Luthery
Whenever I tell someone that I am a "luthier" or enjoy doing "luthery", I always get this quizical look and am asked, "What's that?" Although I try to describe it to the best of my ability, I feel that my explanation is somewhat inadequate. So, this page (which is still under development) will be dedicated to trying to provide a more descriptive explanation, including a bit of its history.
Also to be added to these pages will be a bibliography of books that I think would be helpful to anyone interested in Luthery. While I gather together my own volumes and comb through references I've scribbled down, let me recommend one book which I believe is a "must-have" for solid body guitar and bass construction: Make Your Own Guitar. This "bible", written by Melvyn Hiscock, is now in its second edition.
For more information, visit Melvyn's home page at: www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~melvyn.
Another important aspect to Luthery is the sharing of ideas, techniques and experiences with other luthiers. To do so requires some way to exchange information. This is made easy through the newsgroup where you can post your own query, or read someone's ideas. Listed below are some of the newsgroups that I have found of value. You must have a newsgroup reader in order to access these groups!
- rec.music.makers.bass
- rec.music.makers.guitar
- rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic
- rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz
- news:rec.music.makers.bowed-strings
If you do not have access to newsgroups (or even if you do) another source of information is mimForum, the Musical Instrument Makers Forum. Anyone can access this site, so you might want to go visit and sign in as a guest to see what is offered.
For people who feel they want to belong to a Luthery organization, here are a couple which you may want to contact:
American Society of Instrument Artisans (ASIA)
1394 Stage Road
Richmond, VT 05477
Phone: (802) 434-5657
Fax: (802) 434-5657
E-mail: luthier@sover.net
(no web site, yet, but stay tuned!)
Guild of American Luthiers (GAL)
8222 South Park Avenue
Tacoma, WA 98408
Phone: (253) 472-7853
Fax: (253) 472-7853
www.luth.org/index.htm
If you're interested in trying this Luthery thing for yourself, I have put together a tutorial which outlines the basic thought process for the construction of a hand crafted, wooden instrument. While the emphasis is on the making of an electric bass guitar (my area of special interest), the principals would apply to the construction of many other instruments.