American Lutherie #88 cover shows an "X-ray" view of a Randy Reynolds double-top classical guitar in cocobolo

American Lutherie #88
Winter Issue 2006
Web Extras

American Lutherie #88 is available as a back issue, click here.
Page 8 — Double-Top Guitars by Randy Reynolds
Randy Reynolds is measuring the double-top with a dial indicator Cross section of a solid soundboard compared to a composite Nomes/wood double top soundboard The assembly with adhesive applied is taped to a shaped hollow form View of the Nomex Cutting Nomex can be difficult without a template
View of the inside Another view of the inside View of the headstock Shaved braces on the back  

Visit the website of author Randy Reynolds.
Page 16 — The Imperator, Revisiting the Lyra Guitar by Alain Bieber
Front view of Alain Bieber's lyra guitar "The Imperator" Back view of Alain Bieber's lyra guitar "The Imperator" Front and back view’s of Alain Bieber’s lyra guitar, “The Imperator”.
Sketch of Lucien Bonapart's family Click to see the rest of the sketch of Lucien Bonapart’s family.
Painting by Goya that was mentioned but not shown This painting by Goya was mentioned in the article, but not shown.
The Fabricatore lyra was given to the Paris museum in 1934 More on an original lyra guitar can be found on our “extras” page for American Lutherie #80.
The strutting is close to the original lyra The purfling and binding is held in place with brown tape The lyra bridge is glue on The bottom of the "Imperator" was left openable
Eleonora Vulpiani and Alain Bieber Author Alain Bieber describes this recent photo: “Here is the final concert of the first World Seminar for lyra-guitar fans. That's Eleonora Vulpiani on the left (playing a lyra guitar by Alain Bieber) and me, Alain Bieber, on the right (playing a lyra guitar by Gerardo Parrinello). I got a silver medal! I am still a bit behind Eleonora in spite of a much longer preparation.”

Mr. Bieber also sends a lot of information about searching for more lyra guitar information on the internet.
Wilfried Ulrich holding a recent lyra guitar Guild member Wilfried Ulrich sent this photo of himself with a recent lyra guitar. We published it in the letters section of American Lutherie #89. www.ulrich-instrumente.de/

Since this article, the author has made another similiar instrument and named it “Imperatrice.”

 

Here are two more short videos of the "Imperator" instrument.

Performing a piece by Ferdinando Carulli. Jean Dufieux is the player.

 

Performing a piece by Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz. Jean Dufieux is the player

 

Author Alain Beiber also recommends “The Volcano Lover” by Susan Sontag, an historical novel about the life of the man who was key in the neoclassical movement of the 1780s, Lord William Hamilton, Ambassador of the British Crown to the Kingdom of Naples. Hamilton is more famous as the husband of Admiral Lord Nelson's mistress.
Page 24 — The Universal Vacuum Island by Charles Fox

Charles mentioned that his special extra-stiff lining system enables some of the vacuum techniques he uses.

Charles Fox’s website.

Source links from the article:

Grainger

McMaster-Carr

MSC Industrial Supply

American School of Lutherie
Page 34 — Meet the Maker: Benoit Meulle-Stef by Jonathon Peterson
Benoit Meulle-Stef speaks at the Harp Guitar Gathering 3 Benoit Meulle-Stef speaks at Harp Guitar Gathering 3. Michael Dunna and Jeffrey Elliott listening.
Front view of tzoura-harp In the go bar deck Ready to receive the back Ben’s new work. Some of these were in the magazine, some were not. This row is his tzoura-harp, a sort of harp-bouzouki.
The inside of Benoit Meulle-Stef's Mozzani-style harp guitar The template The side assembly The sides are ready Soundboard with braces glued on His Mozzani-style harp guitar.
Front view of Benoit Meulle-Stef's Austo-German style harp guitar Back view of Benoit Meuelle-Steff's Austo-German style harp guitar His student model Austo-German style harp guitar.
Front view of the harp guitar Back view of the harp guitar inside view of the harp guitar Here are five historic instruments from Ben’s collection. These are examples of what he calls contra guitars, after the general style of Scherzer.
Front view of another harp guitar Back view of another harp guitar Front view. G. Haid, 1925 Back view. G. Haid, 1925 G. Haid, 1925
Front view of a Hans Raab, 191 Hans Raab, 1916
Front view of a Wappen-style contra guitar, circa 1900 back view of a Wappen-style contra guitar, circa 1900 Wappen-style contra guitar, circa 1900
Page 42 — A Method for Generating Rapid Prototypes of the Flattop Guitar
by RM Mottola
The body outline is a simple trapezoid The completed ribs and back assembly The underside of the top Two large tentellones, one on each side View of the soundboard
Front view of the acoustic bass View of the soundhole In the style of the original Taylor bolt-on necks, this neck has two threaded inserts in the heel Close up view of the bridge

Author R.M. Mottola wrote this addendum to his article about making flattop guitar prototypes:
“In my article entitled A Method for Generating Rapid Prototypes of the Flattop Guitar and in the accompanying sidebar entitled Using High Pressure Laminates in Lutherie appearing in American Lutherie #88 (Winter 2006) I failed to mention that use of high pressure laminates in the construction of acoustic guitars is covered by United States patent #5,406,874, held by Jim Witchel, and that exclusive rights to the use of this patent have been granted to C.F. Martin & Company. I regret the omission and thank Mr. Witchel's agent for pointing this out to me.”

R.M. also wrote to update us on the project:
“The prototyping effort featured in the article was performed in an attempt to design an acoustic bass guitar with a tone more like that of the double bass than is typical of ABGs. Since the characteristic sound of the double bass is in large part due to a high degree of damping of the upper harmonics and since orchestral bass strings have a large amount of internal damping, most of the prototyping work involved fitting 1/4 size orchestral bass strings to an ABG. This required a different string anchoring mechanism to anchor the long strings, which in turn required a new bridge, which in turn required changes to the bracing of the top. The instrument that ultimately resulted from that experimentation is shown in the accompanying photos.”
Page 48 — Meet the Maker: Jose “Pepito” Reyes Zamora by Fred Casey
Jose "Pepito" Reyes Zamora (left) and Fred Casey Pepito watching and listening as Edwin Colon Zayas and his daughter Neliane show off the "cuatiple" that Pepito built The back of the "cuatiple" has two levels separated by a binding strip This display at the museum shows steps in the hollowing of traditional one-piece instrument
Pepito's collection of antique tiples        
Page 52 — A Different Way of Defining Body Shapes by Mark French
Author Mark French is into all kinds of cool stuff. Visit his own website and his site at Perdue University.
Page 58 — Product Review by John Mello
This combination slot head fixture is used to drill tuning machine holes This combination slot head fixture is used to rout head slots Jig for drilling tuning machine holes for a classical guitar The edge vise is a platform that routs a dovetail recess for bolt-on neck mortises

Visit the Luthiertool company website.
Page 64 — Lutherie Under Glass by Ervin Somogyi
A exhibit of where guitars come from
The above picture is a 138k jpg. If you would like to view a larger version of this picture (640k) click here.
Page 68 — It Worked for Me by Paul Hill and Marco Del Pozzo
A view from Marco Del Pozzo's shop door in Castellon, Spain Here’s the view from author Marco Del Pozzo’s shop door in Castellon, Spain.

Top of Page