Posted on December 13, 2024June 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips Low-Stress Archtop Guitar Design Low-Stress Archtop Guitar Design by Steve Grimes from his 2008 GAL Convention workshop Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010 Before I was a luthier I worked as a draftsman for Boeing. I’d rest my head in my hand and hold my pencil, and I could log in a half-hour or 45-minute nap. In 1972 I realized that if I didn’t change professions, I might as well commit suicide. The first instrument I made was a flattop Martin-style mandolin, and later that year I started building archtop mandolins. I had a preference tonally and visually for oval-hole mandolins, and I’m still addicted to oval-hole instruments. In ’74 I wandered into McCabe’s Music Store in L.A. and saw a great-looking guitar on the wall. The store was noisy, so I didn’t really get a chance to evaluate the sound, but it sounded good. It was made by Lloyd Baggs, before he started making transducer piezo pickups. That guitar influenced me a lot, and it was similar to this guitar which I just finished. It didn’t have the light sunburst, and it wasn’t made out of curly koa like this one, but they both had flat backs. I immediately went home to Seattle and made my first archtop guitar, with an oval soundhole and a flat back. 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.
Posted on November 29, 2024June 5, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Archtop Guitar: Perspectives on the Present and Future An American Lutherie Encore Presentation: The Archtop Guitar: Perspectives on the Present and Future by Steve Grimes, Ted Megas, Tom Ribbecke, with moderator Jeff Elliott from their 2008 GAL Convention panel discussion Originally published in American Lutherie #98, 2009 and American Lutherie #153, 2024 See also, Low-Stress Archtop Guitar Design by Steve Grimes Jeff Elliott: […] This post is only available to members.
Posted on March 7, 2024May 8, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Business of Lutherie, 1984 The Business of Lutherie, 1984 by Ted Davis, Steve Grimes, Bob Meltz, and Matt Umanov from their 1984 GAL Convention panel discussion, moderated by David Sheppard Originally published in American Lutherie #2, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume One, 2000 See also, The Business of Lutherie, 1980 by Richard Bruné, George Gruhn, Steve Klein, Max Krimmel, and Robert Lundberg Where Are They Now? by Tim Olsen We’ve got four people up here who are involved in the business of lutherie in various areas. We’re going to start by letting each of them take a few minutes and tell you about their situation currently. Then we have some questions, some of which we thought up out of our own heads and some of which were turned in by you. So then we will ask these questions and let each person give a brief answer as regards his particular situation. After that, if we have time, we will take questions from the audience. So let’s start down at the end and find out a little bit about each person. Bob Meltz: I did my first repair in 1969, when I was actively involved as a sound man for a variety of rock-and-roll bands in my area. I was one of the first people in the area to rent out small sound systems, to fill the gap between Shure Vocalmasters and humongous concert systems. 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.
