Posted on August 11, 2021May 30, 2025 by Dale Phillips Router Jig for Shaping a Neck Router Jig for Shaping a Neck by Mike Nealon Originally published in American Lutherie #62, 2000 This jig is designed to carve a guitar neck with a constant thickness of 5/8" from the nut to about the 10th fret. The shaft of the neck has a circular cross section and is cut so smoothly that only a minimal amount of finish sanding is required. To carve a neck to this shape profile while also tapering the neck width requires that the neck billet be placed at an angle to the axis of rotation, shown schematically in Fig. 1. These particular necks, which I make for thin-body (2 1/4˝) acoustic guitars, are cut to the specifications found on the Martin dreadnought blueprint (except for the taper and the length of the heel). Since the heel is only 2" tall, the router can pass over the top of the heel. The necks are 14.05" long from the nut to the body; the region of constant thickness is 11 1/4" long, leaving 2 3/4" for the curve of the heel. The jig is made in two parts separately mounted to a base plate: an inclined router table, and a rotation stage. The router table shown in Photo 1 is a wooden box on top of which will be a template to guide the router along a straight line. The rotation stage consists of a long narrow wooden platform, Photo 2, into which will be embedded a steel rod. The rod acts as the axis of rotation and is parallel to the base plate. The top of the rotation stage is tapered at the same angle as the router table. The neck billet is clamped, fretboard surface down, to this platform. 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 April 7, 2021May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips Adjustable Neck Joints Adjustable Neck Joints by Larry Robinson Originally published as Data Sheet #190, 1981 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1998 Adjustable neck joints, although not common, are not a new idea. I got a good look at two Howe-Orme guitars from the early 1900s owned by Rick Turner which use this system. Basically, it’s just a pin through the bottom of the heel, acting as a pivot, and two adjustment screws coming out of the body just under the fingerboard. I souped up mine a bit by using all brass parts, putting a brass sleeve through the heel so the wood wouldn’t wear down and a brass plate epoxied/screwed to the back of the heel so the tension wouldn’t warp or crack it. The advantages to this system are multiple, and I haven’t noticed any loss of tone, sustain, or strength. 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 May 21, 2020May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips A Laminated Neck Design A Laminated Neck Design by Tim Olsen previously published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #50, 1977 and in Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1997 The most obvious way to make a neck is to start with a chunk of wood big enough in every dimension to engulf the entire completed neck, then simply chip away at the block until only the neck remains. The advantage to this is that there is no joinery to perform and no joints which might fail or look sloppy. More importantly, those who distrust the integrity of laminations, whether structural or acoustical, will opt for this procedure. The disadvantage is, of course, the considerable waste. The waste can be reduced by using a block of wood which will accommodate the widest portion of the fretboard, then adding wood to the peghead through the use of “ears” as in Fig. 1. 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.
Posted on August 23, 2019May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Intonation in the Real World Intonation in the Real World by Mike Doolin from his 2006 GAL Convention lecture previously published in American Lutherie #92, 2007 Getting guitars to play in tune has been a major topic of interest for many years, both for guitar players and guitar makers, and it has been a major source of frustration as well. During our current “Golden Age of Lutherie” the bar has been raised for standards of craft, playability, and tonal quality, as players have become more sophisticated in their expectations and builders have become better educated and more demanding of their own work. Expectations for accurate intonation have come along with all that: it’s no longer acceptable for a guitar to only play in tune for the first five frets, or in a few keys. Modern players are using the whole neck, exploring extended harmonies, and playing in ensembles with other instruments. They are looking for instruments that play in tune with themselves and with the rest of the musical world. It turns out that guitar intonation is a huge can of worms, because it is really two topics: ▶ What does it mean to be “in tune?” ▶ How do I make a guitar do that? 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.
