Posted on September 25, 2026September 25, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Charles Fox Meet the Maker: Charles Fox by Fred Carlson Originally published in American Lutherie #52, 1997 I had the opportunity (blind luck, you might call it) to study with Charles Fox in 1975 at the beginning of his School for Guitar Research and Design’s rise to prominence as one of the premier guitar-building schools in the country. Much more recently, in August of 1995, I attended a session of The American School of Lutherie, Charles’s updated take on lutherie education. I had been asked by the GAL to interview Charles, but our schedules made it difficult to connect. We finally sat down and had a fine, rambling phone conversation in late fall of ’95. What follows here is my notes from that conversation, organized into this interview format with a bit of journalistic license. Charles, I know you have a background in the fine arts; in fact, I remember seeing some paintings of yours back in Vermont. Is that what led you to lutherie? In a way, I still think of myself as a painter who is currently not working. In the mid to late ’60s I was studying flamenco guitar, taking lessons through Sherry-Brenner, who import fine guitars. I found that they had materials for guitar construction, and a British instructional pamphlet; I built a guitar at home, and loved it. I stopped playing, built another and another, a couple of flamencos, a classic, and then a couple of steel strings which sold immediately. 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 September 25, 2026September 25, 2026 by Dale Phillips A Guitar Is Born: Attending Charles Fox’s Guitar Making Course A Guitar Is Born: Attending Charles Fox’s Hands-On Guitar Making Course by Mark French Originally published in American Lutherie #136, 2019 See also, The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part One by Mark French The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Two by Mark French The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Three by Mark French The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Four by Mark French The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Five by Mark French The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Six by Mark French Charles Fox started making guitars when I was four. Recently, at age fifty-four, I found myself a student in his acoustic guitar making class at the American School of Lutherie. I’ve been building guitars for a while, but am mostly self-taught, with no formal training before now. I eventually came to realize that I was stuck. I was building using skills I mostly acquired the hard way or from videos and books. My guitars were adequate, but to get better I needed to spend time building with an accomplished luthier. I talked with Charles to determine the class schedule and content which would fit my needs, and signed up for the two-week acoustic guitar class. 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 September 10, 2026October 8, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Collectors: Forderer and Westbrook Meet the Collectors: Forderer and Westbrook by Cyndy Burton Originally published in American Lutherie #94, 2008 At the 2006 GAL Convention I spoke to Jim Forderer from California, and Jim Westbrook from Brighton, England, about their collections of historical guitars and their adventures in building those collections. At both the 2004 and 2006 GAL Conventions they arrived together in Forderer’s outsized RV packed to the ceiling with the most incredible road show this interviewer has had the pleasure to see. I began by asking Jim Forderer how he started collecting. I played violin as a kid, starting as a four-year-old and playing through school and with a Country and Western group in college. Then I began to be interested in guitar, and bought a $10 guitar in Mexico. I played that guitar until it wore out. After I left school I didn’t play guitar for many, many years. I had a career as a horseman, and then got married and had a number of children, about thirty-two.... 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 September 10, 2026September 29, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: R.M. Mottola Meet the Maker: R.M. Mottola by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #109, 2012 R.M. Mottola is one of those rare individuals who can delve into serious matters without taking himself too seriously. The formal nature of his reporting in American Lutherie often keeps this from coming through, so we’re pleased to introduce him to you in a friendlier setting. We think you’ll be surprised. You’re involved in a pile of different lutherie activities. Maybe we can first quickly go through your lutherie history and then probe some areas a bit deeper. How did you get started in 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 September 9, 2026September 25, 2026 by Dale Phillips Manuel Reyes: Guitarrero Manuel Reyes: Guitarrero by R.E. Brune Originally published in American Lutherie #84, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Born in 1934 in Jayena, Granada, Manuel Reyes moved with his family to Córdoba in 1944 and began his association with the guitar in 1949. In this same year he begins his personal diary in which he records his lifelong love affair with the instrument. It was through a friend named Señora Carmen Luque that Manuel was introduced to lutherie. She allowed Manuel to borrow a dilapidated guitar in need of restoration which Manuel proposed to study for the purpose of making a copy for his own use and also to have the instrument restored for Sra. Luque. Realizing that perhaps the restoration was more than he had bargained for, Manuel took the guitar to the shop of Miguel Rodríguez in Córdoba, who quoted 250 pesetas for its restoration (about $10 in today’s money). However, Manuel’s father objected, not because of the cost, but because he feared that Manuel would be lured by the siren call of the guitar, and like his grandfather who was also guitarist, spend too many hours away from his family playing the guitar. So Manuel went to friends who were carpenters and prevailed upon them to loan him their tools and supplies in order to try to restore the guitar himself. After six months he was unsatisfied with the results and decided to make a guitar from scratch for himself, which after some time he completed. The same month he finished the guitar, he made the acquaintance of Joaquin Sánchez Galisteo, who had been a student and employee of Miguel Rodríguez the elder; and as Manuel describes this association, Joaquin became his maestro. 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.
