Posted on March 3, 2024May 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips Marvels among the Reeds Marvels among the Reeds by Susan Norris Originally published in American Lutherie #11, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Maybe it was my fantastic upbringing with parents who were (and are) scientists, lovers of nature and animals; people who loved to have fun and who nurtured the inquisitive mind in all of us, their children. I grew up sleeping with a bobcat curled up around my head, swimming with dolphins in warm lagoons, and tramping around in pursuit of lizards in the desert. When I think of where my inspiration comes from, these marvelous communications with animals and people from all over the world come swimming colorfully into my vision. When I walk out in the woods near our shop, the trees and mountains sing inspiration to me, and I can’t help but create in ways that speak their soul and mine combined. A number of years ago, soon after I moved to Vermont from Oregon, where I had been studying violin making with Paul Schuback, I met Fred Carlson and Ken Riportella at a Guild convention in Boston, which I had miraculously stumbled upon. Their approach to instrument making excited me and rang true with my own feeling that instrument making is an evolving process, and perhaps it’s been getting a bit too stuck. There is absolutely no reason why it can’t continue to grow and flower along with the rest of us! 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 March 3, 2024May 6, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Trade Secret, a true story The Trade Secret, a true story by Michael Dresdner Originally published in American Lutherie #3, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume One, 2000 I had just turned twenty-three and had my first “real” job in a finishing and furniture repair shop after serving a one-on-one apprenticeship for what seemed like forever. Although I was convinced that I knew far more than I really did, the lure of learning offered by a different and much larger employee pool was strong, and I was eager to start. As was to be expected, there was a wealth of new finishes and techniques to absorb. Little by little, cans and bottles of strange brews became familiar and controllable tools, and a baffling array of effects was unveiled. Eventually I got to know the names and uses for all of the coatings and colorings as well as the companies that provided them. 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 March 3, 2024May 8, 2025 by Dale Phillips Where Are They Now? Where Are They Now? by Tim Olsen Originally published in American Lutherie #2, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume One, 2000 See also, The Business of Lutherie, 1980 by Richard Bruné, George Gruhn, Steve Klein, Max Krimmel, and Robert Lundberg The Business of Lutherie, 1984 by Ted Davis, Steve Grimes, Bob Meltz, and Matt Umanov Five years ago, the Guild presented its first Business of Lutherie seminar at our 1980 Convention/Exhibition in San Francisco. I recently contacted the five panelists to see how lutherie has treated them in the interim. I found that times have changed, and that the panelists have changed as well. Vintage and fine guitar dealer George Gruhn told of a wildly fluctuating and vastly changed market, and pinpoints late 1981 as the sudden end of the relatively good market conditions which prevailed throughout the seventies. At that time, the rise in value of the U.S. dollar shut off the lucrative export market, which had previously accounted for 40% of American-made guitars. The dismal conditions of 1982 and 1983 brought Gruhn Guitars to the brink of bankruptcy, and only in 1984 was George able to “climb out of the ooze onto dry land.” 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 March 2, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips High School Dreams High School Dreams by Dave Schneider Originally published in American Lutherie #10, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Years ago, I wanted to do something different, something no one else was doing. I wanted to own my own business as a guitar maker. I’m living out my high school dreams. My father showed me the art of fine craftsmanship when I was a boy. My high school woodworking teacher was a luthier. As I was one of the more advanced students he asked me if I was interested in making a guitar. I looked at Irving Sloane’s Classical Guitar Construction and told him I thought it looked too difficult, but later I said I would try. I needed a good challenge because I wasn’t really interested in academic subjects. 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 October 31, 2022May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips Attic Strads, and Why What’s Worth Something Is Worth What It’s Worth Attic Strads, and Why What’s Worth Something Is Worth What It’s Worth by Michael Darnton Originally published in American Lutherie #25, 1991 and Big Red Book of American, Volume Three, 2004 One of the most common myths of violin fanciers is the existence of the attic Strad. The chances of finding a valuable violin at a garage sale are zip (or less). In recent years the number of Strads and Guarneris discovered in this world in this way can be counted on about three fingers, and they haven’t been found in attics in Kansas. Check out places like ancient European monasteries and the country homes of nobility if you want to increase your chances of finding something good. In spite of this, every large shop has several people a week coming in with a really bad violin they have been saving as a way to finance their retirement. In addition, hundreds of amateur collectors have instruments they believe are valuable Italians, which are “prevented from receiving their rightful recognition” by owners of the big shops who either “don’t want to admit that someone else has something good” or “don’t know what they’re talking about.” They are right; someone does not know what they are talking about. It isn’t the big shop owner. In the early part of this century and the end of the last, thousands of cheap factory violins were imported into this country from Germany and Czechoslovakia. Although some of these look and sound quite nice and are made of beautiful wood, they are still just factory fiddles. Since much of a violin’s value derives from factors other than the quality of the wood and the quantity of sandpaper used in its construction, like it or not those factors don’t mean much in assessing the value of an instrument. Certainly no one would appraise a painting based on the cost of the paint and the quality of the canvas, yet many amateur violin collectors use that type of criterion for evaluating their finds. 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.
