Posted on August 1, 2022May 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips Wood Salvaging Down Under Wood Salvaging Down Under by Des Anthony Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, Volume 6 #2, 1978 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1998 Woodstock. No, not that Woodstock, but a one-shop, no-houses Woodstock in North Queensland, Australia. At last the moment had arrived. It was a typical hot summer’s day and I was armed with the necessary tools. There was still that feeling of uncertainty in my mind that what I was to do was totally criminal. Sharing the shed with the ’dozers and tractors was an old upright Victor piano. Nobody wanted it anymore so I was able to carry out my plan. At home, our towns usually have a festival each year, and in that festival procession there is always an old car whereupon, for a fee, you may smash with a sledge hammer. Well, I wasn’t in that kind of mood, but I was still going to reduce this piano to an unrecognizable mess, but, I hope with a more dignified ending. 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 4, 2022May 28, 2025 by Dale Phillips Adirondack Spruce Growth Rates and Accessibility Adirondack Spruce Growth Rates and Accessibility by Ralph S. Charles III Originally published in American Lutherie #81, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 With a day job in the forestry and logging industry, I know a little something about wood. After thirty years of selling saw logs and pulpwood for a living, I thought that a move into the tonewood business would be a natural transition into retirement. Membership in the GAL, however, has uncovered a realization that some luthiers may appreciate my perspective on tree growth rates in general, and Adirondack spruce in particular. The grading of wood for instrument tops takes into account at least the following considerations: evenness of grain, straightness of grain, tightness of grain, color or discoloration, location or lack of knots, figure, heavy grain lines, pitch pockets, foreign objects (bullets and barbed wire), closeness to quarter and runout, and stiffness. The following discussion is directed at the evenness and tightness of grain which are a direct result of the laying down of the annual growth ring. 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 December 21, 2021May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips Early Engelmann Early Engelmann by Jan Callister Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly Volume 10 #3, 1982, updated 1993 and Luthier Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1997 In 1975, while completing my third guitar, I became very interested in the interplay of the different woods and their significance in the construction of a guitar. Most beginning guitarmakers, I am sure, have had the same interest. However, I questioned the use of European spruce as the most esteemed tonewood. Why didn’t our own domestic spruce wood have the same qualities? I began researching the literature to gain information on our own domestic spruce and its use for musical instruments. I found some references concerning Sitka spruce, mainly short paragraphs relating to tonal characteristics of violins. I couldn’t help wondering if the Engelmann spruce from the forests on the mountains just east of my home near Salt Lake City might have possibilities for guitarmaking. My research revealed hints that Engelmann had been used successfully by a few violinmakers as far back as the 1900s. A local industrial arts professor noted for his knowledge of woods, however, told me that Engelmann had no merit as a tonewood. Undaunted, I continued my research and found positive confirmation of Engelmann’s tonal value from Peter Prier of the American Violin Making School in Salt Lake City, Sam Daniels from Jerome, Idaho, and some records of R. Peter Larsen who had built over 100 violins in the late 19th century and said Engelmann was “superior in tone to Italian wood.” 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 September 22, 2021May 6, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Paul Schuback Story The Paul Schuback Story from his 1986 GAL Convention lecture Originally published in American Lutherie #9, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Paul Schuback was born in Barbados in the West Indies in 1946 and moved to the United States at the age of nine months. Through his experiences and training, he lived in thirty-three different homes before the age of twenty. His interest in musical instruments began when he was quite young, when he took up the violin at the age of seven. At the age of nine he began playing the cello, joining a youth symphony orchestra in Utah at the age of fifteen. Then, before graduating high school, he began his career as a luthier with a three-year apprenticeship to master Rene Morizot, in Mirecourt, France. Following this, he specialized in violin making in Mittenwald, Germany. He then became a graduate in bow making at the Morizot Freres again in Mirecourt, France. He continued his studies by researching historical instruments in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. From 1968 to 1971 he worked as journeyman in the Peter Paul Prier violin shop in Salt Lake City, Utah, before moving to Portland, Oregon, where he established his own workshop and where he resides today. 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, 2021May 13, 2025 by Dale Phillips Some Alternative Lutherie Woods Some Alternative Lutherie Woods by Tom Ribbecke from his 1992 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #35, 1993 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 My name is Tom Ribbecke and I’m on the staff of Luthiers Mercantile, pretty much the technical guy there. What I’ve brought to this presentation is based on my years of building and repairing guitars along with my four years at Luthiers Mercantile. I’m not a botanist or scientist, no more than any of you are... except for the botanists and scientists who are here. (laughter) I know there are many here as I caught Nick Von Robison’s workshop earlier today. So when I was asked to do this presentation, I thought, what could I do to focus on the alternative woods situation which is pretty much on all our minds these days? I’ve brought woods which have come up in my discussions with customers, things that we sell, and just about anything I could get ahold of on short notice. When I look at materials, and people present them to me, I see things in blocks and 1" thick material and it’s hard to make judgments on what will sound good. Most guitar makers, like myself, like to hold, fondle, mutilate, and bang on the material in dimensions that are appropriate for the guitar. So this is what I’ve brought — woods of many species that could be used or considered for guitar building in appropriate sizes and thicknesses. I’ve brought some things that are commonly available, some not so available, and some which might be considered exotics. Many of these I’ve lacquered — usually with a lacquer gun in one hand and a phone in the other. The lacquer will give you an idea of the color of these 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.
