SUSTAIN Magazine
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May 2013 blank1 (Page intentionally left blank). May 2013 EDITORIAL Finally we meet again his issue of Sustain took longer than usual. Indeed, preparing T a specialized magazine for a de- manding readership is no child’s play, and that is the way we like it, even if putting everything together takes a couple of extra months. In this issue we have, as always, a little bit of everything mixed in. Research, work- shop techniques, innovation, reviews of lutherie books, the answers to our read- er’s questions, and even a touch of humor provided by luthier Alejandro Baccaglioni, telling us about the real customer com- ments heard in his workshop. I loved the one made by a customer complaining about his fretless bass playing out of tune. I have a piece of (probably) bad news, though. The intern quit last week. He said he wanted to work for a big corporation producing a fashion magazine or some- thing. He said he thought of me and of our readers as a bunch of nerds. “We are a bunch of nerds”, I answered. Well, good A beautiful Jolana guitar. More on it in the article about luck for him—let’s see if we can succeed in the National Museum of Music of Prague, from page 32 making a good magazine without that inval- uable help. You be the judge. Leo Lospennato is luthier, author of books on lutherie and chief editor of SUSTAIN Magazine. He lives in Berlin, Germany. Visit www.lospennato.com 1 Issue #3 - 2Q/2013 Imprint Letters Cracking the Nut: Making the Nut for an Electric Guitar by Leo Lospennato Málaga, Copenhagen and Berlin Non-Tropical Woods: The Future of Guitar Making By Brian Garston and Jacky Walraet - The Leonardo Guitar Research Project, Europe Workshop Radius Leveling Block Making Jig By Hakan Kutluk Music travels The National Museum of Music - Prague 2 May 2013 CONTENTS Innovation Athene, the Little Owl by Maurizio Cuzzolin Techniques Tools I Love: the ProTus Kurvenlinfix By Marting Koch Book Review Lutherie and The Helmholtz Equation (by H. MacMillan) By Neal Soloponte Humor Real Customer Comments Heard in my Workshop By Alejandro Baccaglioni 3 Issue #3 - 2Q/2013 IMPRINT Editor in chief Leo Lospennato Advisory Council Wim Stout Helmut Lemme Website www.Sustain-Magazine.com Contributors in this issue: Helmuth Lemme, born in Germany, was building phones and electric motors already at 11. He started to develop his own pickups in 1975, and became an expert in industrial electronics. He is a guitar collector and author of several books on electronics of guitars and amplifiers. Brett Lock is a South African bass guitarist http://www.gitarrenelektronik.de living in London. He has a background in magazine writing, editing and design. He and his partner Chris now own a small media company producing websites and mobile applications, but modify and Gary Swiftis a true Rennaisance man: A restore guitars for relaxation. mechanical engineer by training, Gary was Visit www.tunemewhat.com also a submarine officer, a public school teacher, a magazine editor, and a part-time rock band player. These days he is getting more deeply involved in lutherie, with his sights locked on his next project: building a Frank Filippone was born in Australia custom electric guitar. where he works on all things wood: he is a picture framer, publisher of a magazine for the framing industry, and he provides quality tone woods for luthiers. As well as being an amateur luthier Frank has been a guitar collector for many years. Visit www. southerntonewoods.com.au Sustain Magazine is produced with the collaboration of luthiers, and edited and published by the Fellowship of european Luthiers. The contents in this magazine are either original or reproduced with authorization of the copyright holders. Any eventual contents without identification of copyright are reproduced as with “no known copyright restrictions” when the editor is unaware of any copyright restrictions on its use. We endeavor to provide informa- tion that we possess about the copyright status of the Content and to identify any other terms and conditions that may apply (such as trademarks, rights of privacy or publicity, donor restrictions, etc.); however, the editor can offer no guarantee or assurance that all pertinent information is provided or that the information is correct in each circumstance. It is the reader’s responsibility to determine what permission(s) you need in order to use the content and, if necessary, to obtain such permission. If you are, or know, the author or rights holder of any content in this magazine please write us an email and we will gladly include the corresponding credit in future editions. All trademarks, service marks, trade names, trade dress, product names and logos appearing on the site are the property of