Posted on December 16, 2024December 16, 2024 by Dale Phillips Fall Collection 2024 Articles Online Fall Collection 2024 GAL Members – Login first before clicking on article titles to read the full articles. Not a 2024 member? You can join or renew here. Radiation from Lower Guitar Modes by Graham Caldersmith (1985) Caldersmith discusses the efficiency and pattern of sound radiation in the classic guitar produced by the four lower resonance modes, which he calls monopole, cross dipole, long dipole, and tripole. Inside Pacific Rim Tonewoods by Steve McMinn (1993) McMinn’s lutherie wood business has turned out to be a pretty big deal. Here we gain perspective by seeing it at the very beginning. The Great White Sitka by Jeffrey R. Elliott (1993) Holy Moby Spruce! How does one hack a log that’s eleven feet wide into 4000 guitar tops? Very carefully! By the way, this is a log that Steve McMinn rescued from the pulp mill. Meet the Maker: Bernard Millant by Jonathon Peterson (2006) Millant is a violin maker, a bow maker, an appraiser, an author, and a man of high repute within the violin world. The depth of training behind many old-school fiddle people will astonish most guitar makers, and it makes for entrancing reading. Meet the Maker: Dmitry Zhevlakov by Federico Sheppard (2007) This is not only the story of a Russian luthier who also makes beautiful rosettes for other builders, but is another example of how the Internet has changed the world — in this case for better. Aluminum Sonatas: A Brief History of Aluminum Stringed Instruments in the Last 120 Years by James Condino (2007) Every luthier knows how fickle and finicky the market is, so it’s no wonder that musical instruments made of aluminum didn’t catch on. Examined here are a violin, a mandolin, and a pair of bass viols. Fun stuff! Mechanical Compliance for Soundboard Optimization by David Hurd (2007) Hurd believes that the fastest way to great instruments is science, and it’s hard to argue with such a rational man. His jigs measure the deflection of top plates while under tension, and once he carves the top and braces to the numbers he wants, he’s done. This could be math heavy, but he offers an Internet spread sheet to ease the pain. Construction of the Colombian Tiple by Anamaria Paredes Garcia and R.M. Mottola (2007) Cross a 12-string flattop with a classical guitar and you get the Colombian tiple. The tiple has four courses of three steel strings, but on the inside, it’s a classical. Follow Alberto Paredes as he builds the instrument in this photo tour. See GAL Plan #51. Meet the Maker: Mervyn Davis by Rodney Stedall (2007) Davis’ South African upbringing inspires a wonderful decorative sense in his instruments. He’s built a ton of different stuff but may end up best known for his wildly unique modular guitars called Smooth Talkers. Cricket: A Reclaimed Salvage Recovery by James Condino (2007) Condino’s mandolin is made from recycled materials, mostly Douglas fir and katalox. It is unique and beautiful, and the story behind it is pretty cool, too. Grading on the Curves: Fitting Bars and Bridges on Archtop Guitars by Steve Andersen (2007) This is a very detailed look at how a notable builder of archtop guitars fits tone bars and bridges to his instruments. The Venezuelan Cuatro by Aquiles Torres (2008) Traditionally, this instrument is a small 4-string guitar with 14 frets clear, no frets over the body, a flush fretboard, and a large veneer tap plate. Note that the cuatro built for the article has 17 frets clear of the body. See GAL Plan #58. The MacRostie Mandolin Deflection Jig by Don MacRostie (2008) MacRostie’s clever jig measures the top deflection of a carved mandolin under string load at any stage of its construction. It is a valuable tool within the reach of any luthier. The “Corker” Guitar: A Sideport Experiment by Alan Carruth (2008) Carruth built a classical guitar with many small ports drilled in the side. By plugging the ports in various combinations he investigated the usefulness and physics behind them. Though this guitar did not make a believer out of him, he admits that his results are somewhat inconclusive. Electric Guitar Setup by Erick Coleman and Elliot John-Conry (2009) Two disciples of Dan Erlewine explain the latest techniques of setting up the electric guitar. All the details and specs are there, as well as a bit of philosophy. Dulcimer 101 by John Calkin (2009) Dulcimers are needlessly maligned and in need of advocates, and the author is a strong one. Tools and jiggery are kept to a minimum to make construction of this entry level instrument as