Tag Archives: Stuart¸ Peggy

Peggy Stuart

Peggy Stuart has been a GAL member since 1978 (forty-five consecutive years) and has been a regular GAL Convention attendee since then. She built her first guitar in 1973. An AL author and photographer, she is now retired from her day job in higher education, and travels widely in her RV, painting landscapes and photographing nature.

▪ bio current as of 2022

It Worked for Me: Carving Table

2023
AL#148 p.69               
Peggy Stuart                                                                                           

▪ This gentle setup does not suck up the chips with a screaming vacuum, but lets them fall through a grating with a calming pitter-pat.

Meet the Maker: Peggy Stuart

2022
AL#147 p.42               
John Calkin   Peggy Stuart                                                                                       

▪ Peggy Stuart is not famous as a guitar maker, but her life story is one that every luthier under age fifty should hear and think about. She was one of “Sloane’s Children,” struggling to make a guitar from that early book back in the dark ages of the middle 1970s. She discovered the GAL and soon attended conventions and wrote articles as her skills improved. But she ultimately saw that she would not be able to support herself as a luthier, and turned to law school. If you making a living building instruments in these days of milk and honey, thank your lucky stars and the Guild of American Luthiers.

Reviews: Guitar Makers: The Endurance of Artisanal Values in North America by Kathryn Marie Dudley

2015
AL#122 p.67               
Peggy Stuart                                                                                           

▪ Reviewer says the book is a fascinating look at the lives and stories that members of the lutherie community tell about how the current golden age of lutherie came about.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part Five

2004
AL#79 p.34   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ The author attended a mandolin making class taught by Don MacRostie at the American School of Lutherie. The first four parts of her report appeared in the four previous issues of AL. Part Five concerns the application of a sunburst using stains, both by spraying and rubbing, as well as the application of lacquer and French polish finishes. With 37 photos.

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

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part Three

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.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part Four

2004
AL#78 p.28   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ Ms. Stuart’s epic continues with the making of the headstock cap, shaping of the neck, installing the neck and fingerboard, as well as setting up and stringing the finished (but in-the-white) instrument. The first three parts were in the three previous issues of AL. Don MacRostie taught Stuart’s class at the American School of Lutherie. With 74 photos, most of the step-by-step process.

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

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part Two

2003
AL#76 p.28   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ Stuart continues her tale of learning to make a mandolin under the tutelage of Don MacRostie. In this episode of the four-part series, jigs and power tools become more important as the instrument comes together. This isn’t about becoming Geppetto, plying one’s trade with a knife and a chisel. This is about making mandolins in the real world. Routers and tablesaws are staple items, as are several impressive jigs created by MacRostie. With 37 photos and 3 drawings.

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.