2023
AL#150 p.66
Harry Fleishman
▪ Snip a drinking straw at an angle to make a great tool for clearing wet glue squeezeout. And theres a sharpee thats better than a Sharpee-brand sharpee. Plus more simple things. Like, get the good brand of pencils.
2023
AL#150 p.69
Steve Kennel
▪ Make try squares and bevel squares with clear-plastic blades.
2023
AL#150 p.70
Steve Kennel
▪ Easy alignment for guitar mold halves.
2023
AL#150 p.2
Michael Breid
▪
2023
AL#150 p.16
Mark French
▪ Richard R.E. Bruné was in the GALs very first cohort and was an author and convention presenter from the very beginning. Weve visited him a couple of times over the decades. His son Marshall was born into the business, and into the Guild. Together they run a large workshop and epicenter of classical guitar making, scholarship restoration, appreciation, and dealing.
2023
AL#150 p.32
January Williams
▪ Author Williams bought the lutherie estate of the late Denny Stevens several years ago. He has taken an archeological approach to it, pondering over the nicely crafted gizmos he has discovered, and reporting them to us as he figures out the function of the various treasures.
2023
AL#150 p.44
William T. Crocca
▪ A group of mature woodworkers set themselves the challenge of designing and presenting a two-day class in which kids and families can build a StewMac uke kit. It involved setting up twenty workstations. The class was a success, and everyone went home with a strung uke in the white.
2023
AL#149 p.71
Danl Brazinski
▪ It’s like a little square bag on the end of a blood-pressure squeezie bulb. It’s made for helping you hang a door all by your lonesome. Also works as a lutherie clamp. Life is just one work-around after another.
2023
AL#149 p.69
Dan Alexander
▪ Gravity: Friend or enemy? Friend, if you flip the rim after gluing in the lining.
2023
AL#148 p.60
Bob Gleason
▪ It looks like one of those fancy powered rolling-pin sanders, but it does not spin. It just works.
2022
AL#147 p.56
John Calkin
▪ In lutherie work, you often need to make something accurately perpendicular to the instruments centerline. Squares designed for carpenters and machinists dont do the job as well as these simple and inexpensive clear-plastic tools.
2022
AL#147 p.65
James Condino
▪ Condino loves this lavish book about the history and construction of the Neapolitan (or tater bug) mandolin, which runs from classic to contemporary.
2022
AL#147 p.69
Michael Breid
▪ Make a handle for skinny nut files from a standard hinge.
2022
AL#147 p.70
Steve Kennel
▪ Specialty files intended for sharpening steel tools are unexpectedly perfect for specific lutherie tasks. In this case we are talking about files made for sharpening brace-and-bit augers, and files made for sharpening Japanese pull saws.
2022
AL#146 p.6
Flip Scipio
▪ Ten years ago, Flip Scipio attended the last of the summer seminars given by José Romanillos at his base in Sigüenza, Spain. Now, after the recent passing of the Maestro, this review is both informative and poignant.
2022
AL#145 p.25
Evan Gluck
▪ Imagine you were a guitar repair guy, and there was another guitar repair guy in your same town. What would you do about it? If you were Evan Gluck, or any other enlightened, right-thinking luthier, you would march right over there and make him your best friend. These guys have a blast “competing” in the same market, sharing stories, customers, tools, and techniques. And yes, it does help if your hometown has over eight million people in it. Mentions Brian Moore, Dan Erlewine, Michael Bashkin, Ian Davlin, Jimmy Carbonetti.
2022
AL#145 p.38
Roger Haggstrom
▪ Haggstromm uses a commercially-available radiused sanding block, a few scraps of wood, and a handful of parts from the hardware store to make this simple jig. It that lets him quickly and quietly produce a fretboard with the radius and the relief accurately sanded in.
2021
AL#144 p.6
Roger Haggstrom
▪ A hundred and some years ago, Swedish folks sat around the house all of a dark winter and sang hymns together, accompanied by the strummings of cheap mass-produced guitars. Those days are gone, but a lot of the guitars are still hanging on the walls of old houses. Roger Häggström has made a business of restoring them to useful condition and modifying them to sound and play better than they ever could have. He restores and modifies. Restomods. Mentions the Levin guitar company.
2021
AL#144 p.36
John Calkin Robert Anderson
▪ Robert Anderson made banjos part-time for decades while he worked a respectable day job. But since he has “retired” into a full-time lutherie career, he is in demand for his beautifully carved, inlaid, and engraved instruments. We take a look into his converted tobacco barn and talk shop. Mentions Doug Unger, Stan Werbin, Kathy Anderson, Grateful Dead.
2021
AL#144 p.44
Mark French
▪ In this concluding episode of the series, the neck is fretted and the frets are filed and polished. Threaded inserts are installed in the heel and the neck is attached. Finally, the bridge is glued on, the nut is set in position, and the guitar is strung and set up.
2021
AL#143 p.63
Mike Doolin
▪ This book is published by the National Music Museum (NMM, formerly Shrine to Music Museum) as a companion to their permanent exhibit of guitars and tools of John D’Angelico, James L. D’Aquisto, and Paul Gudelsky.
2021
AL#143 p.69
Aaron Cash
▪ Off-brand hand planes with the iron and cap missing are rightfully cheap in junk stores. They can be affixed with carpet tape onto things like radiused sanding beams to give you a better grip.
2021
AL#143 p.70
Steve Kennel
▪ Kennel modifies the often-seen but seldom-used Zyliss vise into a configuration that is specifically engineered for safely and securely holding guitar necks.
2021
AL#143 p.22
Mark French Charles Fox
▪ In this article the fretboard is slotted, crowned, and glued to the neck. The neck is then shaped.
2021
AL#143 p.6
Federico Sheppard
▪ It is a story of mystery, dedication, and destiny. The wide-eyed young novitiate is mentored by oracles, sorcerers, and craftsmen until he finds his great quest and pursues it against all odds. To put it more plainly, but no more truthfully, it is the story of Federico Sheppard constructing a copy of FE08, the astonishingly elaborate early opus of the master luthier Antonio Torres Jurado. Mentions Nick Kukich, Ray Jacobs, Shel Urlik, Jose Romanillos, Richard Brune, Robert Ruck, Robert Lundberg, Abel Garcia Lopez, Nicolo Alessi.