accessible as possible. The Guitar as a Structure and Some Practical Information on Bracing by James Blilie (2009) A structural engineer and guitar builder sees the guitar as a thing buffeted by forces and stresses. Total Flame Out: Retopping a Harp Guitar by Harry Fleishman (2009) Harry replaces the failed soundboard on a complicated instrument with as little refinishing and other stress as possible. Strings: The (Often) Forgotten Accessory by Fan Tao (2010) D’Addario's resident scientist Fan Tao helps us understand string issues in relation to custom instruments and customized tuning. Practical Acoustics by Michael Cone (2010) Cone describes his advanced apparatus and method for acoustically testing classical guitars. Meet the Maker: James Ham by Roger Alan Skipper (2010) Ham operates from a shop in Victoria, B.C. where he repairs and restores violin family instruments and constructs world class double basses. It’s All About the Core or How to Estimate Compensation by Sjaak Elmendorp (2010) Mathematics and parameters used to address the problem of string compensation estimation. Articles Online Fall Collection 2024 Radiation from Lower Guitar Modes by Graham Caldersmith (1985) Caldersmith discusses the efficiency and pattern of sound radiation in the classic guitar produced by the four lower resonance modes, which he calls monopole, cross dipole, long dipole, and tripole. Inside Pacific Rim Tonewoods by Steve McMinn (1993) McMinn's lutherie wood business has turned out to be a pretty big deal. Here we gain perspective by seeing it at the very beginning. The Great White Sitka by Jeffrey R. Elliott (1993) Holy Moby Spruce! How does one hack a log that’s eleven feet wide into 4000 guitar tops? Very carefully! By the way, this is a log that Steve McMinn rescued from the pulp mill. Meet the Maker: Bernard Millant by Jonathon Peterson (2006) Millant is a violin maker, a bow maker, an appraiser, an author, and a man of high repute within the violin world. The depth of training behind many old-school fiddle people will astonish most guitar makers, and it makes for entrancing reading. Meet the Maker: Dmitry Zhevlakov by Federico Sheppard (2007) This is not only the story of a Russian luthier who also makes beautiful rosettes for other builders, but is another example of how the Internet has changed the world — in this case for better. Aluminum Sonatas: A Brief History of Aluminum Stringed Instruments in the Last 120 Years by James Condino (2007) Every luthier knows how fickle and finicky the market is, so it’s no wonder that musical instruments made of aluminum didn’t catch on. Examined here are a violin, a mandolin, and a pair of bass viols. Fun stuff! Mechanical Compliance for Soundboard Optimization by David Hurd (2007) Hurd believes that the fastest way to great instruments is science, and it’s hard to argue with such a rational man. His jigs measure the deflection of top plates while under tension, and once he carves the top and braces to the numbers he wants, he’s done. This could be math heavy, but he offers an Internet spread sheet to ease the pain. Construction of the Colombian Tiple by Anamaria Paredes Garcia and R.M. Mottola (2007) Cross a 12-string flattop with a classical guitar and you get the Colombian tiple. The tiple has four courses of three steel strings, but on the inside, it’s a classical. Follow Alberto Paredes as he builds the instrument in this photo tour. See GAL Plan #51. Meet the Maker: Mervyn Davis by Rodney Stedall (2007) Davis’ South African upbringing inspires a wonderful decorative sense in his instruments. He’s built a ton of different stuff but may end up best known for his wildly unique modular guitars called Smooth Talkers. Cricket: A Reclaimed Salvage Recovery by James Condino (2007) Condino’s mandolin is made from recycled materials, mostly Douglas fir and katalox. It is unique and beautiful, and the story behind it is pretty cool, too. Grading on the Curves: Fitting Bars and Bridges on Archtop Guitars by Steve Andersen (2007) This is a very detailed look at how a notable builder of archtop guitars fits tone bars and bridges to his instruments. The Venezuelan Cuatro by Aquiles Torres (2008) Traditionally, this instrument is a small 4-string guitar with 14 frets clear, no frets over the body, a flush fretboard, and a large veneer tap plate. Note that the cuatro built for the article has 17 frets clear of the body. See GAL Plan #58. The MacRostie Mandolin Deflection Jig by Don MacRostie (2008) MacRostie’s clever jig measures the top deflection of a carved mandolin under string load at any stage of its