2021
AL#143 p.40
Leonardo Michelin-Salomon
▪ In AL#141 Leonardo showed us how he was building Romantic-era guitars at the craft school in Norway. This time he is taking a deep dive into building with local spruce. Although the trees are not big, the wood is very good. Mentions Gennaro Fabricatore, Johann Anton Stauffer, Josef Pagés, Coffee-Goguette.
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.
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.
2019
AL#138 p.66
Bryan Johanson
▪ Orfeo Magazine represents a new idea in marketing. It is free online, or you can buy it as gorgeous coffee-table books of collected issues. Either way, it sure is pretty. Written and photographed by Alberto Martinez, Orfeo Magazine presents one man’s lavishly illustrated pilgrimages into the world of the classical guitar.
2019
AL#138 p.69
John Calkin
▪ What do you do with cupped soundboard sets? Go ahead and use them. Calkin offers some practical tips for avoiding problems.
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#132 p.68
Brent Cole
▪ Is Alaska yellow cedar more available than it used to be?
2018
AL#133 p.48
James Blilie
▪ We all have ideas about the stiffness of brace wood, probably based on a combination of intuition, hearsay, and informal flexing. Blilie aims to accumulate more quantitave data. Here he reports on his latest tests. He also describes his methodology and the reasoning behind it. This is Blilie’s third article on this topic.
2016
AL#128 p.58
James Blilie
▪ We all have ideas about the stiffness of brace wood, probably based on a combination of intuition, hearsay, and informal flexing. Blilie aims to accumulate more quantitave data. Here he reports on his latest tests. He also describes his methodology and the reasoning behind it. This is Blilie’s second article on this topic. The earlier one is in AL128. A third article appears in AL133.
2008
AL#96 p.42
James Condino Ted Davis
▪ Davis’ lutherie exploits goes back to the ’70s. He was one of the first of the recent red spruce believers, and he harvested many trees to supply himself and a few others who were lucky enough to key into his business. He made guitars, mandolins, and dulcimers to support his hotrod automobile habit. He had strong opinions about wood that run counter to modern beliefs, and had the experience to back them up.Davis died before the interview was published. He will be missed. With 15 photos.
2008
AL#95 p.65 read this article
Joe Herrick
▪ The reviewer not only learned a lot about choosing tops and designing brace patterns, he had a very good time. The class took him beyond building generic guitars and into the realm of building the specific guitars that he andor his customers want to hear.
2008
AL#96 p.6 ALA3 p.68
Robert Ruck Jeffrey R. Elliott Manuel Velazquez Alfredo Velazquez
▪ Manuel Velazquez built his first guitar in 1929. Can you imagine that? His son Alfredo is carrying on the tradition, though Manuel has not retired. He has definite opinions about what woods make the best guitar and how they should be finished. He is a giant in the business and must be admired for his tenacity as much as his ability. And a fun interview to boot. Mentions Bobri, Andres Segovia, Torres, Santos Hernandez, and Hermann Hauser. With 36 photos.
2008
AL#93 p.66
Benz Tschannen
▪ Some experimenting on ossification of guitar soundboards.
2008
AL#94 p.50
Don MacRostie
▪ MacRostie’s clever jig measures the top deflection of a carved mandolin under string load at any stage of its construction. It is a valuable tool within the reach of any luthier.
2008
AL#93 p.38 read this article
Greg Hanson Andrea Florinett
▪ Author Hanson spent two weeks in Switzerland harvesting and processing lumber and tonewood with the Florinett family, who supply the guitar business with 7000 quality spruce tops each year. Florinett is a certified forester who is as concerned with the healthy harvesting of tree stands as with making the most and best use of the wood. The morality of business is also his concern if he is to help his village, his country, as well as the future of his family business. This is a compelling look at an end of the lutherie business that few of us even think about. With 15 photos and a sketch of Picea abies subspecies.
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.
2005
AL#84 p.64 BRB7 p.479
John Calkin
▪ Spruce and pine for guitar and mandolin tops VS maple.
2005
AL#83 p.59 BRB7 p.479
Alain Bieber
▪ Bieber says there are old patents that show guitars with top grain orientation perpendicular to the strings. But were any of these ever built?
2005
AL#81 p.40 BRB7 p.302 read this article
Ralph Charles
▪ Man! How come red spruce is so expensive? And how come we can’t find a red spruce top as pretty as a piece of Sitka? Friends, if you look at enough old guitars you’ll realize that Adirondack spruce tops were rarely tight-grained, perfectly straight, and perfectly quartered all at the same time. The big stands of Eastern spruce may have been harvested 60 years ago, but forester Charles is here to say that the trees never grew with luthiers in mind. Man has had a random hand in growing red spruces for generations, and so have beavers. Conditions in the woods can change rapidly. It’s wild out there! To amateur naturalists this is exciting stuff. With 5 photos and a chart.
2001
AL#68 p.69 BRB6 p.205
Ervin Somogyi
▪ The differences in the characteristics of the top woods European spruce, Sitka spruce, Engelmann spruce, and western red cedar.