2021
AL#142 p.70
Steve Dickerson
▪ Make your own cabinet scrapers and burnishers from stuff you may easily find lying around.
2020
AL#141 p.26
Leonardo Michelin-Salomon
▪ A Uruguayan luthier enrolls in a craft school in Norway to study Romantic-era guitars built by Italian, German, and French makers two hundred years ago. He writes an article about his techniques and discoveries that is published in an American journal with readers in over forty countries. Yes, it’s a big beautiful lutherie world. We are all just leaves on one wide-spreading, figured-maple branch.
2020
AL#139 p.63
Pat Megowan
▪ Our reviewer compares, contrasts, and waxes eloquent about The Ukulele: An Illustrated Workshop Manual by Graham McDonald and The Uke Book Illustrated by John Weissenrieder and Sarah Greenbaum. In addition to a lot of thoughful and practical analysis, he uses the metaphore of different ice-cream eating experiences to explain their complex relationship.
2020
AL#139 p.70
Noel Liogier
▪ Hand-stitched rasps work well on bone and horn.
2020
AL#140 p.2
Stephen Marchione
▪ The braces in an archtop guitar are very similar to the bars in fiddles, and Marchione fits them with the same traditional techniques. The mating surface of the brace is roughed out with a chisel, then refined with a small plane, and perfected with files and scrapers. Chalk shows the whole truth of the fit. Believe the chalk.
2020
AL#139 p.42
Erick Coleman Evan Gluck
▪ Erick and Evan (the two Es) are back with more helpful hints for the guitar repair shop. Some of the things they show are nicely developed professional tools, like for leveling frets while the guitar is still under string tension. Then there’s a diagnostic tool that is just a stick, a guitar string, and a salvaged tuning machine. If you think that’s gronk, how about the tool that Evan calls “my string.” It’s just a string. Not even a guitar string. Mentions gluing frets, DeoxIT, WD40, tri-Flow, slotting bridge pins, regluing bridges, fret nipper, notching fret tang, Matt Brewster, fret leveler bar, StewMac, Stewart-MacDonald, bridge removal, shark skin, fret rocker, fret leveler. From their workshop at the 2017 GAL Convention.
2019
AL#137 p.70
James Buckland
▪ Straightforward advice for getting the best result with simple hand planes.
2019
AL#138 p.20
Mark French
▪ Author Mark French is walking the lutherie path in the reverse direction of many makers. As a physics prof trained in the crazy magic of CNC and industrial robot processes, he had made a lot of guitars before he did much in the way of traditional low-tech hand-tool work. As part of an intensive effort to fill in those gaps, he attended an eight-day course at Robbie O’Brien’s shop in Colorado to make a flamenco guitar with Spanish luthier and licensed bloodless toreador Paco Chorobo. O’Brien went to Spain and visited Paco’s shop in 2015. Read all about it in AL124.
2019
AL#138 p.63
Harry Fleishman
▪ It’s easy to modify standard hardware-store spade bits for special purposes, like making a recess around a control knob.
2019
AL#137 p.52
J.A.T. Stanfield
▪ There are many settings in which one might receive lutherie instruction these days. Looking for a change of scene? This article describes a 12-week course held in a 300-year-old building near the Devonshire coast of southeast England. It has a 40-year history and roots in the legendary London College of Furniture program. Mentions Norman Reed and Phil Messer. Also describes a systematic method of planing a board flat. Discusses doming a flat soundboard with shaped cauls and a go-bar deck.
2019
AL#136 p.4
Federico Sheppard
▪ Robert Ruck was one of the young self-starters who founded the American Lutherie Boom, and he remained a leading light in the movement until the end of his life. Federico Sheppard was an aquaintence and admirer who became closer to Ruck when they spent time together at Federico’s place on the Camino de Santiago in Spain one summer. In this article, Federico presents a photo tour of Ruck’s shop in Eugene Oregon and explains some of the tools and techniques we see. Mentions French polising with hardware-store shellac. Mentions Richard Brune.
2019
AL#136 p.54
Mark French
▪ Author Mark French has made a lot of guitars over the years, but when he wanted to up his game he attended an intensive two-week course by the dean of all American lutherie teachers, Charles Fox. Four students each built a guitar in the white from scratch and strung it up.
2018
AL#135 p.64
Stephen Mangold
▪ Make a tiny chisle from an X-acto blade. It will be 0.020 inches wide, good for getting into fret slots.
2018
AL#135 p.65
Brent Benfield
▪ Use Post-it notes to accurately position braces for gluing, and simplify the removal of squeezed-out glue.
2018
AL#135 p.67
Ron Hock
▪ What’s the right kind of steel for a Paracho knife blade? The real ones that they make in Mexico appear to be made form Sawz-all blades. Is high-speed steel the right thing?
2018
AL#134 p.66
Lee Herron
▪ Quickly make a set of spreaders that will keep slackened strings out of your way and off the lacquer while you file a set of frets.
2018
AL#134 p.66
Steve Kennel
▪ Make a wooden screwdriver for use on nice, shiny guitars.
2018
AL#135 p.4
Charles Rufino
▪ Here’s a close look at the process of setting a violin neck. No innovative tools or new miracle adhesives here; just good old-fashioned methodical, careful work with traditional toos and designs. From his workshop at the 2017 GAL Convention.
2018
AL#135 p.30
Kerry Char
▪ Kerry Char sawed the top off an old Gibson flattop in front of a group of several dozen luthiers at the 2017 GAL Convention. And within the same hour he pried the back off a Knutsen harp guitar. Step by step photos.
2018
AL#133 p.69
Harry Fleishman
▪ Source of plastic rulers.
2018
AL#133 p.69
Tom Harper
▪ Sharpening scalpels.