construction. It is a valuable tool within the reach of any luthier. The “Corker” Guitar: A Sideport Experiment by Alan Carruth (2008) Carruth built a classical guitar with many small ports drilled in the side. By plugging the ports in various combinations he investigated the usefulness and physics behind them. Though this guitar did not make a believer out of him, he admits that his results are somewhat inconclusive. Electric Guitar Setup by Erick Coleman and Elliot John-Conry (2009) Two disciples of Dan Erlewine explain the latest techniques of setting up the electric guitar. All the details and specs are there, as well as a bit of philosophy. Dulcimer 101 by John Calkin (2009) Dulcimers are needlessly maligned and in need of advocates, and the author is a strong one. Tools and jiggery are kept to a minimum to make construction of this entry level instrument as accessible as possible. The Guitar as a Structure and Some Practical Information on Bracing by James Blilie (2009) A structural engineer and guitar builder sees the guitar as a thing buffeted by forces and stresses. Total Flame Out: Retopping a Harp Guitar by Harry Fleishman (2009) Harry replaces the failed soundboard on a complicated instrument with as little refinishing and other stress as possible. Strings: The (Often) Forgotten Accessory by Fan Tao (2010) D'Addario's resident scientist Fan Tao helps us understand string issues in relation to custom instruments and customized tuning. Practical Acoustics by Michael Cone (2010) Cone describes his advanced apparatus and method for acoustically testing classical guitars. Meet the Maker: James Ham by Roger Alan Skipper (2010) Ham operates from a shop in Victoria, B.C. where he repairs and restores violin family instruments and constructs world class double basses. It’s All About the Core or How to Estimate Compensation by Sjaak Elmendorp (2010) Mathematics and parameters used to address the problem of string compensation estimation.
Posted on December 2, 2024December 19, 2024 by Dale Phillips In Memoriam: Harry Fleishman In Memoriam: Harry Fleishman November 5, 1948 – July 14, 2024 by Michael Bashkin, Fred Carlson, Fabio Ragghianti, January Williams, and Tim Olsen Originally published in American Lutherie #153, 2024 Harry presenting at the 2014 GAL Convention. Photo by Peggy Stuart. “The only worse time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades.” This was Harry’s recounting of the story of how he went into cardiac arrest while night-diving alone off the coast of Hawaii. It’s a strikingly funny way to describe something so serious, and it’s a perfect example of Harry’s quick wit and intelligence. Sure, humor was often his way of coping with life’s challenges, but he was a master at it. I only wish I could have recorded Harry so I could play it back at half speed to catch all the jokes I missed. I first met Harry around 1994, and despite the fact that I hadn’t yet made a guitar, he generously took the time to talk with me about guitar making. A few years later, I took a guitar-building course from him, where I learned not only the rules of the craft, but how to break them. As he used to say, “What’s the worst that can happen? You can learn something, and it’s just a guitar.” It’s no exaggeration to say that I wouldn’t be where I am today as a guitar maker without Harry’s guidance and mentorship. I’d be much farther along, but that’s beside the point — and Harry would have appreciated that comment. Harry’s instruments were much like him — there was always more going on than met the eye. His designs were inventive, varied, and often daring. He wasn’t afraid to pursue ideas with a chance of failure and little market appeal. Harry built instruments simply because they were ideas that he was genuinely curious about and he wanted to explore those designs. Over the years, Harry and I collaborated on several projects, which included travel and unforgettable meals in far-flung places. I’ll miss Harry and I owe him a great deal for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm for lutherie. The guitar-making world has truly lost a gem. — Michael Bashkin Old pals and fellow lutherie pioneers Tom Ribbecke (left) and Harry Fleishman in 2024. Photo by Michael Bashkin. I first encountered Harry at a GAL Convention in Tacoma, I think it must have been in the early 1990s. He was giving a presentation in the main hall; in typical Harry fashion, he managed to be funny while communicating really useful information about his unconventional techniques and designs. Unfortunately, I think most of the useful stuff went by me, because