This collects together a variety of resources that provide further information on all aspects of guitars and guitar making. This includes books, journal articles and a range of web-based resources.
The page is a work in progress and will be added to and updated regularly. If you have a resource you would like to see featured here, please contact [email protected]
Magazines/periodicals
American Lutherie – Guild of American Lutherie
Savart Journal: Science and technology of stringed instruments
Wood and Steel: Taylor Guitars Magazine
Websites
Blogs
The Luthier’s Apprentice: Jayne Henderson
Discussion groups (Facebook and other)
European Guitar Builders Association – Open Forum
Harmony Guitars and Amps – Vintage, Import, & Reissue
Harmony,Kay and other Catalog Guitars / Amps, Show and Trade Pre 1979
High-end Acoustic Guitar Questions-Answers
Martin Guitar Owners & Friends
Martin&Co & Gibson Guitars (Vintage&New)
Parlor Acoustic Guitar Lovers Group
The Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum
Vintage Acoustic Guitars Players and Collectors
Vintage Martin Guitar Owners (any years)
Vintage Martin Guitars (Pre-1970)
Vintage US Made Chicago Harmony Guitars
Wayne C. Henderson – Guitars, Music and Instruments
Information on brands: models, serial numbers etc
Guitar HQ: Vintage Guitar Info (multiple brands)
Harmony Database (note: this database is not currently maintained, but is available in archive form)
Gibson Guitars: Reverb, all years
Guitar makers
4allMusic Luthier directory. A comprehensive listing of guitar makers around the world.
Featured guitar makers (forthcoming)
You tube channels
StewMac – guitar repair instruction.
Acoustic Life – Tony Polecastro reviews and compares guitars, gives playing tips etc
Books
Bacon T (2010). Rickenbacker Electric 12 String: The story of the guitars, the music and the great players. Backbeat Books, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Brookes T (2005) Guitar: An American Life. Grove Press, New York.
Brozman B, Doyera J Jr, Smith RR, Atkinson G (1998) The History and Artistry of National Resonator Instruments. Centerstream Publishing, Anaheim Hills, CA.
Brosnac D (1978) An Introduction to Scientific Guitar Design. The Bold Strummer, New York.
Bucknall R (2015) Wood, sweat and tears (extended): More guitars and times of Roger Bucknall. Fylde, Penrith.
Cumpiano, W.R., Natelson, J.D. (1993). Guitarmaking: Tradition and technology: A complete reference for the design & construction of the steel-string folk guitar & the classical guitar. Chronicle Books, Hadley, MA.
Dudley KM (2014) Guitar Makers: The endurance of artisanal values in North America. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Evans T, Evans MA (1977) Guitars: Music, History, Construction and Players from the Renaissance to Rock. Facts on File, New York.
Gerken, T. (2015) The Taylor Guitar Book: 40 years of great American flattops. Backbeat Books, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Gerken T, Simmons M, Ford F, Johnston, R (2003) Acoustic Guitar: An historical look at the composition, construction, and evolution of one of the wold’s most beloved instruments. Hal Leonard, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Gore T, Gilet G (2016) Contemporary Acoustic Guitar Design and Build. 2nd Edition. Volume 1; Design. Trevor Gore, Terry Hills, NSW.
Gruhn G, Carter W (1993) Acoustic Guitars and Other Fretted Instruments: A photographic history. GPI Books, San Francisco, CA.
Gruhn G, Carter W (2010) Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars: An identification guide for American Fretted Instruments. 3rd Edition. Backbeat Books, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Gura PF (2003) C.F. Martin and his Guitars, 1796-1873. Univesity of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
Harpe N (2019) Stella Guitar Book: The Guitars of the Oscar Schmidt Company. Niel Harpe, Columbia, Maryland.
Jahnel F (1981) Manual of Guitar Technology: The History and Technology of Plucked String Instruments. Verlag Das Musikinstrument, Frankfurt am Main.
Jahnel F (2000) Manual of Guitar Technology: The History and Technology of Plucked String Instruments. Bold Strummer.
Jehle WJ (2010) One Man’s Trash: A History of the Cigar Box Guitar. William J Jehle, Lexington, Kentucky.
Johnston R, Boak D (2008) Martin guitars; a history. Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Johnston R, Boak D (2009) Martin guitars – a technical reference. Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Kellerman J. (2008). With Strings Attached: The art and beauty of vintage guitars. Ballantine Books, New York.
McUtchen, A., Jenkins, J., Divola, B. (2016) The Music that Maton Made: The Australian guitar handmade for the world stage. Scribe Publications, Brinswick, Victoria.
Moust, H. (1995) The Guild Guitar Book: The company and the instruments, 1952-1977. Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Romanillos JL (1987) Antonio de Torres: Guitar maker – his life and work. Element Books, Shaftesbury.
Romanillos JL, Winspear MH (1995) Antonio de Torres: Guitar maker – his life and work. Revised and Augmented. The Bold Strummer, Westport CT.
