Posted on August 1, 2022March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips

DVD Review: In Search of the Harp Guitar, It’s History, Players, and Makers, hosted by John Doan

DVD Review: In Search of the Harp Guitar, It's History, Players, and Makers, hosted by John Doan

Reviewed by Cyndy Burton

Originally published in American Lutherie #85, 2006

In Search of the Harp Guitar
Its History, Players, and Makers
hosted by John Doan
90 minute DVD, 2005
Available for $30 from www.johndoan.com

The harp guitar is back. Whether its reappearance stems from the amazing, innovative work of Michael Hedges in the 1980s and ’90s or that of the lesser known but no less interesting guitarists John Doan, Stephen Bennett, Muriel Anderson, James Kline, William Eaton, and many others, this peculiar multistringed instrument — part guitar and part harp — has returned in a big way. (See in-depth coverage of harp guitars in Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, pp. 178 and 334, originally published in AL#29 and #34.)

In Search of the Harp Guitar premiered at the 3rd International Harp Guitar Gathering in Salem, Oregon in September 2005. The film’s maker John Doan also hosted the gathering, perhaps the largest group of harp guitar enthusiasts ever assembled in one place. Many of the film’s “stars,” both musicians and makers, were in the audience. It was a lot of fun to be there and see these folks — many are no strangers to the GAL.

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DVD Review: In Search of the Harp Guitar, It's History, Players, and Makers, hosted by John Doan

Reviewed by Cyndy Burton

John Doan has been playing, teaching, recording, researching, and generally advocating for the harp guitar since the early 1980s. He’s the perfect person to put together a DVD that champions the instruments, both past and present, the players, the music, and last (and perhaps most for AL readers), the makers. He has teamed up with his wife Dierdra, Karla Fisher, and Michael King (the latter three behind the camera) to produce a 90 minute DVD plus another several minutes of hilarious outtakes. It’s an ambitious project covering a lot of territory, and it’s held together with the tack of John’s sense of humor and obvious affection for the instruments and his cast of characters as he:

▶ presents a historical overview of the harp guitar, (he’s in lecture mode here, a role he’s obviously comfortable with from his many years of teaching privately and at Willamette University in Salem, OR);
▶ attends the 2nd International Harp Guitar Gathering in Williamsburg, Virginia in November of 2004 interviewing and recording highlights of performances of many including Stephen Bennett, who organized the first and second international gatherings, and other players including Muriel Anderson, Stacy Hobbs, Andy Wahlberg, and many, many others.
▶ visits luthiers in this country and abroad, namely: Fred Carlson, Kerry Char, Mike Doolin, Jeff Elliott and John Sullivan (two for one), Bob and Orville Milburn, Benoît Meulle-Stef in Brussels, Stephen Sedgwick in England, and Michael Sandén, in Sweden; and lastly,
▶ braves LA traffic with water bottle, laptop, and cell phone in hand to visit the extraordinary resource, Gregg Miner’s collection of “Vintage, Exotic, & Just Plain Unusual Musical Instruments” (www.minermusic.com/minermuseum.htm).

Guitar makers don’t get too many starring roles, so this is the part I was really looking forward to (plus I know some of these guys pretty well). Generally not comedians (Harry Fleishman excepted), luthiers tend to take themselves fairly seriously. John wrote the script, and the builders conformed to varying degrees. It’s corny; it’s goofy; but it’s fun. John has made it so. The luthiers are all in their native habitats with the exception of Jeff Elliott, who is with John Sullivan at his shop, the location where John Doan’s contemporary harp guitar was made in 1986. Builders viewing the DVD can glean a lot about these shops — about tool and work space organization, workbenches, and most interesting, something of the people and thought processes behind the chisels. Of most interest to other builders might be the Mike Doolin sequence. Mike builds a harp guitar in a minute or two while John Doan “watches,” thanks to the marvels of very fast, edited time-lapse photography.

