Category Archives: synthetics

A Steel-String Guitar Maker’s Journey

2025
AL#156 p.22               
Steve Kauffman                                                                                           

▪ A young guitar-playing cabinet maker attends a GAL Convention and finds that his life has re-aligned itself in a moment. I’m talking about that fateful day when Steve K (Kauffman) met Steve K (Klein) at the 1979 GAL Convention in Boston. Steve has had a remarkable lutherie career which is in many ways illustrative of the can-do, self-starter development of the American Lutherie Boom. If you are old, you’ll enjoy the memories and the affirmation. If you are young, you will learn something about the giants on whose shoulders you stand. From his 2023 GAL Convention lecture. Mentions Arthur Overholtzer, Irving Sloane, David Russell Young, Michael Gurian, Richard Schneider, Michael Kasha, Gibson Mark Series, Jimmy D’Aquisto, John Dillon, C.F. Martin IV, Steve Klein, Ervin Somogyi, Gila Eban, Paul Schmitt, Larry Robinson, Bob Hergert, Bob Taylor, Neil Skinn, Michael Hedges, carbon fiber, zero fret.

Electric Guitar Making: Designing with Intention

2024
AL#153 p.32               
Barry Grzebik                                                                                           

▪ There is a lot of design territory between a solidbody guitar and an electrified archtop guitar. Grzebik explores that spectrum in his work by controlling many factors including unsupported top area, enclosed air, body resonance, asymmetry, weight relief, and physical balance.

It Worked for Me: Nut Filing Guide

2024
AL#151 p.71               
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ Using CAD, Mike designs these guides to fit the spacing of the strings and the width of the files. Then he cuts them from plastic using a laser cutter.

Make a Fret Press or Two

2024
AL#152 p.56               
Steve Kennel                                                                                           

▪ The do-it-yourself mentality is at the root of the whole American Lutherie Boom. Kennel helps you mimic recent advances in commercially available tooling, but DIY it with that stuff they use for competition-level skateboard ramps.

Finding Inspiration in Early 20th-Century Instruments

2024
AL#151 p.6               
Todd Cambio                                                                                           

▪ From his 2023 GAL Convention lecture. For decades, it was received wisdom that the inexpensive steel-string guitars, made in their millions before WWII in American factories using American woods, were crap. Todd Cambio has been taking another look, and finds a lot to like and even to emulate. Hear him out; it’s a ripping yarn. Mentions Gibson, Martin, Lyon and Healy, Harmony, Sears, Wilhelm Schultz, Oscar Schmidt, Stella, Galiano, poplar, tulip tree, oak, parlor guitar, ladder bracing, bajo sexto, R. Crumb, Lead Belly, John and Alan Lomax, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Blake, Lonnie Johnson, Carter family, Bristol sessions, Ernest Stoneman, Nick Lucas, Eddie Lang, Raphael Ciani, John D’Angelico, Lydia Mendoza, Guadalupe Acosta, Luis Acosta, Mike Acosta, Miguel Acosta, 12-string guitar, Michael Iuchi, mandolin, John Greven.

A Posthumous Interview with Seymour Drugan

2024
AL#151 p.50               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ As a fourteen-year-old kid, Harry Fleishman was lucky enough to find a kindly and perceptive mentor in Seymour Drugan, an older legit jazz player who was running a guitar store. Although Seymour passed away long ago, Harry imagines a present-day interview in which he expresses his gratitude to “Mr. Drugan.” Mentions Carol Kaye, Johnny Winter, Fife & Nichols, Milt Owen.

Electronic String Action Gauge

2024
AL#151 p.64               
Geoff Needham                                                                                           

▪ A cheap mail-order gizmo for measuring tire tread wear; a pair of nippers; a scrap of plexi; a bottle of superglue. Put them all together and you’ve got a sweet tool like the cool kids use. Mentions Chris Alsop.

Self-Centering Sideport Jig

2023
AL#150 p.56               
Jeffrey-R. Elliott                                                                                           

▪ Whatever the task may be, million-year GAL member Jeff Elliott does it right. Here he turns his attention to a jig for accurately placing and cleanly cutting a side sound port in a classical guitar.