2018
AL#134 p.60
Mark French David Zachman
▪ There are times when a luthier may want to draw a good long-radius arch. If jury-rigging a 25-foot compass seems like a hassle, you may have been tempted to just bend a straight stick a little and call it good. Turns out that’s a better solution than you may have thought. This article evaluates several techniques and gives the math that undergirds them.
2018
AL#134 p.66
January Williams
▪ There are pencils that do a good job of writing on sawn lumber.
2017
AL#131 p.65
Harry Fleishman
▪ Harry loves to learn, and then to teach. Although he has been leveling frets for half a century, he’s always rethinking it and keeping his eyes open for better ways to do it. Here he shows us his latest tools and tips for doing more by doing less.
2017
AL#131 p.20
January Williams Peter Tsiorba
▪ Peter Tsiorba began his working life as a teenager making garments in a semi-legit Soviet cooperative. Today he’s a family man and a maker of classical guitars in the lutherie Mecca of Portland, Oregon.
2017
AL#129 p.63
Paul Neri
▪ This little caliper is made for use in the model-making craft.
2017
AL#130 p.28
Erick Coleman Evan Gluck Eron Harding
▪ Erick, Evan, and Eron called this workshop “Making Bread with Bread-and-Butter Repairs.” Their emphasis was on tools and techniques to help you get a lot of the usual repair jobs done in a short time and at a high level of quality. from their 2014 GAL Convention workshop.
2016
AL#128 p.66
Sjaak Elmendorp
▪ Add a straightedge to your shooting board setup.
2017
AL#128 p.67
Paul Neri
▪ Turn a rat-tail comb into a string wrangler.
2016
AL#128 p.67
Harry Fleishman
▪ Make an adjustably-magnetic screwdriver.
2016
AL#128 p.48
Cyndy Burton Jeffrey R. Elliott Gabriel Fleta
▪ His grandfather Ignacio Fleta was a violin maker who started making guitars after repairing instruments by Torres, and his father Gabriel Sr. made guitars for decades as one of the legendary “hijos” of Ignacio who made guitars for Segovia, John Williams, and many others. Gabriel Fleta Jr. has been making guitars since the 1970s and has now inherited the family business. We visit his shop in Barcelona.
2016
AL#128 p.8
Alan Perlman
▪ Perlman runs though a restoration job on a Torres guitar, replacing a side and copying fancy purflings. Then he builds a replica of a Stahl Style 6 flattop. So when you are copying a century-old American guitar, how far do you go in the name of authenticity? Do you match the faded tones of the purfling, or use the nice bright colors that the Larson Brothers liked? Do you let the glue blobs roam free like they did, or get all tidy like a nervous modern maker? From his 2014 convention lecture.
2016
AL#128 p.22
Pat Megowan Jeff Lee Manthos
▪ People come to lutherie on many different paths. Some of us were nerdy model-making kids, or spoiled lefty college dropouts. Or maybe the garage band was our gateway into the opium den of guitar making. On the other hand, Jeff Manthos was a helicopter aircrewman and rescue swimmer in the Vietnam era. Then, unexpectedly, he went to the Violinmaking School of America in Salt Lake City. He has made a career of it, first in other shops and now on his own.
2016
AL#126 p.68
Todd Rose
▪ Using this sanding block is a simple and quick way to bring offending frets down perfectly level with others without disturbing them.
2013
AL#116 p.66
Paul Weaver
▪ Toothed planes can be an alternative to a thickness sander. Info on toothed blades, bevel angles, and blade angles.
2009
AL#98 p.65
Andrew Mowry
▪ The author reviews the spoon plane and finds that it is more efficient at removing large quantities of wood when carving mandolin plates than the gouges he used to use, and it’s also easier on the carver, a not insignificant benefit. With 2 photos of the tool.
2009
AL#98 p.28
Erick Coleman Elliot John-Conry
▪ 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. OK, not too much philosophy, but this is a chunk of fun taken from their 2006 GAL convention presentation and they function well in front of a crowd. AL doesn’t get a lot of electric input, which makes this piece more important. With 10 photos.
2007
AL#92 p.8 ALA5 p.30
Eugene Clark
▪ An American master of the classical guitar explains how he builds using the solera, a workboard with a radius scraped into the body area to provide a slightly arched top.Clark places a strong emphasis on proper layout and hand tools. With 25 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#92 p.20 ALA4 p.36
Steve Wiencrot Scott Baxendale
▪ Baxendale has lived a hyperactive life as a repairman and builder in several parts of America, including a stint working for Stuart Mossman and then as owner of the Mossman company, and repairman for the Hard Rock Cafe chain and Gruhn Guitars, before opening his own shops in Denver. Few luthiers live as hard or cover as much territory. With 14 photos.
2007
AL#90 p.58
John Calkin
▪ Sometimes only a few frets need to be replaced. Here’s how and why to do it and an idea of how to charge for it. Another lesson from Instrument Repair 101. With 11 photos.
2007
AL#89 p.22 ALA2 p.26
Ken Altman
▪ Watch Altman construct a 3″ plane from brass stock and steel for the blade — a very cool and elegant tool for lutherie that’s not too hard to make and requires few tools to construct. With 25 photos.
2005
AL#84 p.65 BRB7 p.499
Peter True
▪ A simple modification for a Stanley block plane of this particular pattern.
2005
AL#82 p.68 BRB7 p.498
Marc Connelly
▪ Making a hex wrench long enough to insert through the end pin hole to bolt on a guitar neck.
2005
AL#83 p.18 BRB7 p.364
Jeffrey R. Elliott
▪ Restoring famous instruments is a tricky business. If they are also old, well-played, and abused by poor storage facilities the work becomes a cross between knowledge, craft, and art. Elliott goes where few of us would care to travel, explaining every step of restoration as he goes. Perhaps as important is what he doesn’t do. The ethics of restoration is a foundation of the story. With 42 photos as well as a 2-page spread of GAL full-size plan #52.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2005
AL#82 p.44 BRB7 p.350
Aaron Green
▪ As far as looks go, guitars with wooden tuning pegs are the cat’s patoot. Regarding long-term functioning, though… well, maybe you better read Green’s article. His method of installing hidden maple bushings in the headstock should put you way ahead of the game. With 21 photographs.
