Posted on January 12, 2010March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: Installing Transducer Pickup Systems by Dan Erlewine Review: Installing Transducer Pickup Systems by Dan Erlewine Reviewed by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #65, 2001 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Video: Installing Transducer Pickup Systems Dan Erlewine Stewart-MacDonald, 1999 The music stores for which I used to do guitar repairs used to sell transducers at a hefty discount, then charge a flat $25 installation fee. Their normal hourly rate was $33. It’s easy to put in a transducer in an hour or less. Making it function properly is another matter, and many of those guitars came back for adjustments that would never have been necessary had the time been granted to do the job right in the first place. This video is about doing the job right the first time. The guitar top is precisely jacked up to simulate string tension, the saddle slot is routed accurately and with a flat bottom, a new saddle is made, and adjustments are made to the bridge to correct the string angle as it comes off the saddle. 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 12, 2010March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: Spray Finishing Basics by Dan Erlewine and Don MacRostie Review: Spray Finishing Basics by Dan Erlewine and Don MacRostie Reviewed by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #61, 2000 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Video: Spray Finishing Basics Dan Erlewine and Don MacRostie Stewart-MacDonald, 1999 This video is broken into two distinct segments, each of which covers the complete finishing process in its own manner. In the first portion, Dan Erlewine finishes an ash strat-style body in a Fender blonde color. This is a white finish that allows the wood grain to show through. In furniture work it’s usually called a pickled finish. In the second segment, Don MacRostie paints a bound alder tele-style body pink on the face and black on the back and sides. All colors are mixed in the shop from a clear lacquer base, and a good amount of time is expended demonstrating the process. Alder and ash require different prep treatments, and this is also a feature of the tape. Builders of acoustic guitars shouldn’t feel left out, since the color coats are followed by clear finish, and working with clear is the same, regardless of whether it goes over sealed wood or colored lacquer. The idea was to pack as much information into the allotted time as possible. The application methods used by the two men differed drastically. The three basic steps of wood finishing are wood prep, finish application, and sanding/buffing. It often baffles beginners to find out that if any step is less important than the others it’s the second, the application. The acquisition of a compressor and a quality spray gun hardly guarantees a good finish, but a talented luthier can do a good job with the unlikeliest gear. To prove it, Erlewine finishes his guitar entirely with aerosols. 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 12, 2010March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: Dan Erlewine Lutherie Videos Review: Dan Erlewine Lutherie Videos Reviewed by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #72, 2002 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Dan Erlewine’s Lutherie Videos and DVDs Dan Erlewine’s Guitar Shop, 2001 Dan Erlewine’s Guitar Shop has introduced a new series of lutherie videos that will likely set the standard for such work for some time to come. The most basic volume will help the tyro evaluate a guitar before and after purchase, explain how repairs are dealt with, and give the guitarist a sense of whether he truly wants to enter lutherie or not. It’s easy to conjure up a desire to fix or improve instruments, but it’s much harder to do the actual work. It seems contradictory, but some very fine guitarists are too fumble fingered to cleanly complete even the most basic repair or setup work. The sooner they learn that commercial lutherie is not for them, the better off they’ll be. Which doesn’t mean they won’t enjoy the rest of the series. Any guitar freak might like to watch fine luthiers in action. But any decisions that are potentially life altering ought to be informed and then honestly considered. Once the jump into lutherie has been made — for better or for worse — acquiring the best instruction only makes sense. I’m so book oriented that it’s a hard confession to make, but as a visual learner I believe that video has made books obsolete for many applications. 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 12, 2010March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: Archtop Guitar Master Class Series Part 1: Focusing on Bridges and Tailpieces by Bob Benedetto Review: Archtop Guitar Master Class Series Part 1: Focusing on Bridges and Tailpieces by Bob Benedetto Reviewed by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #64, 2000 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Video: Archtop Guitar Master Class Series Part 1: Focusing on Bridges and Tailpieces Bob Benedetto, 1999 As a hard-core advocate of video learning, I wish I could give this tape the hearty recommendation I gave to Benedetto’s multi-tape series about archtop construction. I’d like to confess that I’m not a builder of archtops, nor do I intend to become one, so it’s likely that I’m not the best judge of advanced information about the subject. It seems to me, however, that there just isn’t $40 worth of information here. There’s an unwritten rule that a reviewer should never divulge so much that the reader feels justified in not making a purchase, but just for one time I’m going to violate that rule. Here’s the gist of this video: First, the break angle of the strings as they pass over the bridge has nothing to do with the tension of the playing length of the string, nor does the length of the string between the bridge and the tailpiece. Second, the standard Gibson-style adjustable bridge is the appropriate one for the archtop guitar, and any change to its footprint or the adjustment mechanism is bound to have an adverse effect upon the tone and/or volume of the guitar. Third, metal tailpieces by their very nature damage the tone of archtop guitars. Why are these things true? They just are, that’s all. The video isn’t much more specific than that. 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 12, 2010March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: Custom Knifemaking by Tim McCreight Review: Custom Knifemaking by Tim McCreight Reviewed by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #66, 2001 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013 Custom Knifemaking Tim McCreight Stackpole Books, 1985 ISBN 978-0811721752 “So what’s this book doing in AL?” I hear you ask. Well, books directly pertaining to lutherie don’t come along every day, so I’ve been scouting the terrain for volumes that overlap our favorite subject. Toolmaking is a tantalizing excuse to delay any of the less-appetizing aspects of instrument building, and knives certainly qualify as tools. What’s more, once you can make a knife, you are prepared to make specialty plane irons, spokeshave blades, and perhaps small flat chisels. The steel-shaping and tempering processes described in this book will work for any project involving flat stock. There are two basic methods of making a knife: forging, and stock removal. Forging involves heating the steel chunk of your choice to red hot and beating it into the shape of your desire. Stock removal begins with flat steel the thickness of the finished blade. The blade is cut to shape with a torch or saw and then ground to a knife edge. If this sounds like work beyond the scope of your ambitions, please hang in there. McCreight will make this work for you. 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.
