Posted on March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Abel Garcia López Meet the Maker: Abel Garcia López by Federico Sheppard Originally published in American Lutherie #119, 2014 Dusk has fallen in this little corner of Mexico. Our car covers narrow mountain roads, and when we reach higher elevations, the road is covered with hail. “Is this snow?” I ask. “No Señor, this is frozen rain. It falls silently here. These are magic mountains.” A few miles later, sandbags and a checkpoint appear out of the mist. Plain men in plain working clothes handle well-worked machine guns and sawed-off shotguns, lit by dim yellow lamps. “Abel, what is this? Is there a drug problem here?” He laughs softly in his gentle way. “I can see where you might think that. But the problem here is not drugs, but protecting our trees. This village is one of the most indigenous in our country, and the local people have come together to protect their forests. The pine trees here produce a most wonderful resin, and it has been collected here for hundreds of years to produce paints and other things. The people a few villages away have many carpinteros (carpenters) and they have killed all of their forests and run out of wood. So the local people are protecting their future. This program has now become a model for local villages who wish to protect themselves from crime, robbery, and drugs.” Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on February 23, 2026February 23, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: David Cohen Meet the Maker: David Cohen by Roger Alan Skipper Originally published in American Lutherie #99, 2009 DR. Dave Cohen, of Cohen Musical Instruments, crafts guitars, mandolins, mandolas, octaves, and mandocellos in Richmond, Virginia. During a sabbatical from the chemistry classroom, Dave seized the opportunity to study the mandolin’s vibrational properties with Dr. Thomas Rossing at Northern Illinois University. From this and other studies he has produced a number of lectures and publications to complement his instruments. Dave, your website mentions a “lifelong interest in science, woodworking, and stringed instruments.” What kinds of woodworking did you do prior to lutherie? My grandfather was a carpenter, and my dad was a civil engineer. Dad knew I’d value something I made more than something I bought, so as a kid, I was always making things with my dad, using my grandfather’s tools. Between the early ’70s and the mid-’90s, I built furniture, mostly casework, that was strongly influenced by James Krenov and Sam Maloof. They still influence my stringed-instrument design. Lutherie is woodworking. Lutherie, though, integrates my background in science and mathematics, and music. I love that part of it. If lutherie were simply reproducing the instruments of the past, I doubt that I would have made more than a few instruments. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on February 20, 2026February 20, 2026 by Dale Phillips Mario Maccaferri: Feisty As Ever Mario Maccaferri: Feisty As Ever by Michael Dresdner Previously published in Vintage Guitar Bulletin Originally published in American Lutherie #2, 1985 At the age of, Mario Maccaferri has achieved that elusive and enviable status of being a “legend in his own time.” Known to some as an industrial designer and inventor, to others as a plastics magnate (he was the inventor of the plastic clothespin!), and to still others as an outstanding luthier and musician, he has left his mark on many fields in the course of his successful career. Among guitarists, Maccaferri is most well known for the interior resonator guitar which he designed and built for the Selmer Company of France in the 1930s, and which jazz players and guitar collectors associate with the great Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. But this guitar was only one of Maccaferri’s many innovations in the world of lutherie. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on February 20, 2026February 20, 2026 by Dale Phillips An Interview with Richard Schneider An Interview with Richard Schneider by Michael Keller Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, Volume 6, #4, 1978 During the recent Guild of American Luthiers Convention in Winfield, Kansas, I had the pleasure of a brief interview with the renowned luthier, Maestro Richard Schneider, known for his development of the radically innovative Kasha Design soundboard guitar. He delivered several mind-blowing lectures and demonstrations on the physics-based theories behind the guitars. The original concepts for the new system of building was developed by Dr. Michael Kasha, Director of the Institute of Molecular Biophysics at Florida State University. Working together over the last eleven years, they have brought the guitar to a new level of development no seen in the world since Torres introduces his new bracing pattern over a hundred years ago. Having apprenticed to one of Mexico’s most famous luthiers, Maestro Juan Pimentel, Mr. Schneider now makes Kalamazoo, Michigan his home, where he is employed as a consultant to Norlin Music Inc., Gibson’s Parent Company. Those who were able to attend the beautiful concert by the extremely talented artist, Jeffery Van, performing on two Schneider long model concert guitars with Kasha soundboard and bridges. I would like to ask the question concerning the Kasha design that most guitar makers who are interested would ask. How does someone obtain information and drawings so they can try building such guitars? There are several sources that I can think of that explain the concepts and have a soundboard drawing. The first I would recommend would be Britannica Yearbook of Science and the Future, 1974: ADVENTURES IN THE PHYSICS OF STRING INSTRUMENTS - From Model Physics to Modern Instrument, by Michael Kasha. That article conveys the principles very clearly. For available blueprints, the best source would be the Builder’s Manual, Guitar Edition, Copyright 1972 by Michael Kasha. Unfortunately, this is no longer available, and even more unfortunate, many people who sent for them didn’t receive them due to contract commitments with a large corporation. However, some were mailed out and several members of the G.A.L. do have copies. It’s just a matter of sharing, I suppose. There is also another article available in SCIENCE NEWS, Vol. 98, 180, August 29, 1970, by Alan Perlmeter which describes some of the theories and has a soundboard pictured. 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 February 20, 2026February 20, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: David King Meet the Maker: David King by Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #85, 2006 David King and I have been rubbing shoulders at instrument shows for years, and I have always been a big fan of his work, but the bass he had at the last Portland Handmade Musical Instrument Exhibit was stunning. Elegant and balanced, with a flawless finish, custom hardware, active EMG pickups, an onboard tuner, and every ounce accounted for — I just had to talk with him about his lutherie life and how he made these beauties. Was it instruments first, or was it music? It was music first. There were four kids and two adults in my family, and everyone played an instrument. My dad was a political science professor at U. Mass. in Amherst; he played the piano. My eldest sister played clarinet and my next sister played viola and sang. My brother was a cellist. Eventually my dad picked up the viola, too. I started violin at age seven and carried it on until I hit college, at around twenty. Then I realized that the sound of that thing right under your ear — I think little kids can take that noise better than adults can, but I was never going to be a great violinist. (laughs) You have to draw the line. I’d always listened to classical music, and it never occurred to me that there was pop music out there, or anything else that could be taken seriously. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
