Posted on March 3, 2024May 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Marvels among the Reeds Marvels among the Reeds by Susan Norris Originally published in American Lutherie #11, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Maybe it was my fantastic upbringing with parents who were (and are) scientists, lovers of nature and animals; people who loved to have fun and who nurtured the inquisitive mind in all of us, their children. I grew up sleeping with a bobcat curled up around my head, swimming with dolphins in warm lagoons, and tramping around in pursuit of lizards in the desert. When I think of where my inspiration comes from, these marvelous communications with animals and people from all over the world come swimming colorfully into my vision. When I walk out in the woods near our shop, the trees and mountains sing inspiration to me, and I can’t help but create in ways that speak their soul and mine combined. A number of years ago, soon after I moved to Vermont from Oregon, where I had been studying violin making with Paul Schuback, I met Fred Carlson and Ken Riportella at a Guild convention in Boston, which I had miraculously stumbled upon. Their approach to instrument making excited me and rang true with my own feeling that instrument making is an evolving process, and perhaps it’s been getting a bit too stuck. There is absolutely no reason why it can’t continue to grow and flower along with the rest of us! 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 March 3, 2024May 6, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Trade Secret, a true story The Trade Secret, a true story by Michael Dresdner Originally published in American Lutherie #3, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume One, 2000 I had just turned twenty-three and had my first “real” job in a finishing and furniture repair shop after serving a one-on-one apprenticeship for what seemed like forever. Although I was convinced that I knew far more than I really did, the lure of learning offered by a different and much larger employee pool was strong, and I was eager to start. As was to be expected, there was a wealth of new finishes and techniques to absorb. Little by little, cans and bottles of strange brews became familiar and controllable tools, and a baffling array of effects was unveiled. Eventually I got to know the names and uses for all of the coatings and colorings as well as the companies that provided them. 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 March 3, 2024May 8, 2025 by Dale Phillips Where Are They Now? Where Are They Now? by Tim Olsen Originally published in American Lutherie #2, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume One, 2000 See also, The Business of Lutherie, 1980 by Richard Bruné, George Gruhn, Steve Klein, Max Krimmel, and Robert Lundberg The Business of Lutherie, 1984 by Ted Davis, Steve Grimes, Bob Meltz, and Matt Umanov Five years ago, the Guild presented its first Business of Lutherie seminar at our 1980 Convention/Exhibition in San Francisco. I recently contacted the five panelists to see how lutherie has treated them in the interim. I found that times have changed, and that the panelists have changed as well. Vintage and fine guitar dealer George Gruhn told of a wildly fluctuating and vastly changed market, and pinpoints late 1981 as the sudden end of the relatively good market conditions which prevailed throughout the seventies. At that time, the rise in value of the U.S. dollar shut off the lucrative export market, which had previously accounted for 40% of American-made guitars. The dismal conditions of 1982 and 1983 brought Gruhn Guitars to the brink of bankruptcy, and only in 1984 was George able to “climb out of the ooze onto dry land.” 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 March 2, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips High School Dreams High School Dreams by Dave Schneider Originally published in American Lutherie #10, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Years ago, I wanted to do something different, something no one else was doing. I wanted to own my own business as a guitar maker. I’m living out my high school dreams. My father showed me the art of fine craftsmanship when I was a boy. My high school woodworking teacher was a luthier. As I was one of the more advanced students he asked me if I was interested in making a guitar. I looked at Irving Sloane’s Classical Guitar Construction and told him I thought it looked too difficult, but later I said I would try. I needed a good challenge because I wasn’t really interested in academic subjects. 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 March 2, 2024May 6, 2025 by Dale Phillips This is My Life This is My Life by Phil Boulding Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly 6, #2, 1978 I have been building instruments for nearly seven years now, starting in the basement of my parents house in Boulder, Colorado, fresh out of high school, building guitars. I had only the aid of Sloane’s book, a spare-time guitar maker friend, and the experience of working with a cabinet maker for a while. Things were very slow for the first 2 years, until I got introduced to dulcimers — especially the hammered dulcimer. As soon as I started building and playing these, (it didn’t take me long to learn, as I have been playing most of my life) what appeared to be a hobby turned into a livelihood, which took another year to get on its own feet. That’s when I moved to Seattle (November ‘74) and as far as I know, I was the first hammered dulcimer builder here. Since then this heart-warming little instrument has blossomed and flourished in this city, mostly thanks to street players in the Market and Pioneer Square. Then about 1 1/2 years ago, a secret and long submerged inspiration began to surface — my love for the harp. I began taking lessons then, and shortly thereafter began building small 3-octave harps of various designs and styles. Only just last week did I finally graduate to my first large Irish Minstrel Harp, nearly 5 octaves worth, with an exquisite sound. I used my imagination to figure out how to extend the soundboard like they do in some of the larger concert harps. The rest of it is pretty much patterned after the minstrel harp in Gilds Jaffrenou’s book, Folk Harps. Pictured in my first attempt as a Romanian Cymbalom (a successful one at that!) which I designed and build in collaboration with Ian Mihai, a master of the concert cymbalom from Romania who came with 2 others to teach their music at the University of Washington here. Since I have very little connection with the University, I was very fortunate to be introduced by a student-friend. The concert cymbalom is what I would consider to be the ultimate hammered dulcimer — nearly 5 octaves in range, fully chromatic, with a very unusual arrangement of half-steps. It also features a damper mechanism, a necessity for the Romanian style music, on such a loud and ringing instrument. My instrument was scaled down approximately 3/4 size, ranging 3 1/2 octaves; patterned after the concert cymbalom temporarily in use at the university. A magical-majestic sound, the music of which I am still a novice. I am more in command of the traditional Irish music on the diatonic hammered dulcimer (along with some contemporary arrangements). 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.
