Posted on July 8, 2024May 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips At the Outer Limits of Solid Geometry: The “Twisted Neck” Guitar At the Outer Limits of Solid Geometry: The “Twisted Neck” Guitar by Leo Burrell Originally published in American Lutherie #12, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 I was greatly amused by remembering my own struggles while reading the articles in AL#8 about the compound radius of the fretboard. I was actually practicing these techniques before knowing what a plain old radius is. I have only been in the music business since applying for patent letters for my naturally rotated (twisted) string assembly (all of the components that define the string alignment: nut, neck, bridge, top of the body). That was April 1984. And I never would have built an instrument at all, let alone carve a compound radius, if the “Music Moguls” had had any respect for my invention. But they didn’t, so I did. I enclose a photograph of me holding an instrument I modified in June 1984. I shaped the neck from a solid block of cherry given to me by Dan Rowe, shop teacher at Western Beaver High School, Industry, Pennsylvania. I whittled and otherwise shaped it during evenings for about two weeks, using the kitchen counter for a workbench. Oddly enough, I roughly followed the procedure you described in your article “Cylinders Don’t Make It” to shape the fingerboard. However, in my case, the procedure was complicated by the approximate 45° rotation. 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 July 7, 2024May 6, 2025 by Dale Phillips Heat Pressing Necks Heat Pressing Necks by Tim Olsen Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #86, 1978 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1998 Heat pressing a neck to improve the playing action is a rather simple process both in theory and practice. Basically, the procedure involves heating the neck to soften the wood resins and the fretboard-to-neck glue joint. Then the neck is held in the desired position until it is thoroughly cooled and the glue and resins are hardened again. I will assume that you know what neck shape you’re shooting for, although this is a subject of much subtlety and debate. The heat pressing setup that I used for several years consisted of one 250W Sears infrared bulb (red), a porcelain socket on a clip base, two C-clamps, several 1/4" leather pads, and the edge of my bench. 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 July 5, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Adjustable Truss Rod Adjustable Truss Rod by Jim Williams Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #277, 1984 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1998 For many and varied reasons, many luthiers are wary of adjustable truss rods when building instruments. The most obvious reason is the difficulty of making and fitting a conventional truss rod as used by Gibson, Guild, and others. The efficacy of this system is often doubtful as well, plus there’s the legacy of broken pegheads that often results from the excavation of wood to accommodate the adjusting wrench. The drawings illustrate the difference in operation between the conventional system and the system I am describing which is similar to that used by Gurian and Rickenbacker. This method is also great for mandolins. You will need a 3' length of 3/16" steel rod, a small block of brass 1/2"×1/2"×3/8", a 3/16" U.N.S. thread Allen nut (what you in the U.S. call 10×32) and some 3/4" wide fiberglass packaging tape. 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 13, 2024May 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Scalloped Fretboard The Scalloped Fretboard by Dave Schneider Originally published in American Lutherie #11, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 The Indian culture introduced the bending of strings on a fretted instrument. They elevated the frets by means of bridges to accommodate string-bending techniques. Later they changed the bridges to arched pieces of wire tied on around the back of the neck. Citterns (a medieval instrument with wire strings) had a slightly scalloped fingerboard because the frets were about level with the fingerboard. John McLaughlin brought this type of string bending to the Western hemisphere with the group Shakti. He incorporated the use of Indian instruments (tabla, tambora) with L. Shankar’s violin and his custom-built “drone string guitar.” Three of these scalloped neck guitars were made for him in the Gibson custom shop by Abraham Wechter in late ’75. They had seven “drone” strings running diagonally across the soundboard and the fingerboards were scalloped between the frets to accommodate the Indian-style string bending. 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 2, 2020May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips New Directions in Violin Making New Directions in Violin Making by Joseph Curtin from his 2008 GAL Convention lecture Originally published in American Lutherie #97, 2009 I started violin making as a frustrated player. My viola teacher’s husband was a viola maker, and at some point I just switched rooms. Otto Erdesz was his name, and he was a kind of crazy genius. I had a very informal education with him, which I realize now was good in some ways. He used to say, “If you take my advice, you do what you want.” The first instrument I made was a viola based on an asymmetrical model of his which had the upper bout cut away so you could reach higher positions. It seemed like a very good idea. He made about twenty of them, and then got frustrated at the resistance of musicians. Just the fact that it was different was a disadvantage. I moved into traditional violin making, which means more or less making copies of instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries. Trying to do that well, trying to do that in a beautiful way and a faithful way and a way that sounds good, is an absolutely fascinating technical challenge. It’s very useful to have the limits provided by these traditions. But after twenty years I started to feel that making another Guarneri copy was a little boring. My mother is a painter and my father is a photographer, so I come from a visual arts background. In the visual arts, the general idea is to do something different each time. It would be embarrassing to do the same painting twice. With crafts, there’s an emphasis on repetition of forms. I think there can be a balance between those approaches in instrument making. And I think there is much more openness now to new design ideas among violin makers, and I’m sure among guitar makers too. I’ll show the work of various makers, including myself. I don’t want to give the impression that this is a major movement. It’s small, but hopefully it will grow. It’s fun to spend some of your time following your imagination as much as the traditions. 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.
