Posted on July 8, 2024October 2, 2024 by Dale Phillips Heat Pressing Heat Pressing by Leo Bidne Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #43, 1977 Heat pressing is the art of forming wood to a new and permanent shape with heat and pressure. With practice, it is an effective method of action adjustment when extreme measures are necessary; when time or poor construction methods develop a problem, has a fair idea of what a “good” action is, and is familiar with such terms as “action”, “buzzing”, “truss rod”, and the numbering system of frets, etc. The term “buzzing” assumes that the string is plucked moderately hard. Applied to guitars, the art of heat pressing is to create the optimum neck shape for a fretted, plucked string. This means a buzz-free, even action over the entire length of the fretboard. Part One explains what that neck shape is, clears up some of the fallacies and old wives’ tales on the subject, and points out some common neck problems. The Bow Basically, a plucked string travels in a bow, like this: Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on August 1, 2022March 5, 2024 by Dale Phillips Guitar Outline Formula Guitar Outline Formula by Leo Bidne Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #79, 1978 From taking several measurements of various guitars, I’ve discovered only slight differences from one to the next. These differences seem to contribute very little to the finished sound. The question is, what is the reason for making a guitar the shape that it is? What are the determining factors, besides the obvious ones? Can there be a “formula” that produces an “ideal” outline? This is what I set out to find. What I came up with, rather independently, so closely resembles, at least in dimension, the existing standard outline of the classic guitar as introduced by Torres, that I wonder if a similar technique may have been in use in the past, in some modified form. This formula, based on the string length, may be of no use to acoustical science, but it’s as fun as a math game, and twice as surprising. Although the information below describes how to derive an outline for a classic guitar with a string length of 65CM, joining the body at the 12th fret, it can also be used, with slight modifications, for other instruments, such as the flattop, the acoustic bass, the electric guitar, etc. Once the outline is established, the depth of the sound cavity can be adjusted with the sides, helping to establish the instruments sonority, as well as adjusting the soundboard bracing. 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 January 17, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips In Memoriam: Leo Bidne In Memoriam: Leo Bidne June 20, 1954 – March 6, 2019 by Tim Olsen Originally published in American Lutherie #137, 2019 Unless you have been a Guild member for a very long time, you may not remember Leo Bidne as a GAL staffer. But he was, back in the long-gone days of the mid-’70s when it was a strictly volunteer position, and we would sweep the chips off the workbench to paste up the copy, then hand-collate and staple the newsletter. GAL staff members in 1975. From left: Bon Henderson, Leo Bidne, Bob Petrulis, and Tim Olsen. Deb Olsen was holding the camera. These hippies posed in front of our current GAL headquarters, which is the same building as Tim and Deb’s house. At that time it was the location of Tim’s lutherie shop, where Bob and Leo joined Tim in lutherie pursuits. (This photo was part of the slide show, The Making of a Newsletter, which was prepared in 1975 for the 2nd GAL Convention held in Evanston, Illinois, which Leo attended with Tim and Deb.) Both photos by Deb Olsen. From left: Tim, Leo, and Bob at the 2014 GAL Convention. Bob continues to serve the Guild as a member of our Board of Directors. Leo was a guy who could just do things. It seems like anything that caught his interest, he would simply do: repairing and building guitars; writing and arranging music; playing most any musical instrument. And then, as he grew older and our paths diverged, he moved into audio and video recording and production, and became the proprietor of a music store. He was a family man with children and grandchildren, for whom he would build amazing things like a full-sized R2D2, and produce elaborate Star Wars fan films starring the neighborhood kids. I guess he never lost that naive belief that by doing the fun and create stuff that came naturally to him, he could make the world a better place — which he did, for American luthiers and for many others.
Posted on January 7, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: Guitar Repair “A Manual of Repair for Guitars and Fretted Instruments” by Irving Sloane Review: Guitar Repair “A Manual of Repair for Guitars and Fretted Instruments” by Irving Sloane Reviewed by Leo L. Bidne Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Newsletter Volume 2 #2, 1974 Guitar Repair “A Manual of Repair for Guitars and Fretted Instruments” Irving Sloane 1973; 95pp. $8.95 postpaid from; E.P. Dutton 201 Park Avenue New York, NY 10003 This book should have been written years ago. It would have saved us all the trouble of figuring out these techniques ourselves, and given us more time to develop our Art. Compiled with the C.F. Martin Organization, Mr. Sloane’s book deals in all facets of repairing acoustic guitars, including what to do with: 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.
