Posted on July 1, 2024May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter: Photos from China Letter: Photos from China by William Garofalo Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010 Dear Tim — I just came back from two months in China. I went there to get my teeth fixed; an excellent quality four-tooth bridge was $600. I was also interested in seeing a violin factory that I had seen on Chinese television here in the USA. My wife is Chinese and we have three antennas that bring in many Chinese stations. Well, I got my teeth and then Charley, a friend of my wife, drove us out into the country to the violin factory. They make a lot of the cheaper violins that are sold in the world. It was a huge brick building with room after room filled with violins, violas, cellos, and bass viols. It was Sunday, and only one man was working. He had about twenty violins on a shelf, and he was putting the soundposts in them. I bought a special tool to set soundposts years ago, but after many hours of trying, I gave up. This man was setting the posts in about two minutes each. 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 July 1, 2024May 29, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter: Scott Chinery Letter: Scott Chinery by Bob Benedetto Originally published in American Lutherie #64, 2000 Dear Tim and Fellow GAL members, My plane just took off from Newark Airport; I’m on my way home to Tampa and thought I would drop you a line. Yesterday I attended the funeral services for Scott Chinery, a man who, in a very big way, touched the lives of so many people. A book can be written (and no doubt will be) on his accomplishments and good deeds. I’ll leave that to the professional and more eloquent writers. Over the years, we have all encountered people who influence and support us, but I can think of no individual who has had such a profound impact on our careers and lives as Scott Chinery. Scott’s Blue Guitar Collection is the most famous guitar collection in the world. It is comprised of archtop guitars made mostly by people who would have otherwise remained in obscurity. Some have probably not made an archtop since and most will never make a living as an archtop maker. Scott Chinery gave us all so much — he put money in our pockets and gave us international acclaim as the finest luthiers in the world. He did for us what none of us could have done for ourselves. Our guitars were on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution not because of our skills as luthiers, but because Scott Chinery commissioned us, then kicked down the doors and forced the world to take notice — a talent none of us have. He will be missed. ◆
Posted on June 30, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Bernard Millant Meet the Maker: Bernard Millant by Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #86, 2006 In 1973 I was a dance student at Juilliard, in New York. One of the best parts of going to school there was walking past the practice rooms and hearing some of the finest student musicians in the world at their work. One day I passed a couple of violin students who were inspecting a bow that one of them had recently acquired. I heard the other student gasp, “How much? $2,400?? I can’t believe it! What a deal!” I was living hand-to-mouth, and I was shocked. I knew that fine violins were expensive, but $2,400 in 1973 dollars for a hank of hair and a stick? Then the blinding light of stupidity hit me, and I realized that without a bow there is no violin, no cello, no viola, no orchestra, and none of the musical literature which relies so heavily on those instruments. I have been curious about bow construction ever since. Paul Schuback hosted the 2004 Violin Society of America Meeting and Competition in Portland, Oregon. When he invited me to attend and gave me the opportunity to meet Bernard Millant, an internationally recognized authority in the field of bow making, I jumped at the chance. Mr. Millant was both lecturing and judging, so he was a very busy man during the conference, but he was kind enough to meet with me one evening in his hotel room and tell me a little about his life in the craft. 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. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 30, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Dmitry Zhevlakov Meet the Maker: Dmitry Zhevlakov by Federico Sheppard Originally published in American Lutherie #89, 2007 I first became acquainted with the name of Russian luthier Dmitry Zhevlakov when I received an inquiry from a guitar maker looking for veneers to duplicate one of his famous rosettes. After some research, I discovered that Dmitry is well known in some parts of the world, such as Paraguay and Australia. In the Soviet days, Dmitry’s family was extremely limited in who they could do business with, but the Internet has done wonders to increase his contacts. Although I attended medical school in Russia before the iron curtain came down, I don’t really speak Russian. Dmitry and I communicate through a translation program, and sometimes interpreters. And his English is getting better all the time. I was impressed with Dmitry’s guitars as well as his decorative work. I decided to visit his shop in Tula, Russia. And when the guitarist I was traveling with had his guitar damaged by the airline, I found that Dmitry’s skills extended to guitar repair too! 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. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 30, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Mervyn Davis Meet the Maker: Mervyn Davis by Rodney Stedall Originally published in American Luthier #90, 2007 I first met Mervyn in 1998 at his old farm shed workshop in the countryside just outside Pretoria. I had just started my first instrument and had a need to ask questions of someone with experience in building stringed instruments. I found Mervyn to be a deep thinker, very knowledgeable, and willing to share with me the answers to my questions. Mervyn’s knowledge and insight into stringed instruments stems from many years of self-inspired building and innovation. Most South African luthiers like myself can claim to have gone through the Mervyn Davis school at some stage of their building career. The interview below serves to prove Mervyn’s willingness to share his years of experience freely with others. Mervyn, you have thirty-plus years of stringed instrument building experience. Can you tell us what instruments you have made? Guitars, violins, lutes, electrics, archtops, and mandolins of every description. But there are hundreds that I will regretfully never get around to making. My curiosity is still drawing me deeper into the endless well of questions and answers that experimentation offers and which, I am sure, is exactly what got all of us luthiers into the craft to begin with. 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. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