2004
AL#80 p.4 BRB7 p.228
Ervin Somogyi
▪ The author not only explains how the traditional lute rose is carved, but demonstrates how the technique might be used other than as a rosette. With 17 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#80 p.46 BRB7 p.270
Eugene Clark Jonathon Peterson
▪ Scratch tools are like one-tooth saws. One of Eugene’s has a chisel tip, the other a pointed tip.The detail knife has only one bevel and is intended to make right hand cuts only. Descriptions of their uses are included. With 7 photos.
2004
AL#79 p.64 BRB7 p.494
Eugene Clark
▪ The ultimate palette knife is a grapefruit knife, a chef’s tool made by Dexter Russell Inc, which can be used for hot shellac and in routing.
2004
AL#77 p.38 BRB7 p.416
Peggy Stuart Don MacRostie
▪ The epic continues! In this segment the neck is assembled, the body is closed up and bound, and the fingerboard is bound and fretted. All this is accomplished under the able tutelage of Don MacRostie at the American School of Lutherie. With 67 photos. Parts 1 and 2 were in the two previous issues of American Lutherie.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2004
AL#77 p.64 BRB7 p.524
Don Overstreet
▪ The reviewer likes these brass finger planes made in Arizona and in the end decides that their price of $89 apiece is reasonable for any professional builder of archtop instruments.
2004
AL#78 p.4 BRB7 p.174
Dan Erlewine Frank Ford
▪ A ton of guitar repairs can only be accomplished by reaching through the soundhole. Here, two masters of the genre describe some of their methods a working in the cramped darkness, some of the tools they’ve used and/or created, and the attitude you have to acquire when getting stumped and handing back an unrepaired guitar is not an option. With 32 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.67 BRB7 p.488
Peter Giolitto
▪ A planing jig expanded from the old trick of inverting a plane in a vise for planing small items.
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.
2003
AL#75 p.56 BRB7 p.100
John Greven
▪ Heel carving is one of the few decorative effects usually permitted on steel string guitars. Carved heels look cool and, according to Greven, aren’t that hard to do. The tools required are minimal and the impact on the instrument large, a really fine combination. With 11 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.36 BRB7 p.62
R.M. Mottola
▪ A tight-fisted and humorous look at buying select tools, wood, and strings without draining your bank account. With 4 photos and a drawing.
2003
AL#74 p.46 BRB7 p.72
Jim DeCava
▪ A look at an old solution to a much older problem—how to accurately slot a fingerboard to receive the frets. Contains some interesting history of the Liberty Banjo Company. With 4 photos.
2003
AL#74 p.65 BRB7 p.506
Harry Fleishman
▪
2003
AL#73 p.64
Jeffrey R. Elliott Cyndy Burton
▪ Some tools have a value way beyond function. Elliott looks at three he especially likes, a low-angle plane, a marking gauge, and a small spokeshave which is called a contour plane.
2003
AL#73 p.69 BRB7 p.487
Eugene Clark
▪ Part 2 of 2: Eugene Clark describes his simple veneer scraper, mounted in a vise.
2003
AL#73 p.14 BRB6 p.368
Eugene Clark Jonathon Peterson
▪ Clark is one of the old American masters of lutherie. Building an original rosette in the Spanish tradition is way more complicated than routing a channel and poking in some abalone, as steel stringers are apt to do, but with Clark’s instruction you can do it. Includes 22 photos. Part 1 appeared in AL #71.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#73 p.40 BRB7 p.2
John Calkin
▪ Everyone develops little work habits or adopts minor tools that together make a big difference in their work and the pleasure they find in it. This is one man’s collection of odds and ends that changed the quality and quantity of his work. With 15 photos.
2002
AL#72 p.8 BRB6 p.438
John Greven
▪ Greven’s inlay work specializes in large easily repeatable designs highlighted by engraving of a photographic quality. His pearl-cutting techniques are pretty strange, but no one can argue with the quality of the finished work. With 18 photos and a pair of drawings of graver types and angles.
2002
AL#70 p.63 BRB6 p.466
Michael Breid
▪ A simple knob puller for removing control knobs from electric guitars and airbrush cleaning tips.
2002
AL#70 p.48 BRB6 p.344
John Calkin
▪ Using templates and a tablesaw to slot fingerboards in minutes, and how to make your own templates. With 7 photos and 5 fret scales for off-beat scale lengths.
2002
AL#70 p.62 BRB6 p.465
Peter Giolitto
▪ An oak tool used to prepare veneers to the constant thickness required to make the mosaic sections of rosettes and purflings.
2002
AL#69 p.36
Andrew Atkinson
▪ The author’s focus is on recreating a lute maker’s shop, circa the late 16th century. Old paintings provide some of his most valuable research materials. He is not only interested in old tools, but in the old ways of making those tools. With 2 photos.
2002
AL#69 p.62 BRB6 p.461
Marc Connelly
▪ A little goofball finger strap flashlight to illuminate the Dremel bit, and a Trac II razor to shave dried glue off fingertips.
2001
AL#68 p.40 BRB6 p.266
David Giulietti
▪ The pursuit of engraving skills demands just a small investment in tools but a large investment in determination and time. At least, for those not born to be artists. But the author makes it clear that there is hope for nearly all of us who truly wish to acquire this skill.
2001
AL#68 p.58 BRB6 p.460
Keith Davis
▪ Make a toothed blade for a block plane by annealing the blade, grinding a set of grooves, and re-tempering the blade. Also describes reducing the mouth with J.B. Weld.
2001
AL#67 p.40 BRB6 p.260
Peter Giolitto
▪ Scraper planes are good for dressing down figured wood without tearing them up or following the grain. Here’s how to make one. With a photo and 5 drawings.
