Posted on March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by Dale Phillips Length of Newt’s Tail by Width of Dragon’s Hair Length of Newt’s Tail by Width of Dragon’s Hair by Ken Sribnick Originally published in American Lutherie #55, 1998 Don’t hurt me. I’m going to tell you an old joke. How many luthiers does it take to split a dragon’s hair? One to split the hair, and the rest to say, “Oh, that’s how you do it.” At our 1995 convention, I heard a number of luthiers ask about measurement and precision: How do you check this? When is that flat enough? In the spirit of the little joke, I thought it might be interesting to tell you my approach. These surely aren’t the only, or necessarily the best, methods — only how one man splits dragon hair and newt’s tail in our little shop. My early lutherie and repair went slowly until an experienced luthier, a repairman in New York’s music district, helped me along. His “luthier’s gold” included explaining which measuring tools to have, and how to use them. Consistency is essential. You must strive to reduce error and deviation. To this end I have “master” reference tools in the shop: one ruler, one caliper, one flat surface, and my drawings. It doesn't matter if you use metric measurements or inches. Just pick the system you’re comfortable with, have good master references, and, stick with them. You’ll be successful. I’m metric because I tune Toyotas as well as 12-strings. 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 19, 2026February 19, 2026 by Dale Phillips Measuring Archtop Musical Instruments Measuring Archtop Musical Instruments by Chris Burt Originally published in American Lutherie #83, 2005 See also, Arched Plate Carving, Part One by Chris Burt Arched Plate Carving, Part Two by Chris Burt Arched Plate Carving, Part Three by Chris Burt This is the first of three articles that take you from the basics of creating your own database of musical instrument measurements to applying what you have learned from those measured instruments while you carve top and back plates. In this article, you will learn to safely measure fine instruments. Article Two will describe plate carving, and article Three will describe plate graduating. This article is dedicated to Bob Lundberg, from whom I first learned the basics of measuring instruments. He showed us how to set the bar high. — Chris Burt Before you can build an archtop instrument based on an existing model, you need templates — at a minimum: a body-shape template, neck cross-section templates, and plate arching templates. You can’t carve something if you don’t understand it. If you are going to spend the considerable time that’s required to understand an instrument model, seek out the best. Measure several and keep detailed notes. If you take the time to compile a set of measuring tools and learn to use them respectfully and gently, you’ll be surprised to find how many people will allow you access to their fine instruments. 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 January 15, 2026January 15, 2026 by Dale Phillips Chalk-fitting Guitar Braces Chalk-fitting Guitar Braces by Stephen Marchione from his 2017 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #140, 2020 First, have a plan. Know what you’re making. It seems like an obvious thing, but sometimes people start a guitar without a good idea of what the brace layout will be. When I design a new model, I’ll often get a piece of aluminum flashing and lay out a bracing template. If you’re building an historical model, you can transfer the blueprint to a template of aluminum or plexiglas. This gives you a clear idea of what your braces are supposed to be doing, and it lets you be sure that the braces end up where they were designed to go. Photo 1 is a closeup of one of my bracing templates. I use the little holes to make pencil marks on the soundboard. On a classical guitar, a lot of builders push the big harmonic bars down into the solera, or dished workboard. But that can cause distortion of the top. Even on a Spanish guitar, I take the time to chalk-fit the brace. That gives a better structure with less stress. I highly recommend it. 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 July 1, 2024May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Single Fretting Fixture Questions: Single Fretting Fixture by Tim Shaw Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010 Mark French from West Lafayette, Indiana asks: Do people ever make a single fretting fixture and just pick off whatever section they need for a specific type of instrument? I started with a 25.5" scale length and added some frets to bump it up to about 34.07". It looks like I can use this set of positions to find fret spacing for everything from a bass to a mandolin. Tim Shaw from Fender in Nashville, Tennessee responds: You could also use this for both medium-scale bass, which is usually 32", and short-scale bass, which is typically 30" or so. Since Leo Fender had the 25.5" scale first, I don’t know if he actually “added” frets to come up with 34", but that was certainly possible on the prototype. The shorter Fender scales were also probably started by lopping frets off a standard neck. 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 June 30, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Mechanical Compliance for Soundboard Optimization Mechanical Compliance for Soundboard Optimization by David Hurd from his 2006 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #90, 2007 People say, “You’ve got to make fifty or a hundred guitars before you get it right.” That makes me crazy. I feel that if you can do the carpentry of putting an instrument together and have idea of what it should look like, you can get 80% or 90% of the way there in terms of top optimization with a mechanical compliance approach. I build many sizes of guitars and ukuleles using different top woods. I have developed an easy method of testing the compliance of a top, that is, how far it flexes under a given force, with a simple fixture. Being able to measure and compare the compliance values has proved to be a very useful thing in optimizing these soundboards for the best sound and stability when I graduate the edges of the tops and carve the braces. After building and measuring many instruments, I have developed a mathematical model that does a very good job of estimating what the target compliance measurements should be for a given instrument size and string tension. I have integrated the model into a spreadsheet which you can use by plugging in just a few simple measurements. 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. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
