Fellowship of European MAGAZINE Luthiers Published by the Fellowship of European Luthiers Magazine for luthiers, designers and lovers of stringed musical instruments Number 6 - 2014 / I blank1 Page intentionally left blank EDITORIAL Here we go again his adventure called SUSTAIN begins ades, and others just discovered this fascinat- its second year. Two things made it ing world. Many of you like working amidst T possible: the sawdust; others prefer the artistic side of 1) Our readers’ support. Your letters, com- lutherie. But all of you, dear lovers of all kinds ments, feedback and encouragement. of musical instruments, are the cause and the 2) Our authors’ contribution. Your articles are objective of this magazine. the heart and soul of the magazine. By shar- ing your experiences you have enriched us all. This past year we made new friends, we Some of you are professionals, some are am- learned things, and we welcomed a growing ateurs; some have been in the trade for dec- number of Fellows with the same interests. For all that, I thank you. And of course, here we go again, looking for- ward to another year talking about these won- derful chunks of wood we love to make music with. 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 Imprint Letters Product news This issue’s cover Speed 2: The Making of a Winning Design By Leo Lospennato Research Laser Harps: Plucking Strings of Light By Cem Öcek Woodworking Measuring Moisture Content in Tonewood An interview with Flavia Santana Pohl Interview A Brief Guide to Copyright Law for Luthiers Advice from Dr. Baltazar Avendaño Rimini 2 CONTENTS Research Hyper-guitar: The Best of Two Worlds An interview with musician Jaydev Mistry Publishing Writing an Article on Lutherie 101 By Leo Lospennato Praxis Glues: the Best and the Rest By Wim Stout Book Reviews “Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook” By Neal Soloponte Film reviews “Stradivari” (1988) By Neal Soloponte The Intern’s Column Inspirations 3 IMPRINT Editor in chief Leo Lospennato Advisory Council Wim Stout Helmut Lemme Published by The Fellowship of European Luthiers Website www.FellowLuthiers.com Contributors in this issue: Wim Stout, born in The Netherlands, has 20 years of experience as a paint chemist. Helmuth Lemme, born in Germany, He lives with his wife and kids in a 100 year was building phones and electric old house where he builds beautiful electric motors already at 11. He started to guitars that end up finished with lacquers of develop his own pickups in 1975, his own formula. Visit: and became an expert in industrial http://www.DutchHandmadeGuitars.com electronics. He is a guitar collector and author of several books on electronics of guitars and amplifiers. http://www.gitarrenelektronik.de Cem Öcek, born in Turkey, is a computer engineer currently working for HP, based in Izmir. He is the author of two books (in Brett Lock is a South African bass Turkish): “Electric Guitars” and “Amplifiers guitarist living in London. He has a and Effect Devices of Electric Guitars”, and background in magazine writing, of many articles on new music technologies, editing and design. He and his unusual musical instruments, and sound art & partner Chris now own a small media sculptures. He has been designing and making company producing websites and electric and bass guitars for 20 years. mobile applications, but modify and restore guitars for relaxation. Visit www.tunemewhat.com Frank Filippone was born in Australia where he works on all things wood: he is a picture framer, publisher of a magazine for the Gary Swift, our new contributing editor, framing industry, and he runs a business that is a true Rennaisance man. A mechanical provides quality tone woods for luthiers. As engineer by training, Gary was also well as being an amateur luthier Frank has a submarine officer, a public school been a guitar collector for many years. Visit teacher, a magazine editor, and a part- www.southerntonewoods.com.au time rock band player. These days he is getting more deeply involved in lutherie, with his sights locked on his next project: building a custom electric guitar. 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 endeav- or to provide information 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. Additional Photo credits: Photo in “The Intern’s Column” by flickr.com/davitydave. 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 quotations 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: 978-1499183382 4 LETTERS on a guitar or bass. The heel would have all How many screws screws placed right next to each other in or- should I use in a der to fit in the heel. That’s a lot of holes. And when you make a hole you take wood off the bolt-on neck joint? heel, weakening it. It is not a solid piece of wood anymore, but something that looks like When designing a bolt-on a colander. So paradoxically, what was sup- neck joint for guitar, are posed to add strength has created the oppo- there any important rules to site effect. If the guitar falls, the heel would Q: follow regarding the placing break very easily. the screws themselves? I have seen some Using 5 or 6 screws is perfectly fine, particu- joined with 5 screws but haven’t exactly larly in basses with 5 strings or more. But also gained a good answer as to why. in guitars, if that extra screw or two creates -Ryan Dandurant (Louisville, Kentucky, USA) the idea of more sustain and solidity in your mind, then go ahead. But for an instrument Let’s first consider the ques- with a standard design, 4 screws are enough, tion of quantity. How many and more than 6 is probably overkill. screws are necessary to firmly Regarding placing: keep the screws away A: hold a neck in place? In terms from the truss rod zone (the central axis of the of physical ‘degrees of freedom’, two screws instrument), unless you know for a fact that would be enough—but the joint would be too the truss rod doesn’t reach that far. Also, keep weak. If the guitar falls head first, the neck a safe distance from the border of the heel. might break at the joint more easily than if it In a Stratocaster this distance is about 9mm, had, for example, four screws. Some guitars measured from the center of the screw hole: have three screws, which create a stable joint and better fit in a rounded, more ergonomic neck heel. But there might be a problem: the truss rod, which runs inside the neck, might get just in the way of the central screw. Four screws are a sort of standard: they form a stable, symmetrical joint, with all screws well away from the central axis of the neck (the “truss rod zone”). Why use more than four screws? That is supposedly justified by a benefit in terms of sustain, but we don’t know of any research showing that the extra screws produce any measureable effect. We have seen basses with 9, 10, 11 and even The Fender layout (a rectangular arrange- more screws. But there is indeed something ment) works great, but if the heel of your in- as “too many screws”. strument has a different, asymmetric shape, Let’s take things to the extreme and imagine then you can arrange the screws in a way that you place 20—no, make it 40 (!) screws more adapted to its lines. 5 PRODUCT NEWS DEALING WITH DINGS AND DENTS ill n’ Finish promises to be the new best friend of luthiers in need of repair- F ing finishes in a professional way. It works either as a drop fill repair, or as a finishing product that can be sprayed or brushed. If used with an accelerator (also provided by the same vendor) it will dry super fast, and it will stay flexible and resilient. It can be easily polished for a high gloss and it won’t crack over time The producer claims that its carcinogenic free formula (it doesn’t contain chloroform, ben- zene, or paraformaldehyde) has a longer shelf life than any glue in the market. More infor- mation on www.gearupproducts.com. SEND FILES FAST & FREE mall files sent via email get lost in the own page in order to make your business look way sometimes.