Posted on June 30, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Guitar as a Structure and Some Practical Information on Bracing The Guitar as a Structure and Some Practical Information on Bracing by James Blilie Originally published in American Lutherie #100, 2009 Why does the neck of the guitar break at the nut when dropped off the stage? Why does the bridge sometimes pull off a guitar? Why does the neck of a guitar sometimes need to be reset? Why does a really thick guitar top give less bass response than a top of more typical thickness (a thinner top)? These are questions that are — primarily — structural. I have seen many ideas on the structure of guitars in print that are simply wrong. I am a structural engineer and have been working in the civil engineering, aviation, and medical device industries for twenty-five years. My engineering work has been, in essence, ensuring that structures are strong (or stiff) enough. I am also a guitar maker since 1998 (I’m building my fifty-ninth guitar) and a fingerstyle guitar player. I have found that my engineering experience has helped my guitar building in many ways. This is my $0.02 worth as an experienced structural engineer. 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.
Posted on June 30, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Strings: The (Often) Forgotten Accessory Strings: The (Often) Forgotten Accessory from his 2008 GAL Convention lecture by Fan Tao Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010 Joseph Curtin: Some of you already know Fan as the person you talked to at D’Addario after you built a custom instrument and then realized the strings for it don’t exist. He’s also become something of a violin-string guru and a major figure in the violin world, since he not only builds violin strings at D’Addario, but is also a very passionate amateur violinist. Fan started as an electrical engineer at Cal Tech, then got drawn into violin research through his job at D’Addario. Fan started the Oberlin Acoustics Workshop, which is one of the most exciting things that’s happened in instrument research, bringing makers and researchers together. He also started the first Violin Society of America Innovation Exposition, which was a big success and really got people thinking more about innovation. He’s a wonderful person, as well. Fan Tao: Thank you. This is the first convention I’ve attended that represented lots of guitar makers. The most exciting things about working with violin makers are their passion for their craft, their creativity, and their wide range of interests. It’s good to find those same traits among guitar makers. 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.
Posted on June 30, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Practical Acoustics Practical Acoustics from his 2008 GAL Convention lecture by Michael Cone Originally published in American Lutherie #102, 2010 Nikola Tesla said, “Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity.” On the one hand it’s only a guitar, and the jury is still out on just how much better off humanity will be for having a better guitar. On the other hand, a musical instrument is the conduit between a musician and the divine, with the capability to inspire and transcend our ordinary, relative existence. This by itself certainly makes lutherie a worthwhile endeavor, and the application of science to this art and craft, an ultimate necessity. By science, I mean repeatability, not theory. I mean the practical application of measuring, changing, remeasuring, and then seeing and hearing the difference. We’ve been doing the same thing for several thousand years: flexing, tapping, training our ears, training our guts. After twenty years or so, you pretty much know what you are doing. 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.
Posted on June 13, 2024May 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips A Review of Indoor Air Quality Health Issues A Review of Indoor Air Quality Health Issues for the Home Woodworking Shop by Robert A. Edelstein Originally published in American Lutherie #86, 2006 Indoor air quality is an important issue for the luthier and woodworker to consider. While certainly not a glamorous topic, the benefits of learning some of the important concepts, (and making appropriate changes to protect your health), are certainly worth the effort. I look forward to my time in the shop. The pleasure of woodworking is tempered with chores, though, and I spend some time cleaning up the place before and after each work session. When I first walk in, it looks fairly clean. Upon closer inspection, I find a thin layer of dust is actually covering a surprising number of the surfaces. This became more apparent to me recently when my son and I remodeled our basement shop, and the tremendous amount of dust hidden in the crevices became visible. In addition, my son began to wheeze within a few minutes of entering the shop, and only fresh air provided relief. 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 13, 2024May 6, 2025 by Dale Phillips Experimental Violin Acoustics Experimental Violin Acoustics by George Bissinger from his 1984 GAL Convention lecture Originally published in American Lutherie #7, 1986 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 It was a pleasure to discuss the “secrets” of violins at the kind of meeting that would scarcely have seemed possible in the time of the legendary Cremonese luthiers. As a member of the Catgut Acoustical Society, which is devoted to all aspects of bowed string instruments from the raw materials (gut?) to the finished product (cat?) and its sound (meow?), I can only welcome this shared discussion. The Society has sponsored the construction of a family of eight violins covering the frequency range of 41Hz to 1318Hz (lowest to highest open string), and has a demonstrated interest in all violin matters whether they are purely practical, subjective, and aesthetic, or purely abstract, objective, and quantitative. The talk I gave at this GAL meeting covered a range of topics concerning violins in which I personally have been involved. These topics leaned rather more to the concrete aspects of violin making such as working with student instruments, testing plates of unassembled (or humidity disassembled) instruments, plate archings, bassbar tuning, and humidity effects, but also included discussion of coupling between enclosed air oscillations and plate vibrations in the assembled instrument. 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.
