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You can view our archived newsletters
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2011/12 Luthierie Camps...F5/F4/H5/H4
Construction:July 17-22, 2011 Oct. 9-14, 2011
April 22-27, 2012
July 15-20, 2012 Oct. 14-19, 2012
Tap Tuning:
Nov. 12-13, 2011
Nov. 3-4, 2012
Tools & Fixtures
Mar. 24-25, 2012
Please visit our website or email Kali for more information about these programs.
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Dear Luthiers,
The summer is nearly upon us, and we are readying for a bunch of festivals where we will be exhibiting our products and giving some workshops and presentations. It is also nice to get the sun popping out a bit more. We enjoy being able to open our garage bays and work in the warm weather.
One presentation I especially enjoy doing at festivals is "The Lore of Loar." This presentation is usually an hour and half long - depending on how many questions I get along the way - and features about 60 slides with photos of Lloyd Loar and his work both at Gibson and afterward. Over the years, I've had the privilege of meeting several folks who knew Loar first hand, which provided rich information for these presentations and my articles. These included his wife Bertha, an archivist (Mary Moss) at a university where he taught, and Ted McCarty, Gibson's president from 1949 to 1966. While Ted never worked with Loar at Gibson (Loar was there from 1918 to the end of 1924), the two had the opportunity to interact at Ted's previous job.
As a result of doing many of these presentations, it dawned on me that there was one component about Loar's life that I talk about but have not included in my web site (I have much more information about Loar that is not in the web site, but its just a question of space and time to get it all together). I have written about Loar's work but never published anything about the man himself. This triggered several things to happen. First, I went through the information I have in our website about Lloyd Loar and did a rather extensive revision and update. Rosemary (my wife, business partner, and editor) helped with reorganizing the Loar information to make it more chronological. We've added a page about Albert Shutt who developed a mandolin with many of the features of the F5 prior to Gibson's announcement of the F5. And, I've added a page entitled "Lloyd Loar - the man behind the name." This section goes beyond Loar's work as a musician and acoustical engineer and describes his personal character traits as well as I could capture them from my previous discussions with folks who knew him and from some of Loar's correspondence. The revised Lloyd Loar section is now available for your reading pleasure. I hope you enjoy the new content, and I would love to hear your comments once you have read it.
When you open our website, you'll know you are looking at the updated page if you see this newly-added photograph of young Loar under the heading "The Early Years and Education." If you don't see this photograph, you'll have to click on the reload/refresh button.
It looks like our July Luthierie Camp is just about full (one open bench left). This Camp is a "Pick Your Instrument Camp," and attendees can build either an F5, F4, H5, or H4. However, there is a possibility that someone may have to either cancel or postpone their Camp, so we do take standby reservations. If you would like to fill the last bench or be on the standby list, please email Kali right away. The following Camp will be October 9-14, 2011. If you would like to receive a brochure on our Camps with future dates, please email Kali.
Here's wishing you a great summer!
Thanks for building with us...
Roger
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Natural Emollient Glues?
Hot hide glue has always been considered to be the ultimate adhesive for luthierie for several reasons: it's "ethnic" (luthiers have been using it for centuries), it dries rock hard, and it can be softened with heat and water. As to the ethnic aspect, glues made from animal parts were the earliest forms of adhesives. For the violin makers of the 16th and 17th Centuries, hot hide glue was pretty much all they had available so it was "best" by default. Regarding hardness, the joint connections in acoustic string musical instruments should be strong and hard. Soft adhesives or gaps in joints present a poor connection between the structural parts of a "coupled system" (an acoustical term for parts of a system that work together and/or have an affect on one another). Solid connections provide an excellent link for the transmission of energy from one part to another. Lastly, having an adhesive that can be softened with heat is ideal from a standpoint of making adjustments during construction and for the ease of future repairs. Of course, this also means that an instrument subjected to extreme heat has a risk of coming apart of its own doing, but hot hide glue softens at about 180°F and even in the hot summer Phoenix sun, this is still above the ambient temperature threshold.
While hide glue is very ethnic, it is also somewhat cumbersome to use; the glue pot must be kept hot, the viscosity and water content must be monitored (and there are several ways to manage this, including keeping a closed bottle of hide glue in a heated hide glue pot that is partially filled with water), and it must be worked somewhat quickly because hot hide glue begins to gel within two minutes of being applied (once the surface of the hide glue gels, the two parts being joined should not be bonded).
