Posted on March 1, 2025March 4, 2025 by Dale Phillips Thoughts on 12-String Guitars Thoughts on 12-String Guitars by Roger Alan Skipper Originally published in American Lutherie #113, 2013 We at the Guild of American Luthiers are quite often asked about 12-string guitars: What should be done to beef up a 6-string guitar plan to make it suitable for a 12-string configuration? What have the major builders done in the past, and how successful were their efforts? What are current builders doing? To find the answers to these questions, we queried several experienced luthiers: Dana Bourgeois of Pantheon Guitars in Lewiston, Maine ◆ Frank Ford of Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto, California ◆ Charles Freeborn of Freeborn Guitars in Portland, Oregon ◆ David Freeman of Timeless Instruments in Tugaske, Saskatchewan ◆ Evan Gluck of New York Guitar Repair in Manhattan, New York ◆ John Greven of Greven Guitars in Portland, Oregon ◆ George Gruhn of Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, Tennessee ◆ Arnold M.J. Hennig of Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Michigan ◆ Bruce Petros of Petros Guitars in Kaukauna, Wisconsin ◆ Andy Powers of Taylor Guitars in El Cajon, California ◆ Tim Shaw of Fender Guitars in Scottsdale, Arizona ◆ Marc Silber of Marc Silber Music in Berkeley, California ◆ Robert Steinegger of Steinegger Guitars in Portland, Oregon. Though this article is arranged as though we were having a roundtable discussion, it was assembled from individual responses; differing opinions are simply the results of varying experiences, rather than dissension. 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 July 1, 2024July 9, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Single Fretting Fixture Questions: Single Fretting Fixture by Tim Shaw Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010 Mark French from West Lafayette, Indiana asks: Do people ever make a single fretting fixture and just pick off whatever section they need for a specific type of instrument? I started with a 25.5" scale length and added some frets to bump it up to about 34.07". It looks like I can use this set of positions to find fret spacing for everything from a bass to a mandolin. Tim Shaw from Fender in Nashville, Tennessee responds: You could also use this for both medium-scale bass, which is usually 32", and short-scale bass, which is typically 30" or so. Since Leo Fender had the 25.5" scale first, I don’t know if he actually “added” frets to come up with 34", but that was certainly possible on the prototype. The shorter Fender scales were also probably started by lopping frets off a standard neck. 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 May 21, 2020March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips More Inlay Tricks More Inlay Tricks by Tim Shaw Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #129, 1979 and in Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1997 Most published material on inlay suggests gluing the abalone or pearl shape to be inlaid to the fingerboard with white glue or Duco cement, scribing, then scraping or prying the hapless piece off with a razor blade. If you’re using 0.040" stock, this technique breaks a lot of inlay. I’ve had great success using white glue in very small amounts (about three tiny dots on the back of the piece). Let it dry, then scribe with a machinist’s scribe or a #11 X-acto blade. Pass a lit match across the top of the piece and warm it thoroughly. This will break the glue bond and allow you to slide the inlay off without harm. The glue remaining on the fingerboard can be easily cleaned off, and you can go from there. I’ve also found it helpful to rub the scribed lines with a white or yellow grease pencil, and then wipe off the excess. This leaves a very fine line which is also easy to see. ◆