2001
AL#66 p.64 BRB6 p.459
Dick Kern
▪ Scrapers from spring steel from a clock spring work really well for leveling plates.
2001
AL#65 p.10 BRB6 p.82
Paul Schuback
▪ Schuback learned violin making in a small shop in France during the ’60s. This segment of his 1995 convention workshop lecture covers completing the plates and fitting the neck, fingerboard, nut, and soundpost to the body. There’s lots of local French color, old tools, and old ways presented here, as well as a bit of how the violin has changed since the days of the first Italian masters. Part One appeared in AL#63. With 33 photos, a diagram, and a sequence chart for building a violin.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2001
AL#65 p.39 BRB6 p.170
Fred Campbell
▪ A large part of the secret to getting a fine gloss finish of any sort is the preparation of the wood before anything is even applied. Campbell has specialized in finish work for years and isn’t shy about sharing what he knows.
2000
AL#63 p.20 BRB6 p.82
Paul Schuback
▪ This piece would be important just as an historical document of Schuback’s apprenticeship to a French violin maker in the early ’60s. The inclusion of his current shop practices and building methods makes it an article that everyone interested in the violin should read. With 33 photos and 5 diagrams.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
2000
AL#63 p.34 BRB6 p.108
John Calkin
▪ OK, so you’ve got all the parts for your flattop guitar body prepped for construction. How do you get all the pieces to fit together? The author details the construction methods used at the Huss & Dalton Guitar Co, all of which should prove useful to any small shop.With 21 photos.
2000
AL#61 p.52 BRB6 p.468
John Calkin
▪ Good grades are given to the Stew-Mac neck jig, a fretting aid. The fret nippers intended for jumbo fret wire is greeted with mixed emotions. The Allen mandolin tailpiece is found to offer grace and dignity to any mando with a bridge high enough to allow its use.
2000
AL#61 p.61 BRB6 p.448
Michael Breid
▪ An idea from Dan Erlewine: little acrylic blades to lift internal bracing to get glue beneath it.
1999
AL#60 p.44 BRB5 p.436
Fred Carlson
▪ Hi-Tone instrument cases are reviewed and not found wanting, “a contender for the handsomest case out there, and very solidly built.”
1999
AL#60 p.52
Cyndy Burton
▪ This column updates several source lists that have appeared in past issues. If you need it to build instruments, you should find a supplier here.
1999
AL#59 p.22 BRB5 p.332
Jonathon Peterson George Majkowski Boaz Elkayam
▪ George Majkowski and Boaz Elkayam complete their work on 10 Kasha guitars to honor the memory of Richard Schneider and to keep his work alive. The hand tools involved, the strange method of fretting, and the cool vacuum clamps, as well as the design philosophy behind the guitars, make this a pair of articles not to be missed. The Old World meets the future here and they blend very nicely. With 58 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#59 p.56 BRB5 p.452
Fred Carlson
▪ Carlson checks out Iboney, a specially treated cow bone used for nuts and saddles. Also in this column is an examination of 3 Stew-Mac tools, a fingerboard and bridge heating iron, a purfling cutter attachment for the Dremel MultiPro, and a binding cutter for the Stew-Mac version of the MultiPro router base. Fred likes the Iboney, and decides that both Stew-Mac Dremel attachments are better made than the Dremels themselves. The heating iron passes inspection, too, but the GAL Tool Guy feels a bit luke-warm about it.
1999
AL#58 p.20 BRB5 p.332
Jonathon Peterson George Majkowski Boaz Elkayam
▪ Boaz Elkayam and George Majkowski extend the work of Michael Kasha and Richard Schneider in a project that entails the construction of 10 guitars. A wide variety of building techniques involving hand and power tools, as well as vacuum clamping, is necessary to make these complicated instruments. An unlikely pairing of craftsmen contributes to our understanding of one of the most controversial instrument designers of our times, and the memory of a respected luthier and teacher. With 26 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#57 p.11 BRB5 p.297
John Calkin
▪ Calkin was hired by Huss and Dalton to take over their guitar binding. His story includes a description of how to make wood binding, and covers the hand tools he uses during the binding procedure. With 6 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1998
AL#55 p.45
Ken Sribnick
▪ Sribnick believes that consistent accuracy stems from shop standards. One set of measuring tools, one set of templates, one style of doing things. He makes a good case, too. With 3 photos.
1998
AL#54 p.56 BRB5 p.476
John Calkin
▪ The reviewer finds this set of 5 videos to be useful and complete for those who wish to build an archtop guitar, but that those who lack previous lutherie experience should also have the book by Benedetto.
1998
AL#54 p.62
Cyndy Burton
▪ Where to get the gear you need to do what you want to do as a luthier.
1998
AL#55 p.3 BRB5 p.213 read this article
Roger Sadowsky
▪ Sadowsky remembers Irving Sloane as a Renaissance man, and surely just the work he did in the lutherie field would qualify him for that. He designed and produced tuning machines, a slew of hand tools, and three instruction books that no doubt continue to be the worthy introduction many of us have to the world of lutherie. He was also Sadowsky’s father-in-law. This small remembrance is as nice as any man has had.
1998
AL#53 p.56 BRB5 p.442
Harry Fleishman
▪ Harry ‘fesses up: many luthiers are just too darn serious to grok good humor. But he, himself, is serious about testing new gear. In this issue he sort of likes a Bench Guitar Cradle, isn’t very enthusiastic about the Ultimate Guitar Mirror, is ambiguous about a fret slotting miter box and saw, finds a good mini-mic to combine with piezo pickups for not a lot of money, hates a commercial go-bar deck, and raves about a neck removal jig for dovetail joints. Whew!
1997
AL#51 p.58 BRB5 p.440
Harry Fleishman
▪ The Guild’s tool buster tames two new offerings and enjoys the ride. The first is a knife for opening cracks in guitar tops. The other is jig that thins and shapes the splints to be put into the slots cut by the knife. Along the way he examines the catalog of Luthiers Mercantile International.