I was so taken by the warmth and humor that poured out of him. Really, it was kind of love at first sight... I knew he was someone I wanted to get to know. It turned out, when I got to meet him in person, that the feeling was mutual. We were very different people, and our approach to lutherie, and certainly the results we got, were very different. In a way, that was part of the great joy of the relationship that developed between us. We enjoyed and admired each other’s work immensely; and were good enough friends to be able to criticize each others work and argue about the details (big and small) without suffering damage to our friendship. When I had the opportunity a couple of times to drive up the coast from Santa Cruz to Tacoma for a Guild Convention, I would stop by Harry’s place in Sebastopol to spend the night. We would cook up a meal, hang out gossiping about other luthiers, and eventually get out our guitars and play old Dylan songs. On one or two visits, we went off to local art museums; Harry had been an art teacher in an earlier part of his life, and knew more than anyone I’d met about painters and sculptors. Harry had a vast interest in art and design. He was especially fascinated by industrial design; he loved cool, sporty cars, and really wanted to design automobiles. He was intrigued by a kind of traditional Indonesian jewelry that involved gluing tiny bits of brilliantly colored peacock feathers to a metal or wood substrate, and when he found out we had peacocks wandering around our place, he had me bring him feathers so he could try to figure out how to do it himself. He also had a couple of pygmy goats as pets for a while, and he clearly adored them. I know some other builders found Harry worrisome, because he was always making jokes about things, and you could never tell for sure if you were the butt of the joke or not. (And you probably were!) What a wonderful, unique human being he was! I miss him so much! — Fred Carlson At home in the 1990s. Photo courtesy of Harry Fleishman. I’d like to share a few words about Harry Fleishman. In I think 1999, I was visiting a friend in Boulder, Colorado, and I had Harry Fleishman’s address. I just rang the bell. He received me very warmly and we talked about lutherie and life for a whole afternoon. He soon invited me to teach at his school for the following summer. We quickly became good friends and I kept teaching classical and archtop guitar making at Luthiers School International for several years until LSI closed up. (Harry had moved to Sebastopol, California, a few years before.) On the days off, we used to go to Bodega Bay for long walks on the beach with his dog Kiwi and for seafood dinners. He visited me in Italy with his wife, Janet, and I also organized a lecture for him at the Sarzana acoustic guitar meeting. We participated in a panel in Tacoma for the Guild. After LSI we haven’t met personally, but kept communicating by e-mail and phone. He was a high-level luthier, an even better designer, always ahead, and always with an unbeatable sense of humour. I will terribly miss him. — Fabio Ragghianti I think of Harry as a hippie — not the long haired, tie-dyed flower child, but as one of the new generation that broke away from American consumerism to grasp the world hands-on; we grew gardens and learned to cook, we made wine and brewed beer, made our own cheese and sausage, baked bread and made ice cream, fixed our cars... and made our own instruments. Now all of these things have become “artisanal” crafts. Before the Internet, we had the Whole Earth Catalog and discovered Stewart-MacDonald, Sloan’s book on classic guitar construction, H.L. Wild for wood, and many other resources. Within a few years, we had guys like Harry Fleishman and Tim Olsen building guitars and reaching out to others to talk about the process. I got to know Harry over the course of several GAL Conventions, drawn into his presentations. I was fortunate to attend a class with him in 2005 (that he donated and I won at a GAL auction.) The class started with Harry letting us know that he was learning alongside us, and would frequently interrupt the routine bustle of work at our benches to focus all of us on a particular question or technique. He took us to Allied Lutherie where they graciously let us go back into the warehouse and sort through piles of sets, which Harry called “getting naked with the wood.” He provided a running commentary and answered questions. It was a lesson in wood assessment, presented as a “field trip” for the class. Harry was a down-to-earth guy and would talk to anybody — tolerance and respect for people was just who he was. Early on, Harry told us that sooner or later we would come across an instrument that we would regard as, well, ugly. He said that while your feelings are valid, you need to suspend your judgement, the scoff and scorn. What you should do is examine that instrument carefully, because it can teach you, and you can find something that you can complement, something you can take away to inform your own aesthetic. This tolerance is one of the reasons Harry had so many friends — people whose work he may have criticized, but who he kept in conversation to inform his own aesthetic. He had a way of asking penetrating questions to get you out of ruts and open to a new way of perceiving things. He was a great teacher; he did not try to push things toward you, but got you to probe and question from your own viewpoint. Harry was generous, both in a personal, objective way, and with ideas and values. When he was staying with us, we took him to a mom-and-pop Lao place because he had traveled in southeast Asia quite a bit. He not only insisted on buying us dinner, but he became the maître d’, quizzed us briefly about our tastes and preferences, and then proceeded to order the entire meal. It challenged us a bit, and introduced us to some things a little outside our comfort zone. It was a great, memorable evening, and as always with Harry, there was a lot of storytelling and laughter. His generosity in sharing ideas and techniques aligns with the very foundation of the GAL. His classes were not prescriptive, pushing a student down a narrow path towards completing that one guitar, but an exploration. Almost every building task was demonstrated in more than one way, and students were encouraged to help each other in collaboration, so the class was less about me and my guitar, but more about the art and craft of lutherie. At some lutherie schools, a student might come to a workstation all set up with all the supplies and jigs, but with Harry, we started with a blank worktop and started making a workboard jig on the first day. We learned from the start that with very minimal and humble supplies, you can improvise real, functional tools. One of Harry’s strengths was his fearless approach to fixing mistakes. A classmate epoxied his fingerboard onto a neck misaligned, and another drilled a tuning machine hole in a peghead way off location. In every case Harry jumped in, stopped the class, and led the student through the fix. The takeaway was more than just techniques, but the attitude, the confidence that the maker can deal with anything. I mentioned to Harry how much I appreciated this in an e-mail conversation we had a few months ago, and he responded: “You got the most important single piece of information I ever offered: Everything can be fixed. Don’t sweat and cry; fix and move on.” Harry Fleishman both embodied and exemplified the core values of the GAL, and we fondly remember him. He really made a difference. Harry was great, Harry was good, Harry was great and good. — January Williams Joy. That’s what I remember most about good ol’ Harry Fleishman. He was a real joker, a witty guy, a raconteur. But that’s not what I mean. A lot of funny guys don’t bring joy. Harry brought joy; joy of discovering, joy of doing, joy of sharing. If you are too young to collect Social Security, then you cannot really know what it meant to start out the way Harry, and many of the GAL’s founders, did. He was a very young person, in love with the idea of making musical instruments, but without a road map. No books for sale or in the library; no wood; no parts; no special tools. And a serious shortage of meaningful role models. Lutherie teachers? Heck, we had never heard the word “lutherie.” Maybe you are rolling your eyes and saying, “OK, Boomer.” But you stand on the shoulders of giants like Harry Fleishman. And a lot of those giants were naive, isolated, obsessed, do-it-yourselfer kids. As soon as Harry learned something, he taught it. Go to the GAL website (www.luth.org), call up our “search article abstracts,” and pick his name off the drop-down list of well over a thousand authors. You’ll see an astonishing ninety-one articles listed, written across thirty-eight years. Several of these are full-on lecture transcriptions from the many GAL Conventions he attended. Just a few months ago, he and I were discussing article projects and ideas he had in the works. Joy. You know what brings joy? Helping people. Helping your friends and other folks in the craft. Helping people you don’t even know. Helping people who haven’t been born yet. That’s why there was Harry. That’s why there is a Guild of American Luthiers. That’s why Harry loved the Guild. And that’s why we love Harry. — Tim Olsen
