Posted on June 6, 2024May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Parlor Guitar Plans Questions: Parlor Guitar Plans by Walter Carter Originally published in American Lutherie #90, 2007 ■ Robert W. from the Internet asks: I have been looking on the web for plans for a parlor guitar with floating bridge and tailpiece rather than a pin bridge. Can’t find them. Any ideas? Could you tell me the names of some of the instruments that used this construction so I can look them up? Walter Carter of Nashville replies: I don’t know of any published plans for parlor guitars with floating bridges. Haynes would be the most commonly seen vintage examples, although they are rare. I came across some others in catalogs from Lyon & Healy, from the early 1900s. One catalog is for distributors. It says nothing about L&H but the guitars are clearly theirs, under such models/brands as Jupiter, Columbus, Lakeside, and Marquette. All are cheap ($7–$13) and all have a simple stamped metal tailpiece. From the same general period, another catalog has Lyon & Healy brand College Line guitars with the same cheap tailpieces, priced $3.50–$10. ◆ Christopher D. Tallon provided this picture of the body of an 1856 Haynes guitar with the back off and the center reinforcing strut removed. Photo by Christopher D. Tallon. A catalog illustration of a Jupiter guitar by Lyon & Healy.
Posted on June 6, 2024May 29, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Les Paul Flametop Plans Questions: Les Paul Flametop Plans by Saul Koll Originally published in American Lutherie #70, 2002 David E. Johnson from cyberspace asks: Is it possible to get plans for a 1959–1960 Les Paul Flametop or 1957 Les Paul Custom Black Beauty? Saul Koll of Portland, OR responds: I am aware of plans for a late ’50s Les Paul Custom drawn by Don MacRostie from Stewart MacDonald, part #857 (800-848-2273; www.stewmac.com). I would recommend this to anyone interested in making electric guitars, even for someone who wasn’t particularly interested in making Les Pauls. There are many internal dimensions and construction details that are quite useful. Good luck! ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024May 28, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Workbench Plans Questions: Workbench Plans by Ellis McMullin and Wolodymyr Smishkewych Originally published in American Lutherie #81, 2005 Kevin from cyberspace asks: Where can I find plans for a guitar builder’s workbench? Ellis McMullin of Kent City, Michigan answers: The short answer is that you can use any workbench with the proper jigs and fixtures. I doubt you will find two identical benches unless they are in the same shop. The longer answer: I recommend The Workbench Book by Scott Landis (Taunton Press, 1998; ISBN: 1561582700) as a guide in choosing a workbench style. In Chapter 14, workbenches used by Dan Erlewine, Ervin Somogyi, Mark Stanley, and Richard Schneider are discussed. A general plan of the bench that Richard used is included in the book. The book is a wealth of information and includes four detailed plans of workbenches in the Appendix. Wolodymyr Smishkewych of Bloomington, Indiana adds: In addition to the Landis book, if you have a spare barber’s or dentist’s chair handy, you might take a look at AL#9, “Barber Chair Workbench” by Michael Sanden (also in The Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume One, p. 343). In the end, your bench will be a combination of your needs, ideas both yours and others’, and the materials at hand. And your needs will be dictated by what you build, as in my case: what is the best bench height for hurdy-gurdies? Good luck!
Posted on June 6, 2024May 27, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Kit Fiddle Drawings Questions: Kit Fiddle Drawings by Robert Hickey Originally published in American Lutherie #90, 2007 ■ Robert Hickey of Liberty, North Carolina asks: Last weekend I learned about “kit fiddles” (also called dancing master’s violins) while visiting the historical area at Williamsburg, Virginia. Where could I obtain detailed drawings of the instrument? Robert Hickey answers his own question: Thanks for passing on the info from Darcy Kuronen at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, pointing to the kit violin at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. Michael Latcham, Curator of Musical Instruments there, mentioned the oddity of this instrument and also that the instrument has no sides, and they are not even sure if it was ever a viable instrument. But he did refer to luthier Claude Lebet in Rome (www.claudelebet.com), who examined their instrument and has information on other such instruments. He has written a book on the subject, La Pochette du Maître à Danser, which includes text in both French and English. It is a history of kit violins from the 1400s to the present with a wealth of photos of instruments held in museums mostly in Europe, but a dearth of drawings from which an instrument could be constructed. These instruments were made in a variety of sizes and styles to no particular standard other than the ability to fit into a coat pocket of the time. This lack of standardization may well be the reason that there are few if any plans available. It seems that the builder is free to do whatever works. I wonder if there was any bracing inside. These instruments were much more than curios for several hundred years. The era’s greatest luthiers made many of them, including Stradivari. Too bad they fell from favor. ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: 15 String Lap Harp Plans Questions: 15 String Lap Harp Plans by Art Robb Originally published in American Lutherie #98, 2009 Shirley Ward from the Internet asks: I am looking for blueprint plans for a regular triangular shaped 15-string lap harp, also referred to as a plucked psaltery. But not the hognose style. Art Robb from Wiltshire, England responds: The word psaltery covers a range of instruments. The plucked psaltery comes in many shapes, but I have not seen a triangular one. Trapezoids are the shape used most often these days although old paintings and sculpture more often shows the hognose shape. The tuning is usually diatonic. Plucked psalteries are very old, arriving in the west sometime after 1000AD, and they are ancestors of the hammered dulcimer, the harpsichord, and, eventually, the piano. The bowed psaltery is relatively modern. I can find no reference for them before 1890 and certainly no medieval references. It appears to have been invented for school use, and although it looks old, it simply is not. They are usually triangular, as this allows access to the strings with a bow. The tuning is chromatic with a scale on one side and the accidentals on the other. Fancy players will use two or more bows. I used to teach musical instrument making evening classes and developed a range of plans for the students. One plan for both a plucked psaltery and a bowed psaltery can be purchased from my website at www.art-robb.co.uk. ◆
