Posted on October 30, 2026October 30, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Charles Fox Meet the Maker: Charles Fox by Fred Carlson Originally published in American Lutherie #52, 1997 I had the opportunity (blind luck, you might call it) to study with Charles Fox in 1975 at the beginning of his School for Guitar Research and Design’s rise to prominence as one of the premier guitar-building schools in the country. Much more recently, in August of 1995, I attended a session of The American School of Lutherie, Charles’s updated take on lutherie education. I had been asked by the GAL to interview Charles, but our schedules made it difficult to connect. We finally sat down and had a fine, rambling phone conversation in late fall of ’95. What follows here is my notes from that conversation, organized into this interview format with a bit of journalistic license. Charles, I know you have a background in the fine arts; in fact, I remember seeing some paintings of yours back in Vermont. Is that what led you to lutherie? In a way, I still think of myself as a painter who is currently not working. In the mid to late ’60s I was studying flamenco guitar, taking lessons through Sherry-Brenner, who import fine guitars. I found that they had materials for guitar construction, and a British instructional pamphlet; I built a guitar at home, and loved it. I stopped playing, built another and another, a couple of flamencos, a classic, and then a couple of steel strings which sold immediately. 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 October 30, 2026October 30, 2026 by Dale Phillips The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part One The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part One by Mark French Originally published in American Lutherie #139, 2020 See also, A Guitar Is Born: Attending Charles Fox’s Hands-On Guitar Making Course by Mark French The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Two by Mark French The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Three by Mark French The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Four by Mark French The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Five by Mark French The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Six by Mark French Charles Fox has been making guitars for about fifty years and, as a master luthier will, he has developed a personal approach to his craft. Building on a solid foundation of experimentation, he has developed a set of processes that let him complete tasks quickly, accurately, and repeatably, but with a deeper purpose. This is the first in a series of articles that describe Charles’ building method in detail. There are some good descriptions in print of how to make an acoustic guitar, so it may not be clear why we need another one. Books and extended articles are usually for beginning builders unfamiliar with making instruments, and describe basic processes for making good, traditional acoustic guitars. Some of these works are quite good and a few are iconic. However, this series of articles has a different purpose. It is intended for readers who have basic familiarity with acoustic guitars and guitar-making skills. 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 October 22, 2026November 4, 2026 by Dale Phillips All From the Same Litter: Jean Larrivée and his Apprentices All From the Same Litter: Jean Larrivée and his Apprentices by Steve Denvir with Sergei de Jonge, Grit Laskin, Linda Manzer, and David Wren Originally published in American Lutherie #123, 2015 I remember growing up as a teenager just outside of Toronto in the early ’70s. My friends and I were all guitar players, and we were all very aware of a specific guitar taxonomy and hierarchy. In the world of electrics, there was Gibson and Fender and occasionally Gretsch. The acoustic world consisted of Gibsons and Martins and perhaps Guilds if we were feeling generous. Then one day, a new species arrived: a “Larrivée.” Not just an acoustic guitar, but a handmade acoustic guitar. With a cutaway. 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 October 20, 2026November 2, 2026 by Dale Phillips Forces on Archtop Guitars Forces on Archtop Guitars by Franz Elferink Originally published in American Lutherie #74, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 The choice of strings among jazz players ranges from ultra-light, low-tension sets (.009˝–.046˝) up to the heavy, high-tension acoustic big-band setup (.014˝–.060˝). String tension deforms an archtop instrument in a number of ways. Extreme deformation can destroy the instrument. Common problems that are related to string tension are collapsed tops, neck heels which are pulled out of the body, and fingerboard extension “pop up.” String Tension. A number of factors influence string tension including the density of the material(s) from which the string is made. The lighter the material of the string, the lower the string tension for a given frequency and vibrating length. If a steel string was replaced with a nylon string of the same diameter and tuned to the same pitch, its tension would be a small fraction of that of the original steel string. In real-world string sets, nylon strings exert approximately half the tension of steel strings, even though they are of considerably greater diameter. The following equation can be used to calculate string tension. 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 October 19, 2026October 30, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: C.F. Martin IV Meet the Maker: C.F. Martin IV from his 2005 talk at the National Music Museum Originally published in American Lutherie #91, 2007 As a young man, my great-great-great grandfather Christian Frederick Martin apprenticed with his father in my family’s furniture business. That’s what the Martins did back in the very early 1800s. Their little town of Markneukirchen was populated with instrument builders, many of whom came from Bohemia, what is today the Czech Republic. In one of those weird political-religious things, a town of instrument builders in Bohemia was invited to pick up and move over the mountain to resettle in Markneukirchen, which is in Saxony in eastern Germany. So there was a history in Markneukirchen of building musical instruments. The guitar was becoming more popular in northern Europe. For some reason, the young man that we now call C.F. Senior was inspired to take an interest in guitar building. This is all undocumented oral history, so we don’t really know what inspired him. I really would love to have been a fly on the wall: the family is sitting around the dinner table when he says to pop, “Oh, by the way, I don’t think I want to join the family furniture business. I want to build guitars.” 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.