1997
AL#52 p.28 BRB5 p.152
Guy Rabut
▪ To non-fiddle people all violins look about the same. To the initiated, however, they are vastly different. Besides offering a thorough description of his scroll carving techniques, Rabut gives us a glimpse into the world of the violin in-crowd where an appreciation for subtlety is the stock-in-trade. Guy is a high-profile maker who has had the opportunity to examine many world-class violins. With 52 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1997
AL#52 p.58 BRB5 p.441
Harry Fleishman
▪ Ever thought to look in a fabric store for lutherie tools? I’ll bet’cha that Harry beat you to it. He found a deal on aprons, some good layout tools for design work, and bias tape for tying on bindings. Then he opened a Woodcraft catalog and discovered clamps and a carbide burr cutter he couldn’t live without. Just one more column demonstrating why the editorial staff has developed a fatherly concern for their toolman’s life on the edge of lutherie.
1997
AL#51 p.36 BRB5 p.143
Nathan D. Missel
▪ You can build these little hollowing planes for a dollar or two and very little time. With 3 drawings to show you the way.
1997
AL#50 p.54 BRB5 p.438
Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman examines two tools used for changing the width of fret tangs and a Dremel tool jig for routing bridge slots after the bridge is glued to the guitar. He likes them all. With 3 photos.
1997
AL#50 p.58 BRB5 p.489
Chuck Shifflett
▪ A comfortable handle that works way better on Micro Plane rasps which were reviewed by Harry Fleishman in AL#48.
1997
AL#50 p.59 BRB5 p.490
Dave Maize
▪ Four tool ideas; a small battery powered gooseneck lamp for a router, Bernard’s pliers for removing snug fitting bridge saddles, bamboo shish kebab skewers for glue spreading, and a scraper to clear glue along guitar braces.
1997
AL#50 p.20 BRB5 p.48
Kalia Kliban
▪ Kliban reports on an inlay workshop led by Larry Robinson. Robinson has become a master of shell decoration and an important teacher in the field. This article covers everything from design to engraving, and amounts to a condensed version of Larry’s book on the subject. With 15 photos of the workshop and knockout inlay work.
1997
AL#49 p.54 BRB5 p.436
Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman examines two retrofit bases for the Dremel mini-router, and likes them both for different reasons. He also test drives a set of micro-chisels and JAWS, a hand-powered fretting press, and recommends them. With 5 photos.
1997
AL#49 p.58 BRB5 p.504
Glenn Uhler
▪ This plastic tool box made by Rubbermaid has two stacking trays that lift out together and plenty of room in the bottom for fretting hammers and larger tools.
1997
AL#49 p.58 BRB5 p.489
Colin Kaminski
▪ Boggs Tool Processing uses the liquid honing process for sharpening files.
1997
AL#50 p.4 BRB5 p.60
Frank Ford
▪ Ford has been a preeminent repairman for years, but has recently emerged as a fine teacher of repair topics. Everyone’s refretting tricks are a little different. Even if you have a handle on the general principle you may find that Frank Ford has something to offer you. With 29 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1997
LW p.80
James E. Patterson
▪ This article compresses into less than 6 pages everything you need to know about cutting and inlaying shell, except for how to make up original designs. Creativity is a tough thing to teach. Includes 5 diagrams and 6 photos.
1996
AL#48 p.14 BRB4 p.386
Jonathon Peterson Bishop Cochran
▪ Cochran is a player/maker of electric and acoustic/electric guitars who uses machine shop equipment and supplies to create his instruments. The emphasis is on precision work, duplicable procedures, and practical designs. With 26 photos.
1996
AL#48 p.28 BRB4 p.408
Cyndy Burton John Mello
▪ Mello is a repairperson, guitarmaker, restorer, and instrument dealer. He apprenticed under Richard Schneider and worked with Jeffrey R. Elliott before opening his own shop.Much of the interview dwells upon the restoration of an 1862 Torres guitar. With 11 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1996
AL#48 p.36 BRB4 p.404
Frank Ford
▪ Ford built an elaborate jig for resetting the necks of valuable and delicate guitars where a slip of the chisel can’t be risked. The contrary nature of guitars may dictate that some hand fitting is required after the jig is used, but much of the danger is removed. With 8 photos.
1996
AL#48 p.49 BRB4 p.440
Harry Fleishman
▪ The GAL’s Toolman/stand-up comic checks out a potpourri of rasps, a pair of small drawknives, and a specialized chisel, and suggests what you should do with your junky Model 3 or 4 Dremel tool.
1996
AL#48 p.56 BRB4 p.504
Rod Hannah
▪ Using a mill bastard file to remove excess material when dressing frets.
1996
AL#48 p.57 BRB4 p.505
Glenn Uhler
▪ Lutherie tools from a welding supply store, including an inspection light kit featuring an extension/mirror tool, and a nice pin vise.
1996
AL#48 p.57 BRB4 p.503
Leslie C. Sahl
▪ An improvement to a violin peg-hole reamer by using a door knob for a handle.
1996
AL#47 p.62
Cyndy Burton
▪ A page of tools especially for the luthier, and a page and a half of tools and supplies of a more general nature. Where to get your tools. Or, at least, where to get your catalogs.
1996
AL#45 p.58 BRB4 p.468
Jess Wells
▪ The reviewer finds that this book is “the one sharpening book on the market today which I find useful as a reference in my library.”
1996
AL#46 p.38 BRB4 p.312
Cyndy Burton Todd Taggart
▪ The driving force behind Luthiers Mercantile International talks about building a business, supplying an industry, and helping to make a guitar town out of Healdsburg, California.
1995
AL#44 p.60 BRB4 p.499
Rod Hannah
▪ Several methods of removing original Fender frets, which were slid in from the side.
1996
AL#45 p.54 BRB4 p.436
Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman test drives the adjustable fretboard arching planes from Luthiers Mercantile International, and finds that they handle the curves nicely. Also, an update on Highlander pickups.