At our Luthierie Camp, one of our sessions is about adhesives and we ask Campers to apply a drop of several adhesives to a small board so they can test the hardness of the dried adhesive the next day. They sample hot hide glue, Titebond® Regular Glue, Titebond® III, Elmer's® White Glue, Gorilla Glue®, Franklin® Hide Glue (out of the bottle, not hot), and Hard (fish) Glue. Aside from talking about the bonding qualities and the proper applications of each one, we discuss the comparative hardness of these adhesives. To measure hardness in a very crude but simple way, we have our Campers poke their XActo knives into the dried glue and test the response. All are quickly convinced that the hot hide glue and Hard (Fish) Glue are of similar or equal hardness on one end of the scale, and Titebond III is the softest on the other end of the scale. (There are interesting attributes of the other glues, which we also cover.)
While on the subject of Titebond III, we often hear from luthiers who choose Titebond II or Titebond III for instrument work based on the assumption that the higher number means the adhesive is harder or better. This is incorrect. Please don't use Titebond II or III for luthierie; these glues are designed for outdoor applications and do not dry as hard as Titebond Regular Glue (the red label), and they cannot be softened with water and heat as Titebond Regular Glue can.
Ken and I have become very attached to Hard (Fish) Glue. We like it for several reasons: a) it is used cold (does not have to be heated); b) it has very similar hardness attributes to hot hide glue; c) the "open clamp time" (time it can be applied and left open before the joint is closed) is about 10 minutes; and d) it can be softened with heat and water at about 140°F. The only drawback is that the "closed clamp time" (time that the joint must stay clamped and closed before the glue dries) is about 6 hours - quite a bit longer than all other adhesives we use, but it is worth it. Hard (Fish) Glue is brushed on and dries brittle-hard.
In the same way that hot hide glue is derived from various components of a horse, fish glue is derived from fish components (and no, fish glue doesn't smell like a fish any more than hide glue smells like a horse). Try it; we think you'll like it.
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Product Highlights
 · Black Ivoroid Buttons - We've had several requests for black buttons. (Some folks have asked for ebony buttons but we are concerned about making them because there is a very good chance they will crack regardless of how we orient the grain.) We now have black buttons for our Gotoh machines (shafts flatted on two sides) and they are available as separate buttons or with our machines when you buy a set. The buttons are made of molded ivoroid, the part number is #301-10, and they are $24.00 (set of eight) plus P&H.
 · Luthier's T-Shirts - Warmer weather is on its way and it is time to dress up (dress down?). And, there's no better way to do it than with one of our T-shirts. Our luthier's T-shirts are of made of high-quality, olive-colored cotton and are silk screened on the front and back. The front of the shirt boasts a front-end-view illustration of the F5 mandolin, and the back of the shirt shows the butt-end (as if the mandolin is going through the shirt). Shirts come in adult S, M, L, XL, and XXL, are part #2110 and are $14.95 plus P&H).
 · Luthier's Caps - And, you don't want to be dressed in one of our shirts and not be wearing a cap! Siminoff luthier's caps are brown and are beautifully embroidered with a front view of the F5 mandolin. Caps are adjustable for a wide range of sizes. The caps are part #2100 and are $13.95 plus P&H.
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Luthier's Tip: Non-Slip Templates
We're excited that so many builders have found our templates to be useful for mapping out parts. Our peghead, body, neck contour, and neck profile templates are laser cut from translucent-green acrylic plastic. And, while they are brightly colored (so you can find them easily if you accidentally leave one somewhere - clear ones are hard to see) they are also somewhat slippery when laid on wood. Especially when drawing around the long skinny neck-profile templates, you want the template to stay in place. Here's a quick and easy fix to keep your templates from sliding around: attach a few small pieces of sticky-back sandpaper to strategic locations on the template (rough side, out, of course). Then when you lay it against the wood and go around it with a pencil, the template won't slide around and your tracings will be accurate. Pre-cut, self-adhesive dots (fabric grips) are also available at most quilt and fabric shops. 
Also, as a general rule, you'll want to store your templates hanging up rather than lying around where they could get scratched or broken. |
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