Posted on January 5, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: How to Make a Living Doing Something Crazy — Like Making Guitars by Kent Carlos Everett Review: How to Make a Living Doing Something Crazy — Like Making Guitars by Kent Carlos Everett Reviewed by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010 How to Make a Living Doing Something Crazy — Like Making Guitars Kent Carlos Everett $9.75 from www.everettguitars.com Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of guitarists who admire fine instruments and seem to know all about them, have a fantasy life where they are a luthier. Their fantasy days slip slowly by as they sit quietly at their bench, engrossed in the pleasant task of rendering expensive wood into the most exquisite guitars the world has seen. Their favorite artists fill the background with wonderful music as they pause to admire a favorite lick and wonder oh-so-briefly what the lesser unfortunate members of humanity might be doing at that very moment. Their life is full and peaceful and maybe even prosperous. I’ve come to believe that their fantasy is the real foundation of our New Golden Age of Lutherie, and that without it luthiers would be groveling for a living in some miserable cubicle in the ever-expanding megalopolis that houses American commerce. The next time a customer or friend is envious of your lifestyle just nod knowingly and tell them you entirely understand. 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 5, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: The Ukulele by Denis Gilbert & Ukulele Design & Construction by D. Henry Wickham Review: The Ukulele by Denis Gilbert & Ukulele Design & Construction by D. Henry Wickham Reviewed by John Calkin Previously published in American Lutherie #86, 2006 The Ukulele Denis Gilbert Windward Publishing and Press, 2003 ISBN 0-9728795-0-1 available from Stewart-MacDonald, $24.99 Ukulele Design & Construction D. Henry Wickham Trafford Publishing, 2004 ISBN 141203909-6 I hear that there’s a ukulele revolution going on out there. Maybe rebirth is a better term, I’m not sure. I live such an isolated life that major cultural changes pass me right by, but I hear in the wind that there’s a ukulele tsunami out there. I hope it’s true. It’s not like Hawaiian music automatically melts the stress off my bones. Heck, I’m a guitar maker and as such I don’t suffer any stress, right? But as a guitar maker I’ve sort of settled into my mold. It’s life-as-usual the year round. I’m ready for some excitement, for the next Big Thing. If it’s going to be ukuleles, so be it. That Gilbert and Wickham’s books came out within a year of each other suggests that something is happening. That their books are so much alike suggests that they know each other, or perhaps one taught the other. I don’t know and it doesn’t matter to me, but their books are enough alike that I decided to review them together. 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 5, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: The Mandolin Project by Graham McDonald Review: The Mandolin Project by Graham McDonald Reviewed by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #97, 2009 The Mandolin Project Graham McDonald ISBN (paperback): 9780980476200 Graham McDonald Stringed Inst., 2008, $37.50 It’s funny how the cover of a book can prepare you for what’s inside. The cover of The Mandolin Project is about the same color as a brown paper bag, with type in a darker brown — in other words, nicely plain. It looks like a work book, which put me in a pretty good mood for what was inside. This is serious stuff, the making of instruments. Save the glitz for the useless coffee table books. “Roll up your sleeves and let’s get to work,” the cover says. I like that. But first, (snore) a little history. Most instrument building books feel compelled to explain the origins of the instrument before the woodwork begins, as if we didn’t know. Much of the time it just seems to pad out the book to help justify a higher price. But McDonald is a cerebral kind of guy with serious intent and he wouldn’t jerk us around like that. The first thirty pages of his manual trace the life of the mandolin using some very nice color graphics and text that you may or may not find interesting, depending on how eager you are to finish your mandolin and finally learn to play “The Rights of Man.” Suffice it to say that if you wish to place yourself amid the human calender as a mandolin builder, the first chapter is for you. If not, well, the photos are so good that I’ll be surprised if you don’t at least find yourself skimming the text for the names that match the pictures. And you know what? There was a lot of information I didn’t already know. 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 5, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: Building the Selmer-Maccaferri Guitar by Michael Collins Review: Building the Selmer-Maccaferri Guitar by Michael Collins Reviewed by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #96, 2008 Building the Selmer-Maccaferri Guitar Michael Collins Acoustic Guitar Resources DVD, 14 hours Available from Stewart-MacDonald, $159.98 The Selmer-Maccaferri guitar, whether D-hole or oval hole, is unlike any other commonly encountered. As far as I know, this DVD set and the accompanying book (available separately) are the only thorough guides to the construction details and how to put one together, though the DVDs only cover the oval hole model. Although Michael Collins makes references to the book and plans to help clarify specific details, I haven’t seen them, so we’ll have to examine the DVDs on their own. The most obvious and remarkable aspect of the DVDs is their ten volume, fourteen-hour run time. Editor Tim Olsen’s e-mail to his crew hoping to find a reviewer asked, “Is anyone not in prison going to have time to watch these?” Well, there I was with my cybernetic arm waving in the air. I guess I’m just a glutton for this stuff. I must confess, though, that while I try to watch video media at least twice before reviewing, once through had to suffice for this set. 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.