1995
AL#44 p.52 BRB4 p.434
Harry Fleishman
▪ This time the GAL’s Toolman tests a Stewart-MacDonald diamond coated fret file, and the Hacklinger gauge for measuring the thickness of instrument tops and backs. He likes the file enough to recommend it. He likes the gauge, too, but its high price puts him off.
1995
AL#44 p.57 BRB4 p.467
Andres Sender
▪ The reviewer finds that this book is particularly useful for the plane maker, and ultimately decides that it is “. . .a remarkable deal if you can find it.”
1995
AL#42 p.64 BRB4 p.493
Ric McCurdy
▪ Some tips gleaned from John Monteleone and company about Jimmy D’Aquisto’s scraper sharpening methods.
1994
AL#38 p.56 BRB4 p.485
John Miles
▪ The use of abrasive tools for various instrument making tasks.
1994
AL#38 p.56 BRB4 p.485
Bishop Cochran
▪ The ‘hurricane blower’, a rubber bulb-type blower used by photographers to keep their equipment clean.
1994
AL#37 p.60 BRB4 p.488
John Jordan
▪ Make quick-and-dirty long drill bits from bicycle spokes.
1993
AL#36 p.39 BRB3 p.476
Wayne Kelly
▪ Make your own radiused blocks from auto body filler.
1993
AL#36 p.46 BRB3 p.416
Robert Lundberg
▪ Scrapers are wonderfully useful tools despite the difficulties they often pose to beginners. Lundberg explains how to tame them.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1994
AL#37 p.10 BRB4 p.6
Tim Olsen
▪ Olsen travels from the general (in the preceding article) to the specific. He zeros in on D’Aquisto’s soundboard work for a detailed examination. With 47 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1993
AL#35 p.48 BRB3 p.368
Ralph Novak
▪ Good fretwork is complicated, but practice makes it a staple in the repairman’s income. Novak offers advice garnered from twenty-odd years in the business.
1993
AL#35 p.57 BRB3 p.498
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Design idea for a simple workstand using a wedge-shaped box. You can make one out of anything.
1993
AL#35 p.6 BRB3 p.352 read this article
Michael Darnton
▪ To the uninitiated, violin setup seems to have way too many steps for the small number of moveable parts involved. Taken one step at a time, the mystery falls away. Darnton explains the tools and procedures he uses to get the most out of a violin. This segment includes fitting pegs, correcting problems with the nut, making a fingerboard, and fitting a soundpost. Part Two is printed in AL#37. With 30 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1993
AL#33 p.36 BRB3 p.303
Wes Brandt
▪ A well-known repairman delivers eight tips, including an alternate way to bend a Venetian cutaway, tool tips, and a way to bend sides more accurately.
1992
AL#32 p.66 BRB3 p.488
John Higgins
▪ Specialized tools for making nuts, a flat sided tapered scribe, and the equal spacing divider.
1992
AL#31 p.60 BRB3 p.437
Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman reviews the Waverly Fret Tang Nipper and finds that for the full-time builder it is an indispensable tool.
1992
AL#32 p.11 BRB3 p.244
Jonathon Peterson
▪ As a maker of fine acoustic instruments Gibson was reborn in Montana. The man in charge of creativity and efficiency leads the GAL team through his domain. With 17 photos.
1992
AL#31 p.57 BRB3 p.489
Colin Kaminski
▪ Replacing fret nippers chipped while cutting strings.
1992
AL#30 p.49 BRB3 p.486
Robert Steinegger
▪ Freeing up tool shelf space with Velcro attachments.
1992
AL#29 p.58 BRB3 p.467 read this article
Cyndy Burton
▪ Seldom does a new catalog cause so much excitement. The reviewer especially likes it for bedtime reading.
1992
AL#29 p.6 BRB3 p.194 ALA3 p.2
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune outlines the first major exhibition of Spanish guitars ever mounted in America. With 8 photos, including one of Santos Hernandez. Also mentions Torres, M. Ramirez, Segovia, Simplicio, Barbero, Romanillos, and others.
1991
AL#27 p.58 BRB3 p.479
Chris Foss
▪ A barbaric, easy way to keep scrapers sharp.
1991
AL#27 p.58 BRB3 p.478
Phillip Lea
▪ When making plexiglas templates, use a scraper with no hook to smooth the edges.
1991
AL#26 p.58 BRB3 p.463 read this article
David Riggs
▪ The reviewer finds that this book offers good, solid instruction to the person building their first guitar.
1991
AL#26 p.60 BRB3 p.464 read this article
C.F. Casey
▪ This British D.I.Y. book offers alternative diction, syntax, and approach to the material.
1991
AL#27 p.4 BRB3 p.80
Chris Brandt R.E. Brune Jeffrey R. Elliott Richard Schneider Ervin Somogyi David Wilson
▪ A look inside the shops of six professional luthiers, featuring floor plans, tooling descriptions, notes on lighting and specialized machinery, and ideas about how work space can help (or hurt) your lifestyle. With a good Q&A segment and 63 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1991
AL#25 p.55 BRB3 p.477
Dale Randall
▪ A fret crowning file that cannot possibly scratch the fretboard.
1991
AL#26 p.13 BRB3 p.480
Dale Randall
▪ Go fishing for your soundposts. Land them perfectly. This is a soundpost setter unlike any other. Really.
1991
AL#26 p.14 BRB3 p.46
Dan Erlewine Herb David
▪ It’s tough to be in business and stay successful. It’s really tough to stay in business and keep having fun, too. Herb David tells how he runs his business, builds a few instruments, stays in shape, has fun. Here’s the last line of his personal prayer: “Deliver me from temptation but keep me in touch.” You gotta love the guy. Mentions Sam Varjebedian and Terry Horvath.
1990
LT p.114
Steve Andersen Chris Brandt R.E. Brune Ted Davis Jeffrey R. Elliott James Flynn Bob Gleason Hideo Kamimoto Robert Lundberg Frederick C. Lyman Jr. John Monteleone Robert Ruck Richard Schneider Ervin Somogyi Al Stancel Robert Steinegger Janet Toon
▪ Seventeen established luthiers were asked to list ten hand tools, five power tools, and five supplies used as tools. This info was used to determine the most essential tools, including specifics, model and size, source, and any special uses.
