Posted on June 3, 2026June 3, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Flattening a Plank It Worked for Me: Flattening a Plank by Steve Kennel Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 I’m a pathological user of salvage. It can burn up a lot of time, but I’m way past feeling OK about another tree dying for my sins. Plus, I’m cheap. This piece of mystery wood (Photo 1) had been stashed in the rafters of an old chicken house for at least eighty years by the time it found me. It was chicken-house filthy, warped, twisted, and cupped. But as it passed by on its way to the burn pile I was sure that I could see something worthwhile hiding in there. 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 26, 2026May 26, 2026 by Dale Phillips Uke Making for Guitar Makers Uke Making for Guitar Makers by Bob Gleason Originally published in American Lutherie #96, 2008 Ukuleles come in a wide variety. You’ve probably seen pineapple and cigar box ukes, so you know they are traditionally less defined than guitars. The size of the uke is defined by the scale length. There’s a guy in Japan who plays a baritone-size body with a soprano scale length, but it’s still a soprano uke. The names of the sizes, from smallest to largest, are soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. The first three are tuned the same (GCEA), while the baritone is tuned like the highest four strings of a guitar (DGBE). Traditionally, the shapes of the bodies are roughly guitar-like, though various builders have taken severe liberties with the shapes without incurring the wrath of most uke players. Nothing about uke construction is engraved in stone. 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 Peg Shapers That You Can Adjust Peg Shapers That You Can Adjust by David Golber Originally published in American Lutherie #96, 2008 There are two meanings of the word “adjustable.” One is that you loosen some screws, and some part becomes moveable. Then, if you have superhuman fineness of hand and eye, you can put that part in exactly the right place, and then tighten the screws — hoping that tightening the screws won’t move the part out of place again! The other meaning of “adjustable” is that ordinary human beings can get the part into the right place. Photo 1 shows the usual kind of peg shaper on the right. You loosen the screws that hold a blade and then somehow get the blade to exactly the right spot. Some people use these; they don’t work for me. On the left is one of my peg shapers. The crucial difference is the adjusting nuts, which allow mere mortals to actually adjust the thing. 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 21, 2026May 21, 2026 by Dale Phillips Make a Dished Workboard, Freehand Make a Dished Workboard, Freehand by Ryan Schultz Originally published in American Lutherie #99, 2009 As a first-time guitar builder, I bought a kit from LMI and eagerly began to build my guitar. Very early in the process, I realized that I needed to obtain two radiused sanding dishes (30´ for the top and 15´ for the back) for various tasks as the Robert O’Brien DVD suggests. These sanding dishes are not cheap. They generally cost $60 to $80 each plus shipping. So I was determined to make the sanding dishes on my own if I could. My research showed that most people make a router jig with the appropriate profile (see AL#74). But I thought I could make a dish quicker and easier, with no jigs, basically routing it free hand. 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 February 1, 2026April 1, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Radiused Dishes It Worked for Me: Radiused Dishes by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #113, 2013 Sometimes the simplest changes in the shop make a big difference in the pleasure of working. For the moment, I’ve switched to instruments somewhat smaller than guitars. The first step was to cut down my radiused dishes from 24˝ diameter to 14˝. This was done in order to reach the interior of the dishes, which I use as workboards, with cam clamps. This requires raising the dish enough to get the clamps under it, and for this I used to grab whatever wooden blocks were lying around. Said blocks always got in the way of the clamps. Most luthiers never go through this because they use a go-bar deck. I’ve built three different go-bar decks and quickly tore them down — I just don’t enjoy using them. At this point readers are probably thinking, “Why not put little legs under the dish?” D’oh! It took me years to come up with that thought. T-nuts were sunk into the bottom of the dish, legs were cut from a hefty dowel, and all-thread rod was cut into short lengths and glued into holes drilled in the ends of the dowels. The legs provide enough room for the clamp jaws, plus a skosh. Photo by John Calkin. Life is better now. The legs can still get in the way of the clamps, but life was never meant to be perfect, and it may be some time before I learn how to levitate work off my bench. It only takes seconds to remove the legs when I want to spin the dish as a sanding board. ◆
