Posted on June 6, 2024January 16, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Stringed Instrument Tone Questions: Stringed Instrument Tone by Cyndy Burton Originally published in American Lutherie #82, 2005 Jason Kirby of cyberspace asks: I'd love to start learning how to create stringed instruments with a gorgeous tone. What advice would you give a beginner who doesn't know the first thing? Cyndy Burton of Portland, OR responds: This is still the number one question I get, and I bet lots of you get this one, too. I hope my brief answer is helpful. Go to https://luth.org/about-us/frequently-asked-questions/. Your question is answered there a couple different ways. My quick answer is that it depends on how you learn best, how quickly you want to learn, and how much time and money you have to invest. There are lots of books and videos available now that make it very possible to start on your own. Some people prefer to take a course, interact, be shown, have a teacher nearby. Schools are excellent for that, but, of course, have a bigger price tag. ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: B-String Compensation Questions: B-String Compensation by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #100, 2009 Tom from Ohio asks: I built a parlor guitar for a buddy of mine and it really turned out nice... except. The B string is really sharp. This is a 12-fret guitar with a 24.9" scale length. I added 2.5MM compensation and the action is very low. I further compensated the B string as far as it would go by lengthening its point on the saddle. I’ve really never had this problem before. Is it because of the 12-fret configuration? What’s the fix? John Calkin from Greenville, Virginia replies: Cut a bit of saddle material (bone, or whatever you used) and glue it to the back of the current saddle, but only behind the B string. Let the new piece rest right on the bridge so the saddle won’t be torqued, but don’t glue it to the bridge. Level the new piece with the real saddle, then use a piece of .010" wire under the B string to find the intonation point. Mark the intonation point with a really sharp pencil, then take the saddle out of the bridge, file the bone to the correct intonation point, and use needle files to blend the new bone into the old to make it pretty. This sounds kind of strange but it works fine. In fact, I’ve used this trick to correct intonation on a whole saddle, rather than to fill the slot and recut it to a more accurate position. It’s sort of an emergency measure, but in your case it should be perfectly acceptable if you make it pretty enough. ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024May 28, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Book on Acoustics Questions: Book on Acoustics by Tim White Originally published in American Lutherie #73, 2003 Lee Parks from cyberspace asks: I just need to know a good book that teaches fundamentals of acoustics for guitar construction. Tim White of New Boston, NH responds: The GAL has published many articles over the years but the only “book” I know of is the one I put together — Journal of Guitar Acoustics, from seven issues of the Journal of Guitar Acoustics, originally published between 1979 and 1982, which includes the complete collection with addenda, 700+ pages. The Evan Davis thesis bibliography alone makes it worthwhile as an entry portal to the strange world of guitar acoustics. The republished single volume has an updated bibliography and additional material. It can be ordered from me at: 146 Lull Rd., New Boston, NH 03070; 603-487-2696; tpwhiteco@aol.com; www.chrysalisguitars.com/JGA_Page.html. ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: String Tension Questions: String Tension by Thomas Knatt Originally published in American Lutherie #95, 2008 John C. from the Internet asks: String tension will deform an instrument in an elastic manner so that when the tension is removed, the instrument will return to its original shape. But over time the tension will also deform the instrument permanently, often requiring repair work to make it playable again. Is this permanent deformation proportionally related to the amount of time the instrument is under tension? If the instrument is tuned to pitch only when it is played, will the time it takes to deform to the point of unplayability be lengthened in proportion to the amount of time the instrument is not under string tension? Thomas Knatt from Groton, Massachusetts responds: The short answer is yes, detuning every time would probably lengthen the life of the instrument. But.... Let’s do a thought experiment. Suppose we significantly loosen one side of a drum or banjo head. The drum would sound duller when struck on the side with the low tension. The sound of the banjo, when played, would change as well, although I won’t predict exactly how. Carleen Hutchins says that you don’t want a lumpy system, because it doesn’t behave well. I have done a glitter test on a well-tuned kettle drum, and the glitter jumped a foot off the head at one frequency. If I went one cycle above or below the tuned frequency, it only jumped an inch. I went ±2 cycles and it barely moved. That is a good example of low damping. A system becomes lumpy by adding lumps (weight) or changing the stiffness in sections. 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 March 7, 2024May 21, 2024 by Dale Phillips Side Soundports There’s a Hole in the Bucket by Cyndy Burton A Discussion of Sideports, with Contributions from Kenny Hill, Alan Carruth, Roger Thurman, John Monteleone, Mike Doolin, and Robert Ruck previously published in American Lutherie #91, 2007 See also, “Sideways” by John Monteleone “Herr Helmholtz’ Tube” by Mike Doolin “Three Holes are Better than One” Robert Ruck Just in case we become too self-satisfied with our “discovery” of ports, Alain Bieber, in his article on lyra guitars (AL#88, p. 16), points us to the Neapolitan Gennaro Fabricatore’s ported lyras from the early 1800s. (Alain ported his own contemporary lyra guitar, too.) So we know prominent makers were putting holes in the sides of their instruments in the late 1700s, early 1800s. Many of us are also aware of Carleen Hutchins’ groundwork in the early 1980s. Her “Le Greyère” violin, with sixty-five sideports, has provided a wealth of data about violin resonances since it was made in 1982. She donated the violin to the National Music Museum in 2002. See some great photos of Le Greyère and a list of publications reporting on that research at collections.nmmusd.org/Archives/NewViolinFamily/Hutchinscheeseviolin.html. People are sensitive about putting holes in things. Many guitarists — perhaps more classical guitarists than others — find the ports some sort of denigration, a violation of the sanctity of the guitar’s perfect form. In all fairness, we’ve met with very strong feelings on both sides of the port issue. Luckily, our customer was very open to the idea. He’s not a concertizing musician, but he’s a serious player, and occasionally he plays publicly for special events. We wanted to try ports for him because he has a hearing loss, and we thought ports would be a great way for him to hear himself better. At that time, Robert Ruck had made about a hundred ported guitars, so we figured he had worked out the kinks. He kindly advised us on size, location, and so on. We followed his lead. The result is a wonderful instrument that the owner truly appreciates. We love the feedback — the monitor effect for the player — and when we tested it in a small auditorium with an overflowing audience, we could not discern any loss of projection or quality of sound. But was it louder? Our evidence was very meager and inconclusive. Many makers are adamant that it’s louder with the ports open for both the player and the audience. 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.