1990
AL#24 p.54 BRB2 p.486
Michael Darnton
▪ Details include cooking varnish, finishing necks, causes of neck cracks, and adjusting a peg shaper to match your peg reamer.
1990
AL#23 p.22 BRB2 p.486
Michael Darnton
▪ Topics include sharpening a peg reamer, dealing with fingerboard tearout, tailpiece setup, pitching the neck, and staining the bridges.
1990
AL#23 p.22 BRB2 p.491
Michael Darnton
▪ Yes, you can resharpen a peg reamer.
1989
AL#20 p.32 BRB2 p.330
Jeffrey R. Elliott Jonathon Peterson
▪ The 6 tools are: a guitar cradle, a grimel (hand purfling cutter), a hand circle cutter, a shooting board, a circle cutting jig for the Dremel tool, and water stones for tool sharpening.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1989
AL#18 p.3
Danny McLean
▪ He mentions Kestral Tools of Lopez, Washington.
1989
AL#18 p.11
Dale Randall
▪ Randall built a foot-operated mini-jack for regluing braces inside an instrument.
1989
AL#18 p.44 BRB2 p.246
Jack Levine
▪ Levine made a deep-throated caliper for accurately measuring the thickness of the cello plate that is not removed, when the other is.
1989
AL#17 p.55 BRB2 p.481
Eric Sahlin
▪ Locating a peghole reamer suitable for lutes.
1988
AL#15 p.46 BRB2 p.86
R.E. Brune
▪ An intense description of Japanese classical guitar making taken from Brune’s convention lecture. Life in Japan is probably not much like you imagine it to be, it is far more interesting. The Q&A segment deals more with Brune’s own guitar work. With 21 photos inside a Japanese “factory.”
1988
AL#14 p.21 BRB2 p.60
Harry Fleishman
▪ Fleishman’s tools are a rubber band-powered jack clamp for regluing braces, and a homemade wrench for tightening output jack nuts inside an acoustic guitar.
1988
AL#14 p.56 BRB2 p.76
Jonathon Peterson
▪ Peterson finds a relatively safe method of sharpening files by acid etching. THE ORIGINAL PUBLICATION OF THIS ARTICLE CONTAINED A SERIOUS ERROR. ACID SHOULD ALWAYS BE ADDED TO WATER, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. THIS ERROR HAS BEEN CORRECTED IN THE REPRINTS).
1987
AL#12 p.11 BRB1 p.473
Jay Hargreaves
▪ Drawings and description for two sanding blocks that use 3M Stikit paper.
1987
AL#11 p.7
Alan L. Wall
▪ Wall has discovered that the easiest way to make the wooden portions of spool clamps is with a hole saw.
1986
AL#8 p.54
Robert Stebbins
▪ Stebbins writes briefly about one of his favorite tools.
1987
AL#9 p.6 BRB1 p.304 read this article
Paul Schuback
▪ In this fascinating lecture from the 1986 GAL convention Schuback speaks of his apprenticeship to a French violin maker in 1962, then goes on to offer details about instrument construction, wood, and a Q&A session.
1986
AL#7 p.55 BRB1 p.431
Robert Doucet
▪ Doucet offers slick tricks for removing dried glue from raw wood, replacing spruce pulled up by the bridge, tracing braces to make clamping cauls, and roughing saddle blanks into shape.
1986
AL#7 p.48
William Conrad
▪ Conrad gives useful advice about disassembling instruments for repair.
1985
AL#4 p.16 BRB1 p.108 read this article
Ted Davis
▪ In this lecture Davis describes his method of making instrument plans from a guitar, then fields questions and takes suggestions.
1985
AL#3 p.46
Bill Hultgren
▪ A question/answer format offers sources for micarta, pearloid inlay materials, and small files.
1985
AL#2 p.54 BRB1 p.77
Brian Mascarin
▪ They are: an archtop guitar brace jack, a modified 1/4″ phone plug to position an output jack, and a clear plastic square for scribing fret positions on a fretless bass.
1985
AL#1 p.50 BRB1 p.73
John Jordan
▪ Jordan describes two incandescent lights designed for use inside guitars. One uses a 7½-watt bulb on a standard power cord. The other uses tiny low-voltage bulbs and a step-down transformer.
1985
AL#1 p.52
Ervin Somogyi
▪ Somogyi comments briefly on the relative merits of oil stones and water stones.
1985
AL#1 p.3
Michael Dresdner
▪ Dresdner discusses the availability of files suitable for nut slotting, and supplies an address for the Grobet Company.
1985
AL#1 p.45 BRB1 p.45
Elliott Burch
▪ Burch describes modifying an automotive part-retrieving claw into a device for positioning small crack-reinforcing studs.
1985
AL#1 p.49 BRB1 p.17
C.F. Casey
▪ Casey briefly describes the construction and use of a long-handled knife designed to be used with two hands.
1984
DS#285 LW p.106
Michael Dresdner
▪ In the “old days” you couldn’t buy a set of nut slotting files. They didn’t exist. The author used pattern makers files with parallel safety sides. He recommends learning about and adapting the tools from every trade that crosses your path.
1982
DS#222 LT p.26
Nicholas Von Robison
▪ Traditional native American knife cuts on the pull stroke.
1979
DS#127 LT p.84
Boyd Butler
▪ A tool that aids in tearing sandpaper sheets into useful sizes, and a sanding board for close places.
1979
DS#111 LT p.32
Al Leis
▪ Four shop-made planes.
1978
GALQ Vol.6#3 p.8 LT p.104
H.E. Huttig
▪ A tribute to the late George Vogl of Bubenreuth, Germany, maker of special luthier’s tools.
1976
DS#32 LT p.14
H.E. Huttig
▪ Short history of steel and its principal alloys, plus a description of sharpening stones, and how to use and maintain them.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.