their respective owners. Additional Photo credits: Photo in “The Intern’s Column” by flickr.com/davitydave. - Chipmunk in the sawdust photo: http://cameratrapcodger.blogspot.de/2011/10/ saw-dust-rub-dub.html All rights reserved. No part of this magazine covered by copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied without written permission, except in the case of brief quota- tions embodied in articles and reviews, citing the source. Please address all requests to [email protected]. Reselling this magazine issue in any format is not authorized to third parties. Printed in the USA - ISBN-13: 978-1514332375 4 May 2013 LETTERS Classical guitar with modern shape? I would like to build a clas- that work if it the guitar has the shape of sical-style guitar in the a Gibson Melody Maker, which was de- Q: shape of an electric gui- signed to be less than two inches deep? tar. Which body shape would be the best? My favorite options are: 1) Ova- In short, I am convinced that building tion Breadwinner, 2) Brian May’s Red a classical guitar with the body of an Special, 3) Les Paul Melody Maker, 4) electric one will be detrimental for the Steve Klein electric. instrument, even to the point of being substandard for both types of guitar As you surely know, the (classical and electric) sound of classical guitars A: is created by the vibration The classical guitar evolved for about of its top; making a quick 300 years to the shape it has now, and analogy, the top acts as the cone of a that is for a good reason. I invite you speaker. The soundbox complements to consider evolution, then, instead of that working principle, providing the top complete transformation. Do not throw with big, convex bouts. The electric guitar models you name This issue’s cover don’t conform to that shape, though— An acoustic guitar in our cover, for a change! The some are indeed pretty radical (even as Athene, made by Maurizio Cuzzolin. Read about the electric guitars!) So you see, the first history of this innovative beauty from page 40 on. problem you will find is of an acoustical nature. The second problem involves construc- tion. An electric guitar body has a com- pletely different process of sound gen- eration, leaving the big and rounded shapes behind and introducing convexi- ties, concavities, horns, recesses, and whatnot. Building an acoustic body in such convoluted shape would require special templates and some tight bend- ing of the instrument’s sides. The third (potential) problem is related to ergonomics. In order to project as expected, a classical guitar’s soundbox has to have a certain depth. How will 5 Issue #3 - 2Q/2013 the traditional techniques overboard, terns (like lattices, or Kasha), sound but maybe look for a way to evolve on ports, alternative bridge shapes, alter- them. Remember that evolution means native body outlines... and see how they “to incorporate and transcend”. Take work for you. Also, you could try a guitar the good things classical guitars already shape that is already closer to the tra- have, and explore ways to improve on ditional body shape of a classical guitar them—changes that don’t imply steps (example: Gibson ES-335). back, but steps forward—even if they are small ones. These are some ideas: 3) Or simply go ahead. If you must have a classical/acoustic guitar in the shape 1) Build a prototype of a classical guitar of an electric, just go ahead and build it. incorporating one geometrical element If the sound comes out totally wrong you of (say) the Klein guitar, or other mod- can always install a piezoelectric pickup el that inspires you. Or even better, a in it, to obtain classical guitar sounds classical with your own personal touch. via an amplifier. In the worst case, if the Design is the funniest part of building a result is really bad, you will have learned guitar, and if we copy some other per- something first hand, so you can simply son’s design, we are (at best) losing a chalk the experiment up to “Research creative opportunity: at worst, we may and Development”. be infringing third parties’ rights. A word of caution, though: don’t sell 2) Try some modifications that were that instrument. As William Cumpiano introduced in recent times, modifica- says: “don’t sell your first guitars, or they tions that have proved to be effective. will come back to haunt you”. For example: alternative bracing pat- 6 May 2013 LETTERS Piezo and magnetic, a complex wiring job am building a guitar for ume level. This design needs simplifica- I a friend. Everything is tion. You can either have: Q: nearly complete, except the wiring job. And here is my 1) Only one volume control for both sys- problem: He wants me to wire a Fish- tems, and a switch to select which one man piezo powerbridge together with is active (piezo, magnetic, or both).