American Lutherie #90 Summer 2007 This issue’s cover shows a Kenny Hill Signature Model guitar. Note the sound port and raised fingerboard. Photo courtesy of Kenny Hill This issue is out-of-print. Mechanical Compliance for Soundboard Optimization by David Hurd Guitar and ukulele maker David Hurd spoke at our 2006 GAL Convention about some simple devices he has made for measuring top compliance, with the aim of optimizing tone and structural integrity. Although David uses a lot of math to arrive at his conclusions, he has taken care to make his methods usable by those who may still be recovering from school-age math traumas. This issue’s cover shows a Kenny Hill Signature Model guitar. Note the sound port and raised fingerboard. Photo courtesy of Kenny Hill This issue is out-of-print. On the back cover we see Kenny at the manual of the mighty Fritts pipe organ in Pacific Lutheran University’s Lagerquist Hall. He surprised and delighted the assembled luthiers at the 2006 GAL Convention by playing a short recital of Bach music. Photo by Jonathon Peterson Meet the Maker: Douglas Martin by Barbara Goldowsky Doug Martin designs and builds sophisticated rowboats in his day job. But he has recently “made waves” in the violin world with his unusual balsa fiddles. Meet Doug in this issue. Taylor Today by Mark French Bob Taylor has a way of revolutionizing the guitar manufacturing business, and then be the first one to move another step beyond his own boundaries. We take a look at a few of his latest tricks. This article appears in our anthology book Flattop Guitars. Build Variation in a Group of Acoustic Guitars by Mark French and Kendall Brubaker It’s “hammer time” at Taylor Guitars! Physicist Mark French takes his computerized setup to El Cajon to analyze the variation between guitars made of various woods. So they get it all mounted in the special way-scientific gizmo, and then... whack it with a hammer. No kidding. This article appears in our anthology book Flattop Guitars. Meet the Maker: Kenny Hill by Cyndy Burton Kenny Hill played the pipe organ in college. He didn’t get interested in the guitar until after he was drafted in the Vietnam era. Then he went to prison. Not as an inmate, but as a guitar making instructor. He has run shops in the USA, Mexico, and China, and now his children have joined the business. Read about his interesting life in this issue. Construction of the Colombian Tiple by Anamaría Paredes García and R.M. Mottola In American Lutherie #82 Luis Alberto Paredes Rodríguez presented a plan of the Colombian tiple, GAL Instrument Plan #51. In this issue watch him build a tiple in a set of step-by-step photos. Meet the Maker: Mervyn Davis by Rodney Stedall Without going into orbit, you can't get much farther from here than South Africa. Yet even there, you find self-taught luthiers doing excellent and boldly experimental work. I guess we must agree with the puppets at Disneyland: It’s a small world after all. Rodney Stedall interviews Mervyn Davis, a luthier with over thirty years of experience. “Cricket”: A Reclaimed Salvage Recovery by James Condino James Condino made a beautiful mandolin to display on Earth Day. It is all made of salvaged wood and materials. Woodchopper’s Ball by Bruce Harvie Bruce Harvie has been in the lutherie wood business for a long time. He’s been there and back, and he's seen it all plus a bag of chips. Wood chips. He gave a slide show of his adventures at the 2004 GAL Convention. We present the short version in American Lutherie #90. So is that Bruce in the photo? Or is it Colonel Sanders? Actually it is the proprietor of a motel that is entirely trimmed out with the wood from one amazing figured redwood log. Partial Refrets by John Calkin John Calkin takes us through a partial refret job. Product Reviews: Schatten Pickup Winder by Harry Fleishman Harry Fleishman reviews the Schatten Pickup Winder. He also tells stories of the bad old days when he walked ten miles to school through the snow, and it was uphill both ways. He likes the winder, and the coil-making supplies that are also available from Stew-Mac. Questions edited by R.M. Mottola Our readers have questions. And they also have answers. You can learn a lot in our “Questions” column. The photo shows an 1856 Haynes guitar. It Worked for Me by Dan Fobert and Robert Steinegger Those fret-roller thingies are great for giving your fret wire just the right curve. But if you can't be bothered to turn the little crank for half a minute a couple times a month, this is just what you need: an automatic electric fret roller! In Memoriam: John Sullivan by Bruce Harvey John Sullivan died recently after a too-short career as a maker of mandolins, guitars, harp guitars, and violins. Here’s an affectionate goodbye from his friend Bruce Harvie. Read his memoriam. Web Extras View photo gallery for this issue of American Lutherie. American Lutherie #135 – Winter 2018 American Lutherie #134 – Summer 2018 American Lutherie #133 – Spring 2018 American Lutherie #132 – Winter 2017 American Lutherie #131 – Fall 2017 American Lutherie #130 – Summer 2017 American Lutherie #129 – Spring 2017 American Lutherie #128 – Winter 2016 American Lutherie #127 – Fall 2016 American Lutherie #126 – Summer 2016 Journal