Meet the Maker: Ken Parker

2023
AL#149 p.4               
Mike Doolin   Ken Parker                                                                                       

▪ Can you believe we have never “met” this guy? He’s a giant of the American Lutherie Boom, he was at the Guild’s 1979 Convention, and he has been a GAL member for over twenty years. The world knows him as the maker of the Fly solidbody guitar, but now he has returned to his first love: the archtop guitar. Mentions Larry Fishman, John D’Angelico, Jimmy D’Aquisto, Scott Chinery, Orville Gibson, Lloyd Loar, Raphael Ciani, Nick Lucas, Michael Greenfield, Sam Zygmuntowicz.

Let’s Catch Up with Steve Kauffman

2023
AL#148 p.10               
Tim Olsen   Steve Kauffman                                                                                       

▪ What has happened with Steve Kauffman since he was interviewed for American Lutherie twenty-four years ago in AL#59? He’s still working with the other Steve K, that is, Klein. He has moved from an idyllic shop in a California garden to an idyllic shop in an Oregon garden. Mentions 1978 GAL Convention. Mentions 1979 GAL Convention. Mentions Steve Klein, John Dillon, CF Martin IV, Jimmy D’Aquisto, Richard Schneider, David Russel Young, George Peacock, Ervin Somogyi, Wilson Schunemann, Les Stansell, Port Orford cedar.

Lutherie Curmudgeon

2022
AL#145 p.70               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Calkin thinks about a few things that have changed since he started making guitars nearly 50 years ago. And some things that have not.

Delrin Frets

2019
AL#136 p.52               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Many years ago, innovative classical guitar maker Richard Schneider made instruments with frets made of rod stock set in wide saw kerfs. Fleishman updates the idea by having round-bottomed slots cut by CNC and laying in Delrin rod.

Warmoth Guitar Products in the 21st Century

2018
AL#134 p.16               
Tim Olsen                                                                                           

▪ Ken Warmoth is one of the pioneers of the Strat-compatible guitar parts scene, starting small in the 1970s and working up to the sophisticated operation he runs today. He’s a born engineer, constantly refining and rethinking each operation for better accuracy and efficiency. Of course these days that involves CNC machines, and he’s got them. But you may be surprised to see which operations use them and which don’t. Our last visit with Ken was in 1991, so there is some catching up to do.

Some Thoughts on CAD and 3D Printing for Luthiers

2018
AL#133 p.54               
Edmond Rampen                                                                                           

▪ OK, we are probably some distance yet from pushing a button and 3D-printing a functioning guitar. And if you think that something about that sounds kinda crepy and disappointing, you just might be a luthier. But what we are talking about in this article is entirely different: Using surprisingly inexpensive printers to make templates, tools, and parts for guitars. The future is here, people. Get into this while you wait for your hover car.

Let’s Catch Up With Graham Caldersmith

2017
AL#132 p.44               
Juan-Oscar Azaret   Graham Caldersmith                                                                                       

▪ Graham Caldersmith’s articles in GAL publications go back a full thirty-five years, earlier than American Lutherie magazine itself. He’s located in a tiny town in the hinterlands of New South Wales, Australia. He uses his scientific training to develop innovative classical guitars, and has long been a leader in the effort to develop a family of guitars of different sizes and musical ranges. Our globetrotting reporter asks about his latest thoughts and methods, which include carbon-reinforced lattice bracing.

The Soundpost Cannon Incident

2017
AL#131 p.50               
James Condino                                                                                           

▪ Pop goes the soundpost! Can this affordable old Kay bull fiddle be saved? Plywood-doghouse bass specialist James Condino shows us how.

Casting Custom Plastic Pickup Rings

2008
AL#95 p.55               
Daniel Fobert                                                                                           

▪ You can make your own plastic pickup rings. No kiddin’! And it doesn’t seem like a real big deal. A little thought should uncover many other uses for the materials mentioned here. With 4 photos.

Product Reviews: Plasti-Dip and the Stewart-MacDonald Binding Laminator

2008
AL#95 p.62               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer gives a thumbs up to Plasti-Dip, a thick liquid used to apply a plastic coating to tools, and to the Stew-Mac Binding Laminator, used to lay up various combinations of plastic or celluloid bindings and purflings. With 4 photos.

