Posted on April 24, 2026April 24, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: String Dampening It Worked for Me: String Dampening by Mark French Originally published in American Lutherie #109, 2012 I noticed that Michael Cone uses a piece of foam to damp the strings on the guitar for testing (AL#102, p. 8). This is pretty much universal. If you don’t damp the strings, the body response is swamped by the string response. I’ve been testing guitars since the early ’90s and have spent way too much time cutting pieces of foam to put under strings. A little while ago, I thought to use disposable foam earplugs. They are cheap, universally available, and designed for high damping. Better still, they are just the right size to stuff between guitar strings. I have had the best luck with the yellow foam ear plugs made by EAR, but the cheap generic ones work well enough. You don’t even have to throw the earplugs away when you are done. ◆
Posted on April 23, 2026April 23, 2026 by Dale Phillips Making a Truly Flat Sanding Bar Making a Truly Flat Sanding Bar by Mark French Originally published in American Lutherie #113, 2013 As any luthier knows, a flat sanding bar is an indispensable tool. Buying one can be expensive, but making one isn’t as hard as you might think. It is not difficult to use strips of sandpaper to sand rectangular aluminum tube or bar stock to an extremely flat condition. To start, I should be clear that I like using 3˝ sanding bars, which are wider than many of those commercially available. They are handy for a number of tasks, especially ensuring that necks and fretboards are flat before gluing them together. They are a nice alternative to a heavy granite surface plate and are much easier to tuck away when not needed. Certainly, narrower ones can be more useful for leveling frets, and they can also be made using the process described here. 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 21, 2026April 21, 2026 by Dale Phillips An Automated Fret Slotting Machine An Automated Fret Slotting Machine by Jim Stratton and Mark French Originally published in American Lutherie #114, 2013 One of the most challenging and critical aspects of building a fretted stringed instrument is cutting fret slots. Fret location can make or break the quality of even the most meticulously crafted instruments. The most common method currently in place utilizes a miter box and a fret saw, but this method depends on the user and is subject to human error. When thousandths of an inch matter, how does one accurately guarantee fret location? Automation is the obvious answer. While automation does remove a portion of the “handcrafted” ambiance of any fine instrument, it also removes human error. A machine does not miscalculate when it’s tired or accidentally shift the fretboard while cutting the final fret on a fretboard that has countless hours of hard work invested. When accuracy and repeatability are required, automation answers the call. 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 16, 2026April 16, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked for Me: Knobs It Worked for Me: Knobs by Mark French Originally published in American Lutherie #112, 2012 The shafts on guitar pots come in 1/4" and 6MM diameter. For some reason, I sometimes wind up with the wrong size knobs. In theory, it should be no problem to drill out 6mm knobs to fit 1/4" shafts, but I have had problems holding knobs securely while drilling. Definitely don’t try to hold them in your hand! Last week, I finally found a method that works. The knobs I had were 3/4" diameter, so I drilled a 3/4" hole in a piece of hard scrap wood, adding a notch for the set screw. By backing out the set screw about halfway, the knob won’t turn while being drilled. A 1/4" hole through the center of the larger hole lets a chuck key pop the knob out with no hassle. ◆ Both photos by Mark French.
Posted on December 5, 2025June 8, 2026 by Dale Phillips Guitar Making as a Teaching Tool Guitar Making as a Teaching Tool by Debbie French and Mark French Originally published in American Lutherie #144, 2021 Guitar making can be many things. To some it is a craft; to some it is a livelihood. And it’s also being used as a compelling teaching tool around the country. We are part of a project called STEM Guitar that is funded by the National Science Foundation, which provides faculty professional development to high-school and community-college faculty and students around the country, so they can, in turn, use guitar making to teach technical subjects. In educational lingo, these are STEM subjects — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. We all know how important it is for students to learn at least the basics of STEM subjects. As luthiers, many of us routinely work with structural dynamics, acoustics, material properties, geometry, and computer-controlled machines. Modern guitar factories wouldn’t work without heavy investments of technology or without trained people. In 2009, industrial arts courses represented just 0.02% of credits taken nationally by high school students (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). However, when an updated report was released in 2013, industrial arts courses were not even included in the NCES reporting; such courses were replaced by engineering and design and manufacturing and technology courses were listed, which represent 0.7% and 0.6% of credits earned by high school students, respectively (U.S. Department of Education, 2013). The guitar program offers an engaging way of exposing students to industrial arts skills through STEM curriculum. 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.