Other high points for me were Michael Sandén’s model-perfect shop in a lovely old building that’s been in use as a woodworking teaching facility since 1880; Kerry Char’s workshop, where every square inch of wall and hanging space appears to be given over to various guitar and harp guitar relics; and Fred Carlson and John Doan in matching hats with ear flaps seriously discussing Fred’s philosophy of building and life. (Is there a difference?)

Aside from the visits to shops and to the 2004 Harp Guitar Gathering, the visit to Gregg Miner’s collection stands out. Gregg is a player with a deep knowledge of the history of harp guitars. If you are interested in the arcane, weird, convoluted, idiosyncratic, and bizarre in the service of music making, this collection will definitely scratch that itch. By the way, Gregg will be on hand the 2006 GAL Convention in Tacoma June 21–25 with part of his collection. He’ll also be sharing historical information and participating in a harp guitar concert, as will John Doan and others. And there will be a panel presentation on harp guitars as well. (See p. 5 for the latest convention information.)

I enjoyed this DVD immensely and recommend it if for no other reason than to have a good laugh. The soundtrack is not always consistent, the pacing sometimes feels “off,” the humor is sometimes a little forced, and, of course, not everyone important to the harp guitar’s resurgence could be included, for example Steve Klein, Del Langejans, or Alan Perlman, to name a few luthiers. However, it’s certainly worth seeing and perhaps purchasing. John’s own words sum it up best: “Overall, this film documents guitar history in the making presented in the spirit of fun and discovery reaching back centuries, across continents, and beyond six strings.” ◆

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Posted on August 1, 2022March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips

Review: Guitar; An American Life by Tim Brookes

Review: Guitar; An American Life by Tim Brookes

Reviewed by Ervin Somogyi

Originally published in American Lutherie #87, 2006

Guitar: An American Life
Tim Brookes
ISBN: 0-8021-1796-1
Grove Press, 352 pp., 2005

I found Tim Brookes’ Guitar: An American Life while browsing in a bookstore in Manhattan. I’d never heard of this book, but it’s one of the most enjoyable and informative reads I’ve ever had about the instrument I’ve built my professional life around. It’s written much in the spirit of Richard Halliburton’s marvelous and magical travel books that I read many years ago and that opened up my young mind’s vistas.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that this book is, on the initial level, about a guitar building collaboration between the author and Rick Davis, a fellow luthier with whom I have a friendship. A book about a guitar making project written from the client’s point of view: Wow, what a great idea!

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Posted on December 28, 2020March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips

A Review of Three Old Lutherie Books

A Review of Three Old Lutherie Books

with an Emphasis on Their Guitar Sections

by Jan Tulacek, Alain Bieber, and James Buckland

Originally published in American Lutherie #104, 2010

As we undertake this overview of three 19th-century lutherie texts, we recognize that much older documents were circulating from late medieval times. Some, such as the manuscript of Henri Arnault de Zwolle written in Dijon in 1440, already contained good descriptions of instruments, but to our knowledge, none had the goal to become a comprehensive “how to” lutherie handbook.

From the Baroque era there are the important musical treatises of Michael Praetorius (1620) in Germany and Marin Mersenne (1635/36) in France, with good descriptions of our Western European string instruments. We also have a few fascinating descriptions of particular aspects of lutherie such as the Antonio Bagatella violin booklet of 1782, or the lesser-known Pierre Trichet viol making manuscript of 1640. And while the encyclopedia format of the Enlightenment Period of the middle 18th century never allowed extensive coverage of the topic, the French Diderot and D’Alembert books had wonderful drawings and interesting lutherie information.

But in the late 1820s and early 1830s, still considered by many as the apex of the classical guitar in written music, we see two real lutherie “how-to” books appear, describing all the steps in the fabrication of the guitar. The first writer was Wettengel in Germany, followed a few years later by Maugin in France. In spite of many imperfections, they give a good understanding of the methods used in the two main centers of lutherie at that time, i.e., Neukirchen (now Markneukirchen) in Saxony and Mirecourt in Lorraine. A third important how-to book, by Hasluck, was published in the United States in 1907, but was likely written in the last decade of the 19th century. It is a very important work since it represents the first attempt to write a “how-to” lutherie book in English.

