2023
AL#150 p.65
Peter Tsiorba
▪ George Smith was one of that rare breed: A self-starter guitar maker before the American Lutherie Boom. Heres three fond remembrances by people who were glad to have known him well.
2020
AL#141 p.38
Gerry Chicalo
▪ All the guitar soundboards ever made don’t add up to a toothpick in the vast lumberyard of the timber industry. A stray cedar log that washes onto a beach in British Columbia can be lutherie gold, and harvesting it can be a lot of nice fragrant outdoor fun.
2019
AL#138 p.6
Michael Bashkin
▪ Michael Bashkin’s lutherie cred is unimpeachable, and it turns out that he previously had a career in forestry, with years of experience in many places from the tropics, to the temperate zone, to the arctic. So he knows a lot about trees and about wood. How should we feel about using the earth’s dwindling supplies of fine traditional woods to make our wonderful, precious guitars? And will our clients give us less of their wonderful, precious dollars if we don’t? Let’s ask Michael. This fascinating article is based on his 2017 GAL Convention lecture.
2017
AL#131 p.69
Tom Thiel
▪ Why does my dimensioned neck stock keep twisting?
2017
AL#129 p.64
John Calkin
▪ Calkin’s manifesto of outlaw lutherie. He says real lutherie can be fun, spontanious, quick, and cheap. Relax. It’s good for you.
2007
AL#90 p.54 read this article
Bruce Harvie
▪ Specialty woodcutters must be the hardest working people in lutherie, but they also seem to have the most fun. Not just a woodcutter, Harvie is also a treasure hunter supplying luthiers in the trade with wooden jewels. This story is great fun. With 16 photos.
2006
AL#86 p.48 read this article
Michael Sanden
▪ The author is enthusiastic about the spruce he buys from Pacific Rim Tonewoods, and his tour of the facility provides some insight as to how trees become guitar tops. With 7 photos.
2004
AL#78 p.46 BRB7 p.200
John Calkin Jeffrey Yong
▪ Yong hails from Malaysia, a country not often associated with fine lutherie. Nevertheless, he makes a lot of instruments that look very contemporary and tasty, and he has access to varieties of wood that would make many of us very envious. With 10 photos.
2001
AL#67 p.54
Cyndy Burton
▪ This is a list of where to buy wood (tone or otherwise) and inlay materials.
1998
AL#53 p.62
Cyndy Burton
▪ Ms. Burton has rounded up almost two pages of wood suppliers. If you can’t find it here you may have to go cut it yourself.
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
LW p.132
Staff
▪ Where to buy your wood and tools.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.17 BRB4 p.236
David Hill Michael Gurian
▪ Gurian knows much more than he tells in this interview, but it’s good to know he’s still actively part of the guitar scene. He has worked alone, started an informal school of guitarmaking through the apprentices he has trained, owned guitar factories, invented tools, and is currently a supplier of parts and accessories.
1994
AL#38 p.40 BRB4 p.44
Bart Potter
▪ Harvesting wood in Hawaii, conserving it for the future, and looking at koa’s working properties.
1993
AL#35 p.26 BRB3 p.372 read this article
Tom Ribbecke
▪ Ribbecke gathered information from across the country for this talk, an introduction to the woods that may eventually—like it or not—change the look of the instruments we make and play.
1993
AL#33 p.24 BRB3 p.288
Steve McMinn
▪ The head honcho of a new designer tonewood company describes his operation. With 4 photos.
1992
AL#32 p.16 BRB3 p.250 ALA5 p.10
R.E. Brune H.E. Huttig
▪ Huttig began importing guitar parts and European tonewood in the 1950s, and was a hard-core enthusiast of the classical guitar even before that. As a businessman and a friend to musicians and luthiers his life had far-reaching fallout. Mentions Barbero, Bobri, Hauser II, Hernandez, Romanillos, Ramirez, Esteso, and so on.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1992
AL#31 p.18 BRB3 p.226 read this article
Ted Davis Bruce Harvie Steve McMinn Byron Will David Wilson
▪ As the large stands of old growth timber are harvested it is likely that quality tonewoods will come more and more from men who can take the time to harvest and pack out individual trees. Who are they, how do they work, and what’s their prognosis for the future? The discussion also introduces species that you probably never considered for top wood until now. With photos and range maps.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1991
AL#26 p.5 BRB3 p.42
Todd Brotherton Myles Gilmer
▪ Gilmer buys wood from all over the globe and sells it to a number of special interests in the woodworking field. He’s been around, he’s concerned about the forests and ethical harvesting, and he’s articulate. Without the Gilmers of America there would be very few independent professional instrument makers.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1990
AL#24 p.13 BRB2 p.446
Steve Banchero Janet Toon
▪ A collection of violin and cello makers harvests spruce in the national forest.
1989
AL#18 p.6 BRB2 p.210
Bruce Harvie Casey Wood
▪ This is a Q&A session from the S. Dakota convention. The answer folks not only harvest and sell a wide variety of “designer” tonewoods, they are well up on alternative woods for lutherie. Very informative, and fun.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1987
AL#11 p.22 BRB1 p.428 read this article
Gulab Gidwani
▪ A well-known importer and dealer of tonewoods relates some of the difficulties of doing business with third-world nations, such as getting a sawyer of railroad ties to cut fretboards.
1987
AL#10 p.53 BRB1 p.412 read this article
John Curtis
▪ A wood merchant relates the difficulties of getting lumber out of the jungle, and why the rain forest isn’t being replanted.
1986
AL#7 p.21 BRB1 p.248
Nicholas Von Robison Ed Arnold
▪ Robison interviews Arnold about harvesting wood in Mexico and dealing it in America.
1986
AL#7 p.26 BRB1 p.250 read this article
Paul Wyszkowski
▪ Wyszkowski describes his visit to H. L. Wild and provides some background information about the legendary tonewood dealer.
1986
AL#7 p.27 BRB1 p.252
Richard Bingham
▪ Bingham provides a brief anecdote about making a guitar from a “found” guitar kit from H. L. Wild.
1986
AL#7 p.28 BRB1 p.251
Steve Curtin
▪ Curtin shares his impressions of his first visit to H. L. Wild.
1986
AL#5 p.26 BRB1 p.172
Ervin Somogyi
▪ Somogyi describes his adventure of buying guitar tops in Germany, and the extent to which bowed instruments dominate the German market.
1985
AL#4 p.52 BRB1 p.492 read this article
Frederick Battershell
▪ The reviewer examines what has become one of the main-stay catalogs of lutherie and finds that it’s not only chock full of wood, supplies, and tools, it’s a nearly encyclopedic source of lutherie information.