakfark, Adrian Le Roy, John and Robert Johnson, Daniel Bacheler, and the incomparable John Dowland. In addition to the copious biographical information, Mr. Smith has illuminated many of them with musical examples and illustrations. One interesting addition is a chapter on the history of the vihuela in Spain. As many enthusiasts know, the lute did not flourish in Renaissance Spain. The reasons for this are complex and somewhat obscure. What did flourish was an instrument that looked a bit like the guitar but was tuned and played exactly like the lute. Its history and music often show up in histories on the guitar. But the vihuela’s connection to the guitar is a weak one. The vihuela flourished for a brief period and faded into obscurity before the beginning of the 17th century. The music produced by Luis Milan, Alonso Mudarra, and Luis de Narvaez has long been claimed as transcribed guitar repertoire. However, in the last fifty years, luthiers have begun to construct modern replicas of the vihuela. This repertoire is now being reclaimed by specialists on that instrument. It is not surprising that many of this new generation of vihuelistas are lutenists who have made slight adjustments to their technique to master this distinguished music. Mr. Smith has convincingly claimed that the vihuela is simply a Spanish version of the lute. And, though the vihuela will always remain outside the history of the lute proper or the guitar proper, its temporal relationship to the lute is a more natural historical fit. Mr. Smith’s chapter on this marginally related instrument is an important addition to the vihuela’s history. There are many ways one could enjoy and use this book. It is a remarkable accomplishment in its scope and depth and literary style. For professional musicians, luthiers, and musicologists, this book is an absolute must. It will no doubt become the standard reference work on the subject for many years to come. In addition to use by scholars, luthiers, musicians, and serious-minded students, the book is also an incredibly enjoyable read. On the most obvious level, it can also be savored as a compelling historical narrative. I would suggest that anyone who listens to lute music for pleasure can enjoy this book for the same kind of pleasure. A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance is published by the Lute Society of America, and I would like to take a few moments and congratulate them for the look of the final publication. It is a beautifully prepared, edited, and laid-out book. The integration of text, musical examples, and illustrations adds immeasurably to the joy of this book. It was obviously prepared with great care and respect for the material, and the Lute Society of America is to be praised. I can’t begin to express my gratitude to Douglas Alton Smith for his efforts in bringing this book to print. His talents as an historian, scholar, and author are overwhelming. His book is a massive achievement to which the reader can return again and again for information, insights, and pleasure. His efforts on behalf of the lute and its music are inspiring, and I hope that readers of this review will immediately order their own soon-to-be-well-worn-and-well-loved copy of his fine book. ◆