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Posted on June 26, 2019March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips

Nine Electric Guitar Construction References Reviewed

Nine Electric Guitar Construction References Reviewed

by John Calkin

previously published in American Lutherie #63, 2000

Electric guitars are interesting creatures. The noises they are capable of producing are so far removed from an acoustic guitar that a listener could convince him/herself that either something magical has happened to the instrument or something has gone dreadfully wrong in the world.

Creating electric guitars often conjures up a frustrating paradox. The guitar body begins life as nothing more than a chunk of wood and ends up as little more than a chunk of wood, but assembling and shaping that chunk can present a challenge out of all proportion to what you end up with. Power planers and jointers are expensive. On the other hand, accomplishing the job with hand tools requires a serious investment in time needed to learn to sharpen, set up, and master the tools. Farming out the heavy work is possible, but often seems to dilute the lutherie experience (a belief, strangely enough, found most often in rank beginners who have neither money nor talent, and are often cursed with a stunted sense of the practical). To me the obvious answer was plywood, which makes a much better guitar than anyone would have you believe. The shape, cavities, and channels can all be established with routers and such before the body is glued up to thickness. It’s chief drawback is that it’s hard to finish nicely, but it will get you into guitar making with the least amount of outside help and expense.

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Posted on January 14, 2010March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips

Review: A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance by Douglas Alton Smith

Review: A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance by Douglas Alton Smith

Reviewed by Bryan Johanson

Originally published in American Lutherie #73, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015

A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance
Douglas Alton Smith
ISBN 0-9714071-0-X
Lute Society of America, 389pp. 2002
www.lutehistory.com

Being a witness to history is an exciting and dynamic experience. Every day we follow events that shape our future and define our past. Music history during the past century turned out to be one of the most fluid and exciting periods ever experienced. We saw the rise to dominance of the recording industry and the decline and continued struggle of the music-publishing business. Composers, once the driving, creative force in music history, were marginalized by the surge of dynamic performers seeking their turn in the driver’s seat. This new wave of musical leadership created performance vehicles for themselves largely by exploring music of the past. As a result, buried treasures have been rediscovered. The music of Bach is no longer an occasional academic event, but a daily concert hall occurrence. Compositions by great Renaissance composers Josquin, Palestrina, Morales, Gesualdo, and Victoria can now be heard on recordings and in concerts almost anywhere in the civilized world. Performers have continued to reach into the past with courage and curiosity, reviving repertoire like ancient plain chant, early Greek and Roman music, and the mystic compositions of Hildegard von Bingen. There seems to be no limit to the vast musical treasure trove of the past. This rediscovery of early and ancient music was one of the most important trends in the 20th century, and it appears to still be gaining momentum in this new millennium.

In this brave new world of early music, scholarship, musicianship, and craftsmanship have become equal partners. One of the most impressive revivals during the last fifty years was the rebirth of the lute and its music. Once the most popular instrument in Europe, the lute was extinct by the end of the 19th century. Of the many thousands of compositions written for the lute, none were in circulation. Of the many thousands of instruments, only a handful survived as antique curiosities. As society entered the 20th century, the lute and its music was certifiably dead. However, a curious thing about musical instruments and their music is that death is not as terminal as it is for us mammals. There is no way to bring back a living dinosaur or any number of extinct species of birds, fish, and animals. But the lute, that’s a different story. With scholars like Douglas Alton Smith, luthiers like Robert Lundberg, and performers like Paul O’Dette working on its behalf, the revival of the lute is now in full flower.

