Guild of American Luthiers
June 2020 E-Newsletter
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Summer Issue of American Lutherie
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American Lutherie #140
will be mailed to members soon!
Featured in AL #140:
Chalk-fitting braces, electric violin maker John Jordan, Charles Fox steel string building method, harp guitar restoration, French polisher''s tips, using bamboo, and much more!
Check out the preview
on our website now!
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Not a member? It''s a great time to join or renew!
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The Guild is a unique organization for unique people like you! If you value our information sharing system, support us this year with a GAL membership.
Members can look forward to receiving four issues of American Lutherie in 2020. You''ll get the Spring and Summer issues right away. Our 3rd American Lutherie Anthology book will come out in the fall and one more regular issue will arrive at the end of the year. We''ve got so much great lutherie info and inspiration in store for you in 2020! Don''t miss out!
Join or renew today!
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Orders for books,
back issues, and
instrument plans
are being shipped!
As COVID restrictions ease, we are currently shipping all orders of books, plans, and back issues, in addition to membership packets.To keep our Guild staff safe and healthy, we are limiting the number of staff in the office at one time, so expect orders to be a little slower than usual, due to our decreased staffing and generally slower mail delivery. Thanks for your patience!
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1947 Gibson J-45 Plan Available Now!
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Our newest full-scale instrument plan, the 1947 Gibson J-45 Guitar, is ready to ship. Order your copy and have a look at over 75 GAL Plans on our website!
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Tip o'' the Month
by Frank Ford
excerpted from "How Frank Frets" from his 1995 GAL Convention workshop
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On a Martin guitar, the first two frets over the body are supported by the neck block, so I can hammer those right in. For the frets over the soundboard I use this lead weight to support the area I am hammering. It's not a particularly significant piece of lead, but it's the one I use. It's got a big handle so I don't lose it. I hold the weight directly under the fret I'm pounding, whether or not that happens to be on a brace. With proper support I can hit the frets as hard as I want with this plastic hammer without hurting anything.
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I've got some bath towels here that I like to throw over the soundboard when I am hammering frets. It kind of quiets the guitar down.
The full article, where Frank runs through his refretting process from start to finish, plus tons of other great stuff, appears in Big Red of Book of American Lutherie Volume Five. See all available Big Red Books on our website.
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New Premium Web Content
New additions to the members-only section of our website.
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Paul Hostetter traveled to Madagascar and learned about the local rectangular non-chromatic "guitar." It's a Kabosy, and it's pretty cool.
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The late Ted Davis, who was one of the GAL's earliest and most faithful members, was closely involved with the rediscovery in the 1980s of Picea rubens as a tonewood for steel string guitars. We call his story The Red (Spruce) Scare.
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Before acoustic guitars made all of carbon-fiber composites were a common item at Guitar Center, John Decker described to us his Quixotic efforts to develop Commercial Graphite Acoustic Guitars.
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Ronald Louis Fern?ndez tell us about The Portuguese Guitarra: A Modern Cittern.
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Premium Web Content is a new benefit of GAL membership.
Join or renew today to get immediate access.
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We''ll meet again, we know where, don''t know when!
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Yep, we''re bummed that we had to cancel this year''s big 23rd GAL Convention due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We''ll reschedule for another summer when world health, economic, and travel conditions make it feasible. Watch our website, social media, and American Lutherie for updates. We''ll look forward to seeing our members for a big reunion in Tacoma when the time is right!
Learn more about the GAL Convention
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Members Make the Guild Great!
Thanks to all our members for their support in these challenging times!
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