Quick Cuts: An Experimental Carbon-Reinforced Guitar

2008
AL#93 p.64               
Peter Vile                                                                                           

▪ The author gives us a quick look at his carbon fiber/balsa, lattice-braced guitars with wingless bridges, and what he achieved with them. He mentions Kasha/Schneider, Greg Smallman, Jurgen Meyer, and Gila Eban. With 3 photos and 6 sketches.

Letter to the Editor: Carbon Fiber for Guitar Tops and Braces

2007
AL#92 p.5               
Benz Tschannen                                                                                           

▪ Benz is doing some pretty sophisticated work with classical guitar tops stiffened with graphite threads and epoxy.

Jim Norris’ Lattice Bracing

2007
AL#89 p.42               read this article
Brent Benfield                                                                                           

▪ Lattice bracing in various forms seems here to stay. Norris’ construction method uses graphite fibers in epoxy, and is unique in that it allows the guitar to be strung before the body is officially closed, permitting tuning of the top while the braces are still completely accessible. With 18 photos and a diagram.

Aluminum Sonatas

2007
AL#89 p.48               read this article
James Condino                                                                                           

▪ Musical instruments made of aluminum didn’t catch on. This doesn’t mean that a number of companies didn’t go into manufacture, or that the instruments weren’t good. Every luthier knows how fickle and finicky the market is, so it’s no wonder that metal stringed instruments weren’t welcomed by the playing public. Examined here are a violin, a mandolin, and a pair of bass viols. The bass viol stories are the most fun since the author has personal experience with them. Fun stuff! With 25 photos.

Rapid Prototypes of the Flattop Guitar

2006
AL#88 p.42      ALA1 p.68         
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Have you got design ideas that are radical or just untried? Perhaps you should toss together a trial instrument before you risk squandering valuable time on a master work that doesn’t work. Here’s how, with an emphasis on building with plywood and even Formica. With 10 photos and a drawing.

Modern Approaches to Adjustable Neck Joints

2006
AL#86 p.24      ALA1 p.28         
Harry Fleishman   Mike Doolin                                                                                       

▪ This neck joint should eliminate neck resets. Its pretty complex but within the grasp of any guitarmaker. With 23 photos and a drawing.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Structuring Acoustics with Carbon Fiber

2005
AL#81 p.8   BRB7 p.274            
Steve Kauffman                                                                                           

▪ Kauffman and friend Steve Klein have used carbon fiber (graphite/epoxy) in as many guitar applications as anyone, stopping short (I think) of an entirely graphite instrument. If you’ve only dabbled with graphite truss rods and such you have no idea how hotly some others are pursuing synthetic materials to make wood guitars sound better and last longer. “All natural materials” has been a battle cry for decades, but perhaps the time is ripe for making natural materials better than nature had in mind. You be the judge. With 36 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Is Guitar Design an Oxymoron?

2003
AL#76 p.8   BRB7 p.110            read this article
Steve Klein                                                                                           

▪ Klein delivers a lecture that asks as many questions as it attempt to answer. Why has guitar design seemed to stall when so many other fields are jumping into the future? What do musicians really want? How can we make musicians want what we want to build? Is there any more to improve on the steel string guitar? A thought-provoking piece, indeed. With 13 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part One

2003
AL#75 p.12   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ The author describes her mandolin making class with Red Diamond mandolin builder Don MacRostie, giving us a photo-heavy series that should be of practical use to anyone in the mandolin field regardless of their experience. The emphasis is on hand tools, though power tools are used to add efficiency. With 68 photos and 4 drawings, this is the first in a four-part series.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Review: Shoptalk 6

2003
AL#73 p.61   BRB7 p.523            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ This video is a collection of shop tips that the reviewer found to be valuable and entertaining, especially in view of the low price.

Product Reviews: Tusq Martin-Style Bridge Pins

2002
AL#70 p.54   BRB6 p.470            read this article
Fred Carlson                                                                                           

▪ Carlson ventures into Plasticland hoping to find a useful substitute for animal parts on his guitars. An aversion to both plastic guitar parts and animal slaughter leaves hardly any useful material for bridge saddles, and he sort of settles on a material called Tusq. Partly tongue-in-cheek and generally philosophical, the review concludes that beef bone saddles will be around for awhile yet.

