Posted on June 29, 2026June 29, 2026 by Dale Phillips Review: Michael Bashkin Fretting Course from ObrienGuitars.com Review: Michael Bashkin Fretting Course from ObrienGuitars.com by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 Fretting Course with Michael Bashkin Video download ObrienGuitars.com, $134 Twenty-seven lessons, 4:21:49 run time Viewing Michael Bashkin’s video fretting course strongly reminded me that lutherie is a thinking person’s profession. No matter how we learn an operation, and even if we work in the darkest isolation, the work slowly begins to evolve in technique, first in our minds and then on the bench. The goals of lutherie — to produce and maintain the most playable, best sounding instruments — never change, but the ways we get there change all the time. It is difficult to imagine that a luthier might so slavishly follow a teacher that his methods never develop beyond his initial instruction. Michael Bashkin is certainly one of those thinking men, and this course is not a generic description of applying frets to a guitar neck that we’ve all been exposed to those over the years. It is an in-depth method of discovering problems in a guitar neck/fretboard and solving them in such a way that the frets are perfect once they are installed, no final fret dressing required — just polish and play. 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 May 28, 2026May 28, 2026 by Dale Phillips The Business of Doing Business The Business of Doing Business by Evan Gluck Originally published in American Lutherie #120, 2014 Something really funny happened a few months ago. Erick Coleman texted a screen shot of his computer to me and he said, “Dude! Did you know this?” He had searched for “best guitar repairman in the world,” and my name was #3 on the list. After a little while it went up to #1. I’m not the best guitar repair person in the world. I know that. So something that I did, either knowingly or unknowingly, has made people respond that way. I decided to figure out why that could possibly happen, because it doesn’t make sense to me. Let me give you a little background about myself. I was born and raised in New York City, a geeky kid who built model planes. I got into playing music when I was about ten years old. I started playing bass, and the model-making thing sort of transferred over into taking my stuff apart. I remember pulling the frets out of my P-Bass. I figured out at twelve or thirteen years old that they had to come out sideways. 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 April 16, 2026April 16, 2026 by Dale Phillips Remembering Julian Bream Remembering Julian Bream by Cyndy Burton, José Romanillos, R.E. Bruné, Jeffrey R. Elliott, Kevin Aram, Gary Southwell, and Simon Ambridge Originally published in American Lutherie #142, 2021 Julian Bream was born on July 15, 1933, and died on August 14, 2020, one month after his 87th birthday. The accolades that followed were online and in print everywhere, and were consistently filled with superlatives praising his genius as a classical guitarist, his tireless commissioning and presentation of new guitar repertoire from notable contemporary composers, and his teaching and creating opportunities for the next generation of classical guitarists. But commonly overlooked in descriptions of Julian Bream’s achievements in his long career, are the fruits of his relationships with the handful of classical guitar makers he chose to build for him. He sought the best classical guitars possible to serve his musical purposes and, at the same time, inspired their makers to improve their art and craft. We are fortunate that those luthiers are represented here, and that they’ve offered memories of their interactions with Julian Bream. — Cyndy Burton 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 March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by Dale Phillips Length of Newt’s Tail by Width of Dragon’s Hair Length of Newt’s Tail by Width of Dragon’s Hair by Ken Sribnick Originally published in American Lutherie #55, 1998 Don’t hurt me. I’m going to tell you an old joke. How many luthiers does it take to split a dragon’s hair? One to split the hair, and the rest to say, “Oh, that’s how you do it.” At our 1995 convention, I heard a number of luthiers ask about measurement and precision: How do you check this? When is that flat enough? In the spirit of the little joke, I thought it might be interesting to tell you my approach. These surely aren’t the only, or necessarily the best, methods — only how one man splits dragon hair and newt’s tail in our little shop. My early lutherie and repair went slowly until an experienced luthier, a repairman in New York’s music district, helped me along. His “luthier’s gold” included explaining which measuring tools to have, and how to use them. Consistency is essential. You must strive to reduce error and deviation. To this end I have “master” reference tools in the shop: one ruler, one caliper, one flat surface, and my drawings. It doesn't matter if you use metric measurements or inches. Just pick the system you’re comfortable with, have good master references, and, stick with them. You’ll be successful. I’m metric because I tune Toyotas as well as 12-strings. 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 1, 2026April 10, 2026 by Dale Phillips The Metaphysics of the Guitar The Metaphysics of the Guitar or Some Thoughts on the Differences Between Handmade and Factorymade by Ervin Somogyi Originally published in American Lutherie #85, 2006 It may seem strange to some readers to find an article touching on metaphysics in a magazine on guitar making; it will also seem perfectly appropriate to others that such a topic be included. The metaphysics of the guitar has to do with “that extra something” that’s intangible and possibly even indefinable. Some guitars have it. Some don’t. It is variously called “the magic,” “the soul,” “the allure,” and so on, even though these terms can be elastic and elusive. None of this is exactly news to anyone who knows the guitar. I’ve thought about this. It seems to me that there are at least two components to “the magic.” The first one has to do with whether a guitar has sufficient “extra oomph” (by whatever standard one wishes to define it: tone, warmth, exquisiteness, subtlety, etc.) to warrant one’s falling in love with it. No mystery in this. This happens at the level of performance/attributes that can eventually be discerned and identified, even if at first the instrument seems magically beyond words. It really isn’t: the words can/will sooner or later be found. 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.
