Posted on October 25, 2021March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Geometric Design of the Stradivari Model G Violin, Part Three: The Scroll Geometric Design of the Stradivari Model G Violin, Part Three: The Scroll with Robert J. Spear Originally published in American Lutherie #95, 2008 see also, Geometric Design of the Stradivari Model G Violin, Part One: Mold and Template by Robert J. Spear Geometric Design of the Stradivari Model G Violin, Part Two: f-holes by Robert J. Spear Scrolls are all about spirals, and in mathematics only two kinds of spirals exist: the Archimedean and the logarithmic. The Archimedean is considered a special case because it is the only spiral where the expansion of each complete turn is identical in dimension to the one before or after it. A commonly used example is that of a tightly coiled garden hose laid on a flat surface. All other spirals, including golden-section spirals, are logarithmic. Although the actual distance between turns of log spirals is not uniform, the rate of expansion remains constant. To the Renaissance geometer and artisan, spirals were a natural form of great beauty and inspiration. A spiral played with the viewer’s visual senses, leading his eye on a merry chase and fooling it with the subtle shifting of its expansion. In modern times, the execution of the scroll is considered one of the few remaining places on the violin where the craftsman can display individuality, originality, and skill — and sometimes even all of these together! 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 August 12, 2021March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Your Most Important Machine Your Most Important Machine by Teri K. Novak, D.C. from her 1995 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #46, 1996 How many of you have back or neck pain at work or after your work day? In this workshop we will cover: 1) body mechanics, 2) the two main rules you should follow to avoid pain, and 3) how to apply the rules in your shop. Rule #1: All structures of your spine are under the least amount of stress when you maintain the normal curves. This means twenty-four hours a day no matter what you are doing! Fig. 1 shows what the normal curves are from the side. From the back, your spine should be maintained in a straight line. Let’s look at how your body is built to see why this rule is true. To have any body movement, (except the movement from gravity) or to change position, a muscle must contract, that is, get shorter. 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 August 11, 2021March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Calculating String Tension Calculating String Tension by Max Krimmel Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #144, 1980 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1997 Just how tight is that string? Experience tells most of us that the pitch of a string depends on how long it is, how big it is, and how tight it is. It would seem then, that we could figure out the tension if we know the pitch, mass, and length of any given string. Yes, it can be done. The biggest problem is to realize how A natural, 25.5", and .042" phosphor bronze can be converted into something recognizable as tension. I am not going to go into the why of all this as much as the how to do it. First, put the pitch into cycles per second, or Hz. Next put the length into CM. Then find the mass of the string by weighing a piece of the string as long as your string length. Cut the ball or any other windings off the string before you weigh it on a gram scale. Then insert these variables into the following formula. 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 August 11, 2021March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Taking the Guitar Beyond Equal Temperament Taking the Guitar Beyond Equal Temperament by Don Musser Originally published in American Lutherie #30, 1991 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 If someone were to tell you that the simple C chord you just played on your perfectly intonated, handmade guitar was in fact significantly out of tune with itself, you might have a few doubts and perhaps some curiosity about just what he was talking about. If that person were Mark Rankin and he happened to have his little Martin set up with the just intonation, key-of-C fretboard, and you compared a C chord on that guitar to the C chord on your guitar, instead of doubts and curiosity you would have something else: the beginning of a revelation, a revelation not only about the guitar itself, but about the foundation of the music we play on it. Back in 1987, David Ouellette, a Eugene, Oregon musician for whom I had built several guitars in the early 1980s called and wanted a new, unconventional instrument built. It was to be a special guitar with magnetic interchangeable fretboards having staggered frets set up for alternative tunings of the scale steps within the octave. The standard guitar fretboard we all play on is based on the equal-tempered scale where the octave is divided into twelve equal half-step intervals. This equal division of the octave is good in that it allows modulation from key to key without intolerable dissonance. Its drawback, though, is that the scale intervals are tempered, i.e., harmonically inaccurate and slightly out of tune with one another. 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 August 11, 2021March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips The Anti-Murphy Concert The Anti-Murphy Concert by Alan Carruth Originally published in American Lutherie #39, 1994 I recently had the privilege of attending a somewhat unusual concert by the Tokyo String Quartet, with some acoustics experiments thrown in. Or maybe it was a physics lecture with live accompaniment? And then there was the quiz show part... I guess I’d better explain. The whole thing seems to have started with the coming together of a number of good ideas. One of the first was a plan by the Acoustical Society of America to produce an educational video on acoustics for grades K–12. This, of course, would require money to do, and the suggestion was made that a benefit concert be held. The members of the Tokyo String Quartet were contacted, and graciously consented. So far, so simple. But remember, we’re dealing with acousticians here. Why not use the opportunity to do a little research? For one thing, while the acoustics of empty halls are reasonably well understood, nobody is really sure what happens when you put in the audience. Since the object of most concert promoters is to have as large an audience as possible, and nobody likes to listen to music in an acoustically lousy hall, it seemed like a good subject for an experiment. And how about that violin thing; you know old vs. new and all? And while we’re at it... 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.