Posted on November 27, 2024December 19, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Thanks to J.R. Beall Letters and more from our readers Originally published in American Lutherie #153, 2024 Hi Tim, I was delighted to see J.R.’s letter in AL#152. His seminal relation to the GAL is very overlooked by younger makers who weren’t around during those halcyon days of the early trajectory of GAL history. I can confirm J.R. is every bit […] To access this post, you must purchase Guild Membership – United States, 2024 + 2025, Guild Membership – Canada, 2024 + 2025, Guild Membership – Outside U.S. and Canada, 2024 + 2025 or Guild Membership – Outside U.S. and Canada, 2024 + 2025 Digital Only.
Posted on July 1, 2024July 9, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Defending Larry Sandberg’s Book Letter: Defending Larry Sandberg’s Book by Harry Fleishman Originally published in American Lutherie #67, 2001 Dear Guild, Benjamin Hoff takes what seems like a pretty severe dislike to my friend Larry Sandberg’s book, The Acoustic Guitar Guide, from its title, to its tone, to its content. What many have enjoyed, the folksy tone Larry takes, offends Hoff. He’s certainly entitled to dislike it. However, he seems intent on nitpicking as a way of discrediting the author and his work. He quotes Sandberg and brackets “sic” after “epitome” as though the word or idea were used incorrectly, and he knew better. But the word and idea are correct as a quick glance at a dictionary will show. He objects to a brief history, but this is not a history book. He objects that Sandberg writes, “the steel-strung flattop is probably the kind of guitar you want. It’s the kind of guitar most people want.” Of course Sandberg is not psychic, but even a quick look at any store that sells guitars will show this to be true. The sales of steel-strung to nylon, or to any other kind is about ten to one. I think the problem is that Hoff doesn’t agree. He is entitled to that opinion, too. However, he neglects to write that in his discussion of classical guitars, Sandberg explains why one would or would not want a nylon strung guitar, who uses them, and what they do and don’t provide musically. I think that is sufficient. Hoff writes that the chapter about flattop guitars should be designated “factory” guitars. Yet, Sandberg writes separately about custom and handbuilt guitars. (Full disclosure: Two of my guitars are on the cover of this book and I’m very proud of that. Also, as a friend of Larry’s and a sometime author, I know the depth of his knowledge as well as the limitations, constraints, and hype-oriented zeal of the publishing world.) Certainly, the subtitle is a bit over the top. That’s publishing, folks. No book could be everything to all people and Hoff’s right: the subtitle shouldn’t say it can. That said, I think this one does what it purports: it guides potential players towards a guitar and helps guitar owners to maintain their instruments. As a reviewer myself I would not wish to see Hoff or anyone else censored in their reviews, nor to see only positive reviews. Sandberg’s book has received many other positive reviews. I disagree with Hoff’s assessment and wanted to add my voice to that discussion. ◆
Posted on June 30, 2024September 17, 2024 by Dale Phillips Total Flame Out: Retopping a Harp Guitar Total Flame Out: Retopping a Harp Guitar by Harry Fleishman Originally published in American Lutherie #100, 2009 Falling in love causes people to do crazy things. It made me build a harp guitar using a piece of redwood that was so obviously problematic that I should have run from it. But I fell in love with it for its beauty. I should have been faithful to the wonderful straight-grained wood I’d had such success with. But no; I was blinded by its gorgeous curls. Like a C-street politician, I’m paying the price now. Replacing the top on a complicated instrument is no picnic, I can tell you. The harp guitars I’ve made have no actual centerline and no points of symmetry. But once I made the decision to go forward with the retopping, I remembered a cool description of how Taylor Guitars does it. Bob Taylor has the good sense not to trash a guitar just because it doesn’t sound good. He also has the good sense not to sell a guitar that isn’t up to his standards. He also has a CNC machine and interchangeable parts for his guitars. Not I. 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.
