Posted on June 6, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Opinion Opinion by Harry Fleishman Originally published in American Lutherie #74, 2003 As a builder of many years experience, I have my own methods and views. I try to teach, but more important, I try to learn. We each have our own approach and I’d never want to censor anyone’s right to spread their ideas. At this point in my career it is clear that some ideas may seem wrong, but only seem so because of my own limitations. That said, I do feel a need to respond to a recent article that purports to tell ``the truth,’’ exposing other views as false. John Calkin’s article “The Heretic’s Guide to Alternative Lutherie Woods” in AL#69 offers some very useful information about the working properties of a good assortment of materials. I appreciate the info and will refer to it as I build and teach. However, I think he does a disservice to many luthiers who have worked hard to train their ears and to understand tone. Yes, as John says, “Guitars sound like guitars.” They do not all sound alike, though, as he implies throughout the article. He asserts that, “The concept of tonewood is a hoax.” Then am I a charlatan? I teach that each tonewood has its own qualities that have small but discernible affects on the voice of a guitar. He asks, “Can you tell what a guitar is made of while listening to an unfamiliar recording?” and answers that no one can. Well, I often can. On more than one occasion I have correctly identified the woods used in guitars that I had not seen and was unfamiliar with. On many occasions I have even identified the luthiers who built guitars, based on listening to recordings and recognizing their “voice.” I’d be surprised if many well-trained, thoughtful, and sensitive luthiers cannot do the same. John should not assume that just because he cannot hear these subtleties, no one can. Many people are colorblind, but that does not negate the difference between red and green. 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 6, 2024May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter: Poplar in Dan Electro Necks Letter: Poplar in Dan Electro Necks by Ron Lira Originally published in American Lutherie #20, 1989 Dear Guild Staff, I’m still alive and working too hard and reading your magazine! I believe there is an error in the identification of the wood used in Danelectro necks and current production solid body electric guitars in Bruce Harvie’s “Stalking Northwest Tonewoods” in AL#18. Lombardy Poplar (Populus nigra) is a member of the cottonwood family in which many members and their lumber are called poplar. The poplar used in the Danelectros and currently in use in many factories is yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera.) The cottonwood family of woods has a rancid smell when being worked, mostly all cream colored to white wood, and warps and checks horribly in drying. (I know, I’ve cut and dried some cottonwood and Lombardy poplar.) The yellow poplar has a mostly cream to gray colored sapwood with a green tinted heartwood. It works easily, dries easily, has a pleasant smell, is inexpensive to buy, available in wide and long pieces and makes an ideal paint grade wood. I’ve seen it in Danelectro necks, Jackson electrics, Fender electrics (inexpensive old ones and any of the newer domestic and imported), Charvel electrics, and many imported instruments both high and low quality. Various types of cottonwood trees including aspens grow over much of the US. Yellow poplar grows only in the eastern half of the US with its most commercial areas in the east. Thank you ◆ Editor’s Note: Bruce Harvie agrees, the wood used in the Danelectro necks is yellow poplar. However, it is Lombardy poplar that he wants for fiddle making. He also mentions that Danelectro necks break very easily, and that he wishes to purchase some. Got any, Ron? The yellow poplar in question is the wood of the tulip tree, an enormous thing with distinctive four-lobed leaves, which happens to be the state tree of Indiana. Don’t confuse it with the magnolia tree, whose flowers closely resemble tulips.
Posted on June 6, 2024May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Acoustic Guitar Wood Questions: Acoustic Guitar Wood by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #93, 2009 Eric Gran from Norway asks: In the back of my brain, the idea of building guitar(s) is slowly growing. I would like to use as much local wood in my projects as possible. I found John Calkin’s article “The Heretic’s Guide to Alternative Lutherie Woods” enlightening. I can find local spruce, birch, fir, larch, maple, alder, rowan tree (European mountain ash) just to mention those I believe are most suited. Do you believe that a good acoustic guitar could be made only of wood found in Snåsa (the community where I live) in Norway? I understand that the fretboard and bridge need to be made of especially hard wood, so that may be a problem, but could you give me any idea of what properties are demanded? John Calkin from Greenville, VA responds: I encourage your use of native wood species. Processing your own wood is a huge amount of work, but it is also hugely gratifying. Starting with a standing tree will amplify both ends of that statement. But I also encourage you to begin a guitar as soon as possible. You could build several instruments in the time it takes large planks of wood to season. Hardwood from a local source will serve you well. Try to find quartersawn wood if possible, but proceed with your project even if you can’t. Quartered side wood is less likely to distort during bending, though any piece of wood can surprise you. I’ve used birch, maple, cherry, and oak to build beautiful, wonderful instruments, but you’ll have to maintain your resolve against the conservative members of our fraternity who will argue (loudly!) that only traditional wood varieties are worthy of your time. I’d recommend commercially prepared top wood for your first instruments, even though local spruce is available to you, just to put to rest any doubts you may have about the worthiness of your materials. 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 6, 2024May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Ossification of Guitar Soundboards Questions: Ossification of Guitar Soundboards by Benz Tschannen Originally published in American Lutherie #93, 2008 see also, Questions: Ossifying Wood by Rick Rubin Benz Tschannen from the Internet asks: Reading the “Secrets of Stradivari” by Sacconi, I wonder if anyone has experimented with using the “ossification” process described in the varnish chapter on a guitar top and with what results. Benz Tschannen from Fallon, NV provides an update to a question he asked in AL#89 about “ossification” of guitar soundboards: I did some experimenting: Two pieces of spruce and two pieces of cedar, ≈2"×4"×.10", washed one each with a solution of sodium silicate, the other with water. Let dry, then coated with two coats of shellac each. After a year the result is inconclusive. Sometimes the silicate pieces seem higher pitched, sometimes the water washed ones do. The big change is in color: the silicate turns the spruce yellow and the cedar a darker brown. I don’t want to find out what it does to the colors of the rosette, so I am abandoning this quest for now. ◆
Posted on June 6, 2024May 22, 2025 by Dale Phillips Letter: Ray Cowell Ukes Letter: Ray Cowell Ukes by Thomas Johnson Originally published in American Lutherie #99, 2009 Dear Tim: A ukulele revival is underway in the U.K. Of special interest here is Ray Cowell, who has crafted a pair of ukes from the Titanic’s sister ship, the RMS Olympic. Captain Edward Smith was the Olympic’s first skipper, and he went on to his last command aboard the Titanic. The Olympic was dismantled in 1937, and local industries purchased salvaged timbers and fittings for further use. Ray worked as an engineer in coal mines in the early ‘60s under appalling conditions. He shifted to the paint manufacturing industry, where he developed specialized machinery; when his job evaporated, he bought and developed his own successful factory that serviced the paint industry. One of the factory’s existing buildings was fitted with materials salvaged from the Olympic: paneling, lighting, floor tile, decking, and even the main staircase. 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.