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Review: A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance by Douglas Alton Smith

Reviewed by Bryan Johanson

In his brilliant and beautiful new book, A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Douglas Alton Smith has given us a wonderfullywritten account of the rich history of that once seemingly extinct instrument. Although the lute is most immediately related to the Arabic oud, Mr. Smith takes pains to trace the origin of the lute to much earlier times. The lute’s connection to ancient Greek culture, with its influential philosophy, music theory, and aesthetics, shaped the development of the Renaissance lute as much as its more recent Arabic heritage. Tracing the origin of any string instrument into antiquity is a tricky business. There are many ways in which an author’s narrative can become bogged down in slogging through all the loose ends and fragmented bits. What is so refreshing about Mr. Smith’s book is the strength of its vision. His writing about the lute’s far-distant past is fluid and engaging.

Once he moves us into the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, the historical evidence is much less speculative. He clearly traces the rise of the lute’s popularity, country by country. The reader will no doubt delight in the scope of the tale. Mr. Smith has woven many historical threads together to give us a complex and complete picture of the lute as it existed in society. To follow the early history of the lute is to also follow the early history of music. The lute was such an important part of the musical culture of Europe that any musical development was immediately reflected in the lute’s repertoire or construction. In addition to the part played by the lute in music culture and society, Mr. Smith also traces the history of its construction.

Once the book gets rolling into the more familiar terrain of the Renaissance, Mr. Smith traces the lute’s history by region and performer. There are chapters on the lute in Italy, Central and Eastern Europe, France and the Lowlands, and England. Naturally we are treated to mini-biographies of such musical giants as the brilliant and influential Francesco Canova da Milano, Vincenzo Galilei, Lorenzino di Roma, Hans and Melchior Newsidler, Valentine Bakfark, Adrian Le Roy, John and Robert Johnson, Daniel Bacheler, and the incomparable John Dowland. In addition to the copious biographical information, Mr. Smith has illuminated many of them with musical examples and illustrations.

One interesting addition is a chapter on the history of the vihuela in Spain. As many enthusiasts know, the lute did not flourish in Renaissance Spain. The reasons for this are complex and somewhat obscure. What did flourish was an instrument that looked a bit like the guitar but was tuned and played exactly like the lute. Its history and music often show up in histories on the guitar. But the vihuela’s connection to the guitar is a weak one. The vihuela flourished for a brief period and faded into obscurity before the beginning of the 17th century. The music produced by Luis Milan, Alonso Mudarra, and Luis de Narvaez has long been claimed as transcribed guitar repertoire. However, in the last fifty years, luthiers have begun to construct modern replicas of the vihuela. This repertoire is now being reclaimed by specialists on that instrument. It is not surprising that many of this new generation of vihuelistas are lutenists who have made slight adjustments to their technique to master this distinguished music. Mr. Smith has convincingly claimed that the vihuela is simply a Spanish version of the lute. And, though the vihuela will always remain outside the history of the lute proper or the guitar proper, its temporal relationship to the lute is a more natural historical fit. Mr. Smith’s chapter on this marginally related instrument is an important addition to the vihuela’s history.

There are many ways one could enjoy and use this book. It is a remarkable accomplishment in its scope and depth and literary style. For professional musicians, luthiers, and musicologists, this book is an absolute must. It will no doubt become the standard reference work on the subject for many years to come. In addition to use by scholars, luthiers, musicians, and serious-minded students, the book is also an incredibly enjoyable read. On the most obvious level, it can also be savored as a compelling historical narrative. I would suggest that anyone who listens to lute music for pleasure can enjoy this book for the same kind of pleasure.

A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance is published by the Lute Society of America, and I would like to take a few moments and congratulate them for the look of the final publication. It is a beautifully prepared, edited, and laid-out book. The integration of text, musical examples, and illustrations adds immeasurably to the joy of this book. It was obviously prepared with great care and respect for the material, and the Lute Society of America is to be praised.

I can’t begin to express my gratitude to Douglas Alton Smith for his efforts in bringing this book to print. His talents as an historian, scholar, and author are overwhelming. His book is a massive achievement to which the reader can return again and again for information, insights, and pleasure. His efforts on behalf of the lute and its music are inspiring, and I hope that readers of this review will immediately order their own soon-to-be-well-worn-and-well-loved copy of his fine book. ◆