2000
AL#64 p.50 BRB6 p.156
Nathan Stinnette
▪ Stinnette is the Huss & Dalton Guitar Co. employee in charge of converting split red spruce trees into billets of brace wood, and then into guitar braces. The article describes how the rough chunks of wood are converted into quarter-sawn boards and then how the boards are made into braces. With 15 photos.
1999
AL#60 p.19 BRB5 p.417
Ervin Somogyi
▪ How important is the grain orientation of your braces? Is quartersawn wood really the stiffest? Somogyi ran a small series of tests that suggest that information we all trust and take for granted may be little more than lutherie mythology. With 3 photos and a chart.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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#57 p.24 BRB5 p.262
Jay Hargreaves
▪ In this installment the top plate is carved and braced. Ribbecke roughs out the plates in a unique vacuum cage that goes a long way toward keeping his shop clean. The chainsaw wheel he attaches to his grinder gives this series its name, and speeds the carving process dramatically. Tuning the top isn’t completed until the guitar is assembled in the next segment. Part 1 was in AL#56. Includes 20 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1999
AL#57 p.32 BRB5 p.310
David Hurd
▪ Uke maker Hurd was once a research scientist, and intuitive instrument construction is not his bag. Using his formula luthiers can compare known wood species with unknowns and learn what to expect of the new ones. He also offers some top dimensions for instruments of the ukulele family. With 5 charts and much math.
1999
AL#57 p.48 BRB5 p.322
Don Musser
▪ Musser supplies wood to the trade, and his notions about grain runout may surprise you. Wood from split billets doesn’t guarantee a minimum of runout unless the billet itself has absolutely no runout. Does it matter? Musser thinks so. With 4 photos.
1998
AL#56 p.36 BRB5 p.262
Jay Hargreaves
▪ Ribbecke is a renowned maker of archtop guitars. He also opens his shop periodically to small classes that wish to learn his formula for successful and graceful guitars. Hargreaves attended one such week-long session and brought back the straight skinny for American Lutherie readers. Part 1 details the construction of a laminated maple neck and associated details. Part 2 follows in AL#57. With 29 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
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.24 BRB5 p.84
Don Musser
▪ Musser offers a peek at varieties of top wood you may never have considered, and finds them promising. The varieties are white fir, sub-alpine fir, Colorado blue spruce, and one that may be a hybrid. Includes four photos of sectioned logs.
1997
LW p.23 read this article
Nicholas Von Robison
▪ Where to look for objective information about trees and wood.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1997
LW p.103
Harry Fleishman
▪ Perhaps Harry didn’t invent the guitar top made from two varieties of wood, but he has certainly made it a trademark of his instruments. The text explains the why of it, and the single photo offers a peek at one of Fleishman’s unique designs.
1997
LW p.10 read this article
Nicholas Von Robison
▪ Range descriptions, scientific nomenclature, wood description, and uses in lutherie.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1997
LW p.22
David Hill
▪
1996
AL#46 p.54
Cyndy Burton
▪ A new column is born, kicking off with 2 pages of places to buy tonewood.
1994
AL#38 p.58
Larry Trumble
▪ Trumble forecasts the future for one of lutherie’s staple woods.
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#35 p.30 BRB3 p.376 read this article
Nicholas Von Robison
▪ Alternative Lutherie Woods List.
1993
AL#33 p.12 BRB3 p.278 read this article
Roberto Gomes
▪ Gomes offers a list and short description of some current Brazilian builders.
1993
AL#33 p.14 BRB3 p.280
R.E. Brune
▪ Brune describes a rare 11-string Torres guitar and the manner in which he restored it. With 11 photos and a half-page of drawings. Mentions Romanillos.
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.
1993
AL#33 p.26 BRB3 p.290
Jeffrey R. Elliott
▪ How does one hack a log that’s 11′ wide into 4000 guitar tops? Very carefully! With 9 photos detailing the decimation of Moby Spruce. By the way, this is a log that Steve McMinn rescued from the pulp mill.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1993
AL#33 p.39 BRB3 p.309 read this article
Harold Turner
▪ Turner thinks you might like to try white pine as a tonewood. But you’ll have to harvest it yourself. Here are some suggestions about how to go about it.
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.
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#30 p.10 BRB3 p.200 ALA4 p.24
Paul Hostetter Maurice Dupont
▪ Meet a French guitar maker whose specialty is the recreation of Selmer guitars. Dupont even mills his own spruce. He is one of the more accessible foreign luthiers, and his guitars are available in the States. Mentions Maccaferri, Django Reinhardt.
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.
1991
AL#26 p.8 BRB3 p.37 ALA4 p.28
Jean Larrivee
▪ Larrivee has overseen the creation of 15,000 acoustic guitars and 12,000 electrics. Much of what he has to say pertains as strongly to the one-off builder as it does to another industry giant, and he doesn’t hold back on anything.
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.
1990
AL#24 p.16 BRB2 p.470
Dana Bourgeois
▪ This is perhaps the strongest article ever published in American Lutherie about voicing the top and bracing of the steel string guitar. The fallout from this piece has been very wide spread.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1990
AL#24 p.19 BRB2 p.476
Gila Eban Dana Bourgeois
▪ Dana discusses his favorite top woods and how they compare.
