Posted on June 26, 2019May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Colombian Andean Bandola The Colombian Andean Bandola by Luis Alberto Paredes Rodríguez and Manuel Bernal Martínez previously published in American Lutherie #96, 2008 The Colombian Andean bandola is a transcultural product similar to plectrum-played antecedents from Asia and Europe. It is a 12-string, 6-course soprano instrument with “flat” top and back, and is the solo melodic instrument in the Colombian Andean quartet, which consists of two bandolas, a tiple (see Big Red Book Volume Seven, previously published in AL#82), and a classical guitar. The name “bandola” comes from the old Persian-Arabic word pandura. Derived from the name of the European lute, the word refers to a great variety of instruments of medium and high register with melodic functions. The direct ancestor of the bandola is the guitar through the Spanish bandurria and the soprano guitars, and which after taking its form in Colombia during the 19th and 20th centuries, continues to undergo transformations in its morphology and usage. The Colombian Andean bandola has two developmental lineages: on one hand, the denomination line which makes reference to its name, and on the other, the construction line which makes reference to its morphological features (Bernal, 2003). The name of the bandola comes from the pandura (known since the 10th century) following the European lute, and one of its families known as the “mandoras family.” These 4- to 6-course instruments with thin bodies had a variety of pitches (a mixture of perfect fourths and fifths) and scale lengths ranging between 37CM and 42CM. By the year 1700, the mandolines emerged in Italy when the size of the mandola was reduced, prevailing and persisting in Italy in two different models: the Milanese mandoline with a thin, slightly arched body, and six courses of either gut or metal strings tuned in perfect fourths; and the Neapolitan mandolin with a bowl back body, a cranked (bent) soundboard just where the bridge is placed, four courses of metal strings tuned like a violin, and strings fastened to the end of the body by way of a tailpiece. The scale for both models is about 32CM to 34CM. In the 18th century, mandolins began to be manufactured with flat or slightly arched sides and back, especially in France, Germany, and Portugal. 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 14, 2010May 28, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: The Guitar of Andres Segovia Hermann Hauser 1937 Review: The Guitar of Andres Segovia Hermann Hauser 1937 Reviewed by Tom Harper Originally published in American Lutherie #83, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 The Guitar of Andrés Segovia Hermann Hauser 1937 Liner notes by Richard Bruné and Don Pilarz Produced by Dynamic S.r.l., Genova, Italy Dynamic catalog number CDS 433 Wouldn’t it be great to have in one source working drawings, textual explanations, photographs, and recordings of one of the most important instruments ever built? Dynamic’s offering does exactly this. Richard Bruné, Don Pilarz, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art collaborated to create a definitive description of Andrés Segovia’s famous 1937 Hauser guitar. The result is a boxed set containing a multilingual pamphlet (Italian, English, German, and French), three sheets of full-scale working drawings, a full-length audio CD of Segovia playing the instrument, and a poster. All this fits into a box that is about 6" × 9" × 3/4". The pamphlet describes Segovia’s challenges to establish the guitar as a serious classical instrument, the requirements for the instrument, technical details about it, and its physical state. One also gets a sense of Hermann Hauser as a builder. It is clear that he did not create great instruments by accident or luck. There are also almost thirty color photographs that display important details of the outside and inside of the instrument that are very useful to a builder wanting to create a Hauser-style instrument. The writing is clear and concise and provides construction details that I have not seen elsewhere. 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 12, 2010May 29, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: Benedetto Archtop Plans Review: Benedetto Archtop Plans Reviewed by Dave Riggs Originally published in American Lutherie #66, 2001 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Benedetto Archtop Plans Drawn by Skot Koenig Stewart-MacDonald Any veteran writer knows it is probably not a good idea to gush praise upon a product which he is reviewing, and I always want to seem professional in the eyes of good writers in case one of them reads this. Therefore, knowing I may go to hell for it, I must warn you all to get ready for the gush. Although plans have been published of a classic Epiphone by Scott Antes as well as D’Angelico New Yorkers by both Steve Andersen and Tom Ribbecke, the ones recently published by Bob Benedetto are unique among all such plans and are deserving of special mention. Forget that these new drawings are of guitars currently in production by a living luthier and that archtops may not be of interest to all guitar makers. The drawings are worth buying for several reasons, whether or not this particular instrument is of significance to you. 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 10, 2010May 26, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter: First Guitar Letter: First Guitar by Gretchen Weeks Brough Originally published in American Lutherie #45, 1996 Dear GAL, I am a new member, in the process of making my first guitar — a flattop acoustic cutaway. I became interested in lutherie when my husband needed a quality acoustic guitar and we couldn’t afford what he wanted. I asked a local luthier about learning the art, and his recommendation was to get all the books and videos I could find, and then buy a kit from Martin as a first project. This, we could afford! In AL#43, a letter from Mr. Rick Topf mentions computer aided design (CAD), and wondering if there would be any interest in drawings done in AutoCAD format. There certainly is! I am, by trade, a freelance computer drafter, working in AutoCAD format. Not only would I be interested in drawings anyone else has done in AutoCAD, I would be happy to offer my services to anyone who wants their drawings done in AutoCAD. 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 6, 2010May 26, 2025 by Dale Phillips Review: Checklist of Technical Drawings of Musical Instruments in Public Collections of the World by Rob van Acht Review: Checklist of Technical Drawings of Musical Instruments in Public Collections of the World by Rob van Acht Reviewed by Robert Lundberg Originally published in American Lutherie #43, 1995 Checklist of Technical Drawings of Musical Instruments in Public Collections of the World Rob van Acht Celle, Germany: Moeck Verlag and Gravenhage The Netherlands: Haags Gemeentemuseum 1992. 185 pp.; 7 color plates, paper covers Hfl. 49.00 (approximately $30.00) This checklist of technical drawings is authored by R.J.M. (Rob) van Acht, Curator of Musical Instruments at the Haags Gemeentemuseum (Postbus 72, 2501 CB The Hague, The Netherlands). It is a listing of somewhat over 450 drawings of musical instruments which are available for purchase from selected museums or collections. The checklist is a production of the Documentation Centre [sic] for Musical Instruments at the Gemeentemuseum where a complete collection of the drawings listed is maintained. Mr. van Acht and his staff at the Gemeentemuseum deserve our thanks for assembling the collection and compiling this checklist as does Moeck Verlag for cosponsoring its publication. The term technical drawing as used by this author and museums in general should perhaps be explained. These are full-size (1:1 scale) mechanical (outline) drawings that basically show what the instrument looks like from the outside. In the case of stringed instruments this external appearance is shown in several views with greater or lessor details of construction. They are usually prepared by the museum staff who have varying degrees of specific knowledge of the instrument’s construction. Although instrument makers will find most of the drawings to be of some value, the primary use as seen by the museums is organological. That is, the drawings are intended to be used by scholars (organologists) in their studying and writing about the classification, history, technology, and uses of musical instruments. And despite much discussion, complaints, and appeals, the museum community persists in their mistaken belief that some critical structural details and measurements are unessential information. These would include, for example, specific wood types, body cross sections, archings, and thickness measurements. So don’t be disappointed if a drawing you might send for has a serious lack of details, especially interior construction such as barring sizes and locations, and soundboard and back thickness measurements. 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.
