Posted on June 3, 2026June 3, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Sawdust in Fretboard Slots It Worked for Me: Sawdust in Fretboard Slots by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 When I worked in the dusty machine room at Huss & Dalton, it would occasionally happen that the technician doing the fretting would show up, remove the trapdoor of the table-saw base, and dip a coffee can full of the sawdust. If the saw base had recently been cleaned, the tech became very disgruntled as he stalked away. It was very mysterious. H&D had always used superglue to secure the frets. The slots were widened with a Dremel tool to make the frets a press fit. Once the fretboard was nicely leveled and sanded, the sawdust was rubbed across the slots until they were firmly packed. A heavy coat of bowling-alley wax was then applied to the fretboard right over the filled slots. The sawdust filler was then blown out of the slots with compressed air, leaving the slots wax free. The frets were glued in a few at a time using clamps and special cauls, and any squeeze-out readily popped free of the waxed wood using a small chisel. When a refret was called for, the old frets were lifted out after a large soldering iron was used to liquefy the superglue, which either evaporated or soaked into the sides of the slots. There was never a trace of chipout. Any playing wear was sanded out of the wood and the fretting process repeated. Mystery solved. ◆
Posted on April 30, 2026April 30, 2026 by Dale Phillips Making Bridge Plates: A Huss & Dalton Shop Story Making Bridge Plates: A Huss & Dalton Shop Story by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #75, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Consider the humble bridge plate. There’s no consensus on its shape, size, the material it should be made from, or even its real function. Certainly it supports the ball ends of the strings and protects the top wood from damage. But is it a brace that helps prevent top deformation? Does it help shape or alter the voice of the guitar? Does it really give bridge support? You tell me; I really don’t want to get in on the argument. Vintage Martin people have definite ideas about what size and shape the bridge plate should be, and it better be made of maple. Most guitarists probably don’t give a thought to the bridge plate, which places it firmly in the lap of the luthier. 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. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on April 14, 2026April 14, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Purfled Bindings It Worked for Me: Purfled Bindings by John Calkin Originally published in Ameican Lutherie #106, 2011 Some of these tips I discovered long ago, but I don’t think I ever wrote them down. Some are recent developments. They may seem obvious once you know them, but each one made a noticeable difference in the quality of my work. Huss & Dalton buys almost all its wooden binding stock from Michael Gurian. It comes prepurfled. The price is pretty good, but you have to buy a whole lay-up, which may entail as many as 100 pieces. As you might expect, Gurian makes up planks of binding stock and then saws out the individual strips. The black in a black/maple/black purfling is fiber. I assume that when the plank of binding/purfling is sawn into strips the purfling is down, and the saw blade leaves a bit of fiber burr on each corner that stands proud of the strip. If allowed to remain, the installed binding strip will sit on the burr, and if enough binding/purfling is scraped away when it is dressed to the sides, the burr is eliminated and a gap remains between the bottom black line of purfling and the rib. Finish won’t flow in there, so the gap has to be filled manually beforehand. It’s much easier to sand away the burr before binding proceeds. After the bent binding is rough-fitted to the guitar, I sand the bottom edge of the binding with an 80-grit sanding stick. The black fiber will turn to gray when sanded, and that color change is enough to tell you the job has been completed. Any more sanding will change the thickness of the bottom line, which is also to be avoided. 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. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on April 9, 2026April 9, 2026 by Dale Phillips The Gibson Monster The Gibson Monster by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #110, 2012 To say I’m no fan of Gibson guitars is to drastically understate the case. They are seldom satisfying instruments, but my dislike is also based on the difficulties they often present to repairmen. Removing their necks is often a struggle, and by now it’s generally known that Gibson occasionally installed the neck before the top, covering the dovetail and creating a trap for unsuspecting neck resetters. The 90th anniversary model in this story upped the ante in difficulty several degrees. Please consider this a warning if you do repairs. The guitar came in as a neck reset. The action wasn’t much too high, but the guitar was too big for the woman who bought it off eBay, and the combination of factors made it difficult for her to play. I quoted her $375 for the job. 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. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Ralph Novak Meet the Maker: Ralph Novak by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #70, 2002 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume Six, 2013 There aren’t a lot of questions in this interview. Ralph’s mind is organized. I made the appointment to interview him during the 2001 GAL Convention, and when the appointed time rolled around his story poured out almost as if he were reading it — an interviewer’s dream. I’ll bet he’s always been that way. We should all be so lucky. The interview was later updated to late April 2002. How were you introduced to music and lutherie? I started with piano lessons in the third grade, and started playing guitar when I was fourteen. By the time I was fifteen I began modifying and customizing my guitars. My dad was helpful in that. He didn’t know anything about instruments, but he was an excellent woodworker, and even when I was a child he made his shop available to me. He’d show me his projects, maybe let me sand something, and answer any questions I came up with about the shop and the work. The shop was never locked up. I’d go down there and do stuff. 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. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
