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Builders Broadsided by Brazilian Ban by R.E. Brune
CITES restrictions on Brazilian rosewood include a ban on the import/export of objects that contain that wood. There are exceptions, however. Brune gives us the lowdown on the original agreement.
Travels in French Lutherie by Paul Hostetter
AL is one of the few available resources that examines the foreign instrument scene in any detail. Hostetter's chief interest lies in the Selmer Django guitars, but he peeks into every nook that offers a glimpse of strange instruments.
A Selmer Primer by Francois Charle and Paul Hostetter
Get the straight skinny about Maccaferri/Selmer guitars from a French expert.
A Visit with Maurice DuPont by Paul Hostetter
Meet a French guitar maker who's 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.
Free Plate Tuning, Part Three: Guitars by Alan Carruth
Accessibility and usefulness are the keys to this segment of Carruth's study. He addresses the archtop, flattop, and classical guitars, and even builds a flattop out of oak to compare its tuning modes to conventional tonewoods. With many mode diagrams and plate graduation charts. Too many scientific studies leave the luthier asking, "So what do you want me to do?" Carruth offers some real-world suggestions. Parts 1 & 2 were in American Lutherie #28 & 29.
Historical Lute Construction: Practicum Part Nine by Robert Lundberg
This episode oversees the construction of the peg box. This entire series comprises 19 episodes.
Meet the Maker: Richard Schneider by Jonathon Peterson
Many still have doubts about the merits of the Kasha versions of the classical guitar, but no one questions Schneider's reputation as a masterful creator of instruments. This interview focuses on his time spent in Mexico learning the trade from Juan Pimentel.
In Search of the Perfect Cone by Tim Earls
Multiple radius fingerboards revisited. Earls strives to put the design process into the hands of Joe Guitarmaker using "barnyard" geometry. Seems to work. The article also contains a description of the Warmoth multi-radius fretboard, which has become sort of the industry leader.
Taking the Guitar Beyond Equal Temperament by Don Musser
Musser tries to get the guitar to play in tune with itself by laying out the frets for just intonation, rather than equal temperament. Interchangeable fretboards allow the changing of keys and tunings. Pretty interesting, and the new fret pattern looks very bewildering and cool.
It Worked For Me
The membership offers tips about a jig for edge-planing veneer, miscellaneous fiddle work, unwarping guitar bridges, quick fixes for worn frets, lacquering rosewood, spring-loaded brace jacks, mixing varnish in a rock tumbler, splicing ivoroid, buffing finish, racking your tools with velcro, and dealing with Martin side cracks.
Electronic Answer Man by Rick Turner
Turner explains how to help quiet a buzzy Silvertone, quick-check pickup phase, and the different characteristics of high and low impedance pickups.
Product Reviews by Harry Fleishman
Fleishman wrings out the line of Mini-flex guitar mikes and finds them wanting. He also tries out the Radio Shack electret condenser mike #33-1063 and likes it.
Violin Q & A by Michael Darnton
Darnton examines the use of various woods for tuning pegs, discusses the differences among Italian, German, French, and English methods of building fiddles, runs down a list of violin societies, and dismisses the use of supplier-prepared violin varnishes.
Review: Animal Magnetism for Musicians by Erno Zwann. Reviewed by Curt Carpenter.
The reviewer is disappointed in the chapters about pickup making. The rest of the book is hard to follow and perhaps too deep for beginning luthiers. The book does offer food for thought, but should be used in conjunction with other references.
Review: The Ultimate Guitar Book by Tony Bacon. Reviewed by Lloyd Zsiros.
The reviewer finds that although the book offers no information on playing or building guitars, it is otherwise an excellent resource and a pleasure to read. The photos are excellent and the book covers a lot of ground.
Questions edited by Cyndy Burton
Readers respond to questions about lutherie schools; additional info about Instrument Plan #26 for the Loar F5 (must reading for mando freaks!); fixing sunken tops on carved instruments; and finding ivoroid friction pegs for banjos.
This issue is no longer available individually. Its contents are
included in The Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Vol. 3.
(excluding any of the Historical Lute Construction articles by
Robert Lundberg which are available in a book by the same name)
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