1990
AL#22 p.28 BRB2 p.384
Rion Dudley
▪ Dudley adds a 1/10″ layer of spruce between the instrument top and the bridge plate of a 12-string guitar, and under the bridge of a flattop mandolin. He likes the results, but is uncertain what the operation actually does to the performance of the top.
1989
AL#19 p.40 BRB2 p.294
Jonathon Peterson Frank “Andy” Johnson
▪ Johnson is a banjo restorationist and tonewood supplier from Washington State. He specializes in selling spruce to the major piano manufacturers.
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.
1989
AL#17 p.46 BRB2 p.208
Brett Borton
▪ Have you ever seen a mandolin with an intentional crease or sharp bend to the top behind the bridge? That’s a cranked top. Borton describes how to add a cranked top to the steel string guitar, though he’s not too specific about why we should try it.
1988
AL#14 p.59
Richard Jordan
▪ Jordan used spruce of different stiffness to brace three nearly identical classical guitars, and found the differences to be dramatic. His stiffness test was especially easy to run.
1988
AL#14 p.17 BRB2 p.37
Dana Bourgeois
▪ Where did Martin buy their spruce from year to year during their vintage days? Bourgeois discovered that there is no way to know, and that guitar experts are forced to guess.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1987
AL#11 p.32 BRB1 p.474
Max Krimmel Jean Larrivee Bruce Ross Ervin Somogyi Robert Steinegger
▪ Such panel discussions are always interesting, but this one especially so, mostly because three of the five panelists run one-man shops. The questions (and even many answers) don’t seem to change much from year to year, but it’s good to hear from some smaller voices in the industry for a change.
1987
AL#11 p.51 BRB1 p.501 read this article
Ernest Nussbaum
▪
1986
AL#8 p.16
William Conrad
▪ Conrad finds that spruce tops can be graded for density by the color of the light that shines through them, and uses a camera light meter to calibrate them.
1986
AL#8 p.18 BRB1 p.274 ALA3 p.8
Jeffrey R. Elliott
▪ This lecture transcription presents a chronological overview of the work of Hermann Hauser Sr. 26 photos and 3 drawings complete the article. A major investigation of some important guitars.
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#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.
1986
AL#5 p.27 BRB1 p.176
Ervin Somogyi
▪ Somogyi uses personal experience to compare Sitka and European spruces.
1986
AL#5 p.10 BRB1 p.150
Ted Davis William DelPilar
▪ Davis offers his conversation with a professional luthier who made over 800 classical guitars between 1956 and 1986.
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.
1985
AL#3 p.19
Paul Wyszkowski
▪ Sixty books and articles dealing with guitar acoustics are rated for legitimacy, clarity, and usefulness.
1985
AL#4 p.8 BRB1 p.96
William Cumpiano
▪ Cumpiano shares a pleasant visit with Velazquez in Puerto Rico where the conversation is all about classical guitars, wood, compensation factors, and balancing the tone of the instrument.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1985
AL#2 p.25 BRB1 p.74
William Cumpiano
▪ Cumpiano discusses wood color and figure on the cellular level.
1985
AL#2 p.41 BRB1 p.46 read this article
Ted Davis
▪ Davis tells of his long, difficult, and ultimately successful quest to obtain logs of red spruce (Picea rubens).
1984
DS#271 BRB2 p.400
Graham Caldersmith
▪ The “Young’s Modulus” of any piece of wood can be calculated, giving a result measurable in frequency. Comparing the Young’s Modulus of a wood species with unknown qualities with a chart of other species of known characteristics can tell you what to expect before any instrument work is commenced. Here’s how to calculate the Young’s Modulus of any piece of wood you have on hand. With 1 drawing and a sample wood chart.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1983
DS#238 BRB2 p.340
Ted Davis
▪ The author began building classical guitars before there was much written help out there, and he evolved his design specs by making a lot of guitars. Some of these have been absorbed into the general body of classical guitar literature, other remain unique. With 14 drawings and 2 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
1982
GALQ Vol.10#3 p.33 LW p.37 read this article
Jan Callister
▪ Another example of what a small specialty lumber company has to go through.
1982
GALQ Vol.10#1 p.18 LW p.34 read this article
Dennis Coon
▪ Tonewoods are required to be nearly perfect, but first perfect trees must be found, felled, and hauled.
1979
GALQ Vol.7#3 p.8 LW p.21 read this article
Michael Gurian
▪ Gurian’s 1979 forecast for the future of lutherie woods was pretty much on the money.
1978
GALQ Vol.6#2 p.28 LW p.38 read this article
Des Anthony
▪ Tonewood is where you find it, even if you find it in another instrument.
1978
GALQ Vol.6#1 p.10 BRB2 p.78
Kent Rayman Aggie Rayman Robert Lundberg
▪ Lundberg is a classic example of a man who couldn’t fit into any of the slots society tried to force him into, yet who went on to become an important individual in his field. Lute players of the world couldn’t be happier about it. With 4 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.
1974
DS#2 LW p.16 read this article
David Sturgill
▪ Why certain varieties are most often chosen. Harvesting and processing info.