Wet Inlay

2001
AL#66 p.38   BRB6 p.194            read this article
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Inlay advice using epoxy and Inlace mixed with various substances to fill the routed holes, rather than a solid such as MOp.With 8 photos.

Meet the Maker: Henry Stocek

2000
AL#62 p.59   BRB6 p.66            read this article
John Calkin   Henry Stocek                                                                                       

▪ Stocek began a small business to supply the guitar trade with pickguard stock that resembles pre-war celluloid. He loves old Martins, bluegrass, and “the right look,” and all three have altered his life. With 2 photos.

Reinventing the Celluloid Tortoise

2000
AL#61 p.17   BRB6 p.10            read this article
Henry Stocek                                                                                           

▪ Stocek loves vintage Martins, and resupplying the world with pre-war style pickguard and binding stock has become his passion. His story is proof that recreating the past can be much harder than simply getting along with the present. It’s also the story of how celluloid is made.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Project Evia

1999
AL#60 p.30   BRB5 p.412            
Joseph Curtin                                                                                           

▪ Evia is Curtin’s shorthand for Experimental Viola, a design he has created in wood and which he hopes to transfer into graphite and foam. Perhaps the time for change is finally upon us. Many think they can see the end of first-quality tonewood, and if we’re going to alter a 500-year-old tradition by changing wood species, why not change all the way and leave wood behind? Curtin (a widely respected creator of bowed instruments) seems certain that synthetic instruments of tonal excellence are less than a decade away. With 19 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

The Squishy Subject of Restoration Ethics

1999
AL#59 p.6   BRB5 p.374            
Frank Ford                                                                                           

▪ A top repairman tackles the sticky subject of what repair and restoration work should be tackled in this age of vintage instrument mania, especially in the area of elective surgery. Even today’s utilitarian instruments may be tomorrow’s hot collectibles, so every instrument that passes over our bench has to be considered in this light. What work should we refuse, and what are our liabilities for the work we do? Includes 41 photos, mostly of vintage guitars and mandolins.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

Lattice Bracing Guitar Tops

1995
AL#43 p.11   BRB4 p.206            
Jim Williams                                                                                           

▪ Williams discusses the building style he has borrowed from Greg Smallman for classical guitars. With 14 photos, plus drawings.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Making Pickguards

1994
AL#39 p.25   BRB4 p.70            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The focus here is electric guitar pickguards, both wood and plastic. Some tips carry over to acoustic pickguards.

In Memoriam: Mario Maccaferri

1993
AL#35 p.63   BRB3 p.503            read this article
John Monteleone                                                                                           

▪ Remembering Mario Maccaferri, creator of guitars made by Selmer of Paris and made famous by Django Reinhardt, major contributor to the field of injection molding plastic, and overall self made man.

Commercial Graphite Acoustic Guitars

1992
AL#31 p.30   BRB3 p.224            read this article
John Decker                                                                                           

▪ This alternative to wood is outside the reach of most luthiers. It’s interesting to know how hard some are working to make graphite sound like wood. Graphite might have its own sound to offer, but once again inventors have to deal with what humans are used to, rather than with what they might have if they were more open minded. With 7 photos.

Ren-Shape Precision Molding Material

1990
AL#21 p.31               read this article
Ed Beylerian                                                                                           

▪ Luthiers try lute molds of a new synthetic material. Its stability is pleasing but its strength may make it of limited use for some.

Premiata Liuteria

1986
AL#7 p.29   BRB1 p.256   ALA6 p.8         
Mario Maccaferri                                                                                           

▪ Maccaferri speaks about his life as a musician, luthier, and inventor. Mentions the Selmer company and Django Reinhardt.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Mario Maccaferri: Feisty as Ever

1985
AL#2 p.32               
Michael Dresdner                                                                                           

▪ A brief life history of Mario Maccaferri, including his career as a musician, his work with the Selmer Company and the Django Reinhardt guitars, his plastics manufacturing, his association with John Monteleone, and his projects as he nears retirement.

Fiberglass Headstock Repair

1981
DS#181   LW p.117            
William Hatcher                                                                                           

▪ Try this method of repairing a headstock break when you don’t trust Titebond to do the job. It involves extensive touchup work, however.