Posted on July 8, 2026July 8, 2026 by Dale Phillips Review: Vincente Arias (1833-1914) The Forgotten Luthier Review: Vincente Arias (1833-1914) The Forgotten Luthier by Kevin Aram Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 Vicente Arias (1833-1914), The Forgotten Luthier Alberto Martinez, Clémentine Jouffroy, Editors (many other contributors) ISBN 979-1090267-56-5 Camino Verde, Paris France, 2021 https://caminoverde.com I first became aware of Vicente Arias in 1978 when I bought a copy of the book Guitars: From the Renaissance to Rock by Tom and Mary Anne Evans. In the section entitled “The Modern Classical Guitar,” there is a listing for an Arias guitar from 1874. The entry has a short description of the guitar together with the dimensions, three photographs, and the information that he lived and worked in the town of Ciudad Real which is in the Provence of La Mancha in Spain. Fast forward to 1984 when my wife and I spent a month driving around Central, Southern, and Eastern Spain. As a part of this holiday we decided to follow the journey taken by Don Quixote in the famous book, and so, tourist brochure in hand, we visited and stayed in a number of towns in La Mancha including Ciudad Real. 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 June 23, 2026June 23, 2026 by Dale Phillips Soundboard Construction of Vinaccia Mandolins Around 1900 Soundboard Construction of Vinaccia Mandolins Around 1900 by Alfred Woll Originally published in American Lutherie #143, 2021 It is presumed that the Neapolitan mandolin was developed mainly by the Vinaccia family toward the middle of the 18th century. At that time, the instrument was strung with low tension gut and metal strings. Two high braces, one above and one below the soundhole, were strong enough to stabilize the soundboard which had, in addition, a distinct cant and a slight transverse arch. The cant and arch were important features of the soundboard to withstand the pressure exerted by the strings on the bridge. The very early Neapolitan mandolins had been rather small. The width of the soundboard was approximately 165mm at the cant. But in the following decades the size of the soundboards as well as the bodies increased. Another famous Neapolitan mandolin maker, Giovanni Battista Fabricatore, built mandolins with larger bowls. In 1793 he added a third brace between the bridge and the second brace. He also strengthened the soundboard with a longitudinal spruce reinforcement running along the center joint from the third brace over the cant to the tail block, and began using a fingerboard plate, which is a transverse spruce reinforcement on the underside of the soundboard in the area of the wooden frets. These four innovations — larger body, third brace, center reinforcement, and fingerboard plate — are used in Italian lutherie to this day. However, his improvement received little attention at the time, due to rapidly declining interest in the Neapolitan mandolin after 1800. 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 22, 2026May 22, 2026 by Dale Phillips Restoring a Battle Axe Restoring a Battle Axe by Roger Alan Skipper Originally published in American Lutherie #97, 2009 Some time ago a friend delivered to my shop, in a cardboard box, a 1972 D-28 Martin guitar; a basket would have been a more suitable container. This instrument had experienced some major trauma. From my friend’s reluctance to discuss particulars, I suspected some human trauma had occurred about the same time — that this “axe” had done genuine battle. “This thing has been in my attic for years,” he said. “Salvage the tuners or whatever you can, and throw the rest away.” I glanced at the splintered mess, closed the box, and filed it on a top shelf, out of the way. 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 4, 2026May 4, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: John Koster Meet the Maker: John Koster by Nicholas Von Robison Originally published in American Lutherie #34 1994 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Four, 2006 Dateline Vermillion, South Dakota. It happened at the GAL’s 13th national convention. Quick as an adder, the long, thin arm of American Lutherie editor Tim Olsen snaked into the crowd and tore me kicking and screaming from the group of luthiers. “Go interview” was the command, and “Who would you like to do?” the question. Without hesitation I named John Koster, the conservator of the Shrine to Music Museum (Editor’s note: now the National Music Museum). I had never met John but I knew that he was also a devoteé of taking tiny splinters of wood and putting them under a microscope in order to precisely determine the identity of a wood. I soon found that wood anatomy is only one of the myriad and assorted areas of knowledge that John calls upon in his work. He was enjoying a day off, but graciously consented to this interview and a tour of his workshop. The time I spent with John one of the high points of my convention experience. John, please tell us a little bit about your early beginnings, your background and education, and the path that led you to the Shrine to Music Museum. I’m a fairly recent arrival here at the Shrine to Music Museum. I came here in September of 1991 so I’ve only been here eight or nine months. Previous to this I was a harpsichord maker for about twenty years, back in Massachusetts. Before that, my background had been more musical than instrument making. I went to St. Thomas Choir school in New York City, the only church-affiliated, boarding choir school in the country, very much on the English model. I was into classical music and played the piano, but really wanted to play the harpsichord. In prep-school years, during the summer, my father and I put together one of the original Zuckerman clavichord kits — a plywood box with some strings on it and a piano keyboard. A couple of years later when I was fifteen we put together a harpsichord, another Zuckerman kit, one of the original nonbent-sided ones. It was a cigar-box-violin kind of thing, but it got me started and I had something to play on. 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 April 24, 2026April 24, 2026 by Dale Phillips Questions: Restoring 1826 Panormo Questions: Restoring 1826 Panormo by Aaron Green and Thomas Knatt Originally published in American Lutherie #109, 2012 Dave Skye asks: I am restoring an 1826 Panormo. It has been through many hands and had many previous repairs of variable quality. When the guitar came to me, I believed it to be a working instrument, but when I strung it up, the bridge flew off revealing a gaping hole where once there had been soundboard. That is now water under the bridge and I have succeeded in repairing the soundboard. Also, in a previous repair having nothing to do with the hole under the bridge, another section of soundboard had been replaced. As you can see in the photo, it is the bass-side edge of the lower bout. It is an excellent repair structurally, but unfortunately the color of the wood is slightly lighter than the rest. Is there a way of gradually darkening this piece to match the original soundboard material? 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.
