Posted on February 19, 2026February 19, 2026 by Dale Phillips Arched Plate Carving, Part One: Establishing the Outside Surface Arched Plate Carving, Part One: Establishing the Outside Surface by Chris Burt Originally published in American Lutherie #84, 2005 See also, Measuring Archtop Musical Instruments by Chris Burt Arched Plate Carving, Part Two by Chris Burt Arched Plate Carving, Part Three by Chris Burt This is the second of a series of articles that take you from the basics of creating your own database of instrument measurements to applying what you have learned from those measured instruments while you carve top and back plates. The first article of the series appeared in AL#83. In this article, you will learn how to carve top and back plates. The remainder of the series will describe plate graduating. A classical guitar maker I know recently told me he began his career making carved-plate guitars, but his finished top and back plates always looked like folk art. Our conversation got me thinking about his experience and the causes of unwitting folk art. I don’t know the process he followed and so can’t comment on it, but I do remember a fiddle player who asked me for advice as he built a fiddle. His finished fiddle looked like folk art, the main reason being that he didn’t have a process. At least, he didn’t quite believe, or understand, the process he read about or the clarifications I advised. I remember telling him, more than once, that he’d not yet finished one step and so shouldn’t start the next. Inevitably, the next time I’d see his work, he’d let impatience push him into abandoning the incomplete step in favor of the illusion of progress provided by beginning a new step. 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 19, 2026February 19, 2026 by Dale Phillips Arched Plate Carving, Part Two: Graduating the Top Plate and Cutting the f-Holes Arched Plate Carving, Part Two: Graduating the Top Plate and Cutting the f-Holes by Chris Burt Originally published in American Lutherie #85, 2006 See also, Measuring Archtop Musical Instruments by Chris Burt Arched Plate Carving, Part One by Chris Burt Arched Plate Carving, Part Three by Chris Burt This is the third article in this series, which takes you from measuring worthy instruments to carving plates in the image of the instruments of your dreams. To date you’ve measured one or more fine instruments and have carved a couple of plates that require final graduation. The thickness maps you’ve recorded when measuring instruments will tell you nothing about tap tones, but they will provide a view into at least one graduation scheme that works and a general goal towards which to work. So, how do you decide when you’ve finished graduating a plate? I can only describe my method. But heck, it’s a method based on both tradition and science. Some prefer tradition, some prefer science, some follow their imagination. I like the first two with a little of the third thrown in for fun. The techniques I describe in this article are based on more than faith. I learned them from teachers more knowledgeable than I. I also learned them through study, insight, and refinement gained through practice. Also, I once deviated from these techniques to build a viola graduated strictly by thickness. The wood I used turned out to be less stiff than any I’d previously used. The resulting plates were not stiff enough. The mode 2 tap tone for the top was down around C and C♯. I didn’t like the viola’s sound and never tried to sell it. I should have kept the plates thicker. I’ve since accepted that each piece of wood is unique and varies from other pieces in both density and stiffness. 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 19, 2026February 19, 2026 by Dale Phillips Arched Plate Carving, Part Three: Barring the Top Plate, and Graduating the Back Plate Arched Plate Carving, Part Three: Barring the Top Plate, and Graduating the Back Plate by Chris Burt Originally published in American Lutherie #86, 2006 See also, Measuring Archtop Musical Instruments by Chris Burt Arched Plate Carving, Part One by Chris Burt Arched Plate Carving, Part Two by Chris Burt This is the final article in a series that takes you from creating your own database of instrument measurements to applying that knowledge to carving top and back plates. In AL#83 Chris described taking measurements of extant instruments. The next two articles covered joining plates, carving their outside archings, carving and graduating the inside arching of a top plate, and cutting the f-holes. Here he describes the barring and tuning of top plates and the graduation and tuning of back plates. The next step is making the bars that stiffen the top. The grace of these slender pieces hides a significant amount of work. The information described here works equally well for the bars of any carved-plate instrument, such as violin-family bass bars, mandolin-family tone bars, or archtop guitar barring. 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 January 15, 2026January 15, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Graham McDonald Meet the Maker: Graham McDonald by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #97, 2009 Graham McDonald has made significant contributions to American Lutherie over the years and has attended several GAL conventions, quite a long trek for an Australian. He’s written two books, The Bouzouki Book and The Mandolin Project, and has presented convention workshops to support both of them. I had the good fortune to have my convention display table next to Graham’s one year. He’s a reserved individual with perhaps the driest sense of humor on the planet. As we are both quiet guys, we shared little conversation, so I welcomed this opportunity to get to know him better. As a longtime Aussophile I couldn’t help starting out with questions about his homeland. In what part of Australia do you live? We live in Canberra, the national capital. It is a city of around 300,000 in the mountains about 200 miles southwest of Sydney and built specifically as the national capital. Life is lots slower than in the big cities and the climate is just about perfect for lutherie. Unless it is actually raining, the humidity is around 40% every afternoon. We don’t get much more than a frost on winter mornings with most winter temperatures in the 50°s (Fahrenheit). An oil column heater in the workshop keeps it warm enough most of the time. Summer is hotter with maximums up around 100°F, but again with low humidity. It can get down to 20% humidity on a hot summer’s afternoon, but a workshop humidity meter and an online weather station means that it isn’t real hard to know when it’s gluing time. 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 January 15, 2026January 15, 2026 by Dale Phillips A Flattop Mandolin Resurrection A Flattop Mandolin Resurrection by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #86, 2006 I don't see a lot of mandolins in my repair shop. There aren’t nearly as many out there as there are guitars, and they don’t seem to suffer the same affects of time and abuse as guitars, perhaps just because it is easier to put them up and out of the way. Archtop mandolins are especially strong and seem to live forever despite cracked plates and loose joinery. Flattop mandolins are a different matter. The combination of a flat top and a lot of down tension on the bridge is a recipe for failure. This particular mandolin, an Alrite Army-Navy style by Gibson, came to the Huss & Dalton shop. H&D only repairs H&Ds, but they kindly shuffle other repairs to me. The Alrite, a WWI-era instrument, had a cracked and caved top and some separation of the back. A rectangle of thin plywood about the size of a business card had been wedged between the top and the back just behind the soundhole to help support the top. The action was playable and the instrument tuned to pitch. It sounded OK but was quiet. Other than the mentioned defects, it was in pretty fair shape. A nice mosaic purfling ran around the top, and the rosette matched the purfling. I felt that the mandolin was a candidate for restoration. The only problem was that I didn’t want to do it. I put a quick repair estimate on it of $400–$450, which probably matched the value of the instrument. I sent it back downstairs with the recommendation that it be left alone. I never met the owner. 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.