Rothman R (2018) Harmony: The people’s guitar, 1945-1975. Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, Pennsylvania.
Sandberg L (2000) The Acoustic Guitar Guide: Everything you need to know to buy and maintain a new or used guitar. A Cappella Books, Chicago, Illinois.
Shaw R (2008) Hand Made, Hand Played: The Art and Craft of Contemporary Guitars. Lark Books, New York.
Shaw R, Szego P (2013) Inventing the American Guitar: The pre-Civil War innovations of C.F. Martin and his contemporaries. Hal Leonard Books, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Simmons MJ (2003) Taylor Guitars: 30 years of a new American classic. PPVMedien, Bergkirchen.
Simmons MJ (2015) Boutique Acoustics: 180 years of handbuilt American guitars. Backbeat Books, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Sloane I (1989) Guitar Repair: A manual of repair for guitars and fretted instruments. The Bold Strummer, Westport, CT.
Solondz S (ed) (2000) Custom Guitars: A complete guide to contemporary handcrafted guitars. String Letter Publishing, San Anselmo, CA
Somogyi E (2009) The Responsive Guitar. Luthiers Press, Oakland.
Spann JE (2011). Spann’s Guide to Gibson 1902-1941. Centerstream, Anaheim Hills, CA.
St. John A (2005) Clapton’s Guitar: Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument. Free Press, New York.
Stubbings J (2019) The Devil Is In It: A story of love, obsession and the American acoustic guitar. Opharion Press, London.
Teeter DE (1975). The Acoustic Guitar: Adjustment, care, maintenance and repair. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma.
Teeter DE (1980). The Acoustic Guitar: Adjustment, care, maintenance and repair: Volume II. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma.
Touzeau J (2011) The Green Musician’s Guide: Sound ideas for a sound planet. Course Technology (Cengage Learning), Boston, MA.
Westbrook J (2015) An Illustrated History and Directory of Acoustic Guitars. Anness Publishing, London.
Whitford E, Vinopal D, Erlewine D (2009) Gibson’s Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars: An illustrated history & guide. Backbeat Books, Lanham, Maryland.
Wright M (1995) Guitar Stories. Vintage Guitar Magazine, Bismark, ND.
Wright M (2000) Guitar Stories: The Histories of Cool Guitars 2. Vintage Guitar Magazine, Bismark, ND.
Scholarly articles
Carcagno S, Bucknall R, Woodhouse J, Fritz C, Plack CJ (2017) Guitarists’ evaluation and discrimination of steel-string acoustic guitars built with back/side woods of varying price, prestige, and sustainability. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 141:3873-3874
Carcagno S, Bucknall R, Woodhouse J, Fritz C, Plack CJ (2018) Effect of back wood choice on the perceived quality of steel-string acoustic guitars. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 144:3533-3547
Carcagno S, Bucknall R, Woodhouse J, Plack CJ (2016) The perceptual effects of tonewood choice for the back/side plates of the steel-string acoustic guitar. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 140:3390-3390
Ferguson K (2019) Guitar industry could change its tune on sustainability. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 17:140
French M, Lydy L, Crawford M (2019) Comparing subjective and objective data from a pool of classical guitars. Savart Journal 1:1-7
Gibson C, Warren A (2016) Resource-Sensitive Global Production Networks: Reconfigured Geographies of Timber and Acoustic Guitar Manufacturing. Economic Geography 92:430-454
Gibson C, Warren A (2018) Unintentional path dependence: Australian guitar manufacturing, bunya pine and legacies of forestry decisions and resource stewardship. Australian Geographer 49:61-80
Gore T (2011) Wood for Guitars. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics 12:035001
Jansson EV (1982) Fundamentals of guitar tone. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 71:S8-S9
Martinez-Reyes J (2015) Mahogany intertwined: Enviromateriality between Mexico, Fiji, and the Gibson Les Paul. Journal of Material Culture 20:313-329
Merchel S, Altinsoy ME, Olson D (2019) Perceptual evaluation of bracewood and soundboard wood variations on the preference of a steel-string acoustic guitar. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 146:2608-2618
Pedgley O, Norman EW, Armstrong R (2009) Materials-inspired innovation for acoustic guitar design. Middle East Technical University Journal of the Faculty of Architecture 26:157-175
Pérez MA, Manjón A, Ray J, Serra-López R (2017) Experimental assessment of the effect of an eventual non-invasive intervention on a Torres guitar through vibration testing. Journal of Cultural Heritage 27:S103-S111
Ray J, García A, Manjón A, Holt T (2017) A review of basic procedures for an organological examination of plucked-string instruments. Journal of Cultural Heritage 27:S17-S25
Richardson BE (1995) Acoustical design criteria for the guitar. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 97:3354-3354
Taylor CA, Russell DA (2015) Acoustic characteristics of a guitar. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 137:2338-2338
White TP (1983) An inflatable guitar. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 74:S53-S53
