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Making guitars in a changing world

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Resources

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 thenatureofmusic@gmail.com

Magazines/periodicals

Fretboard Journal  

American Lutherie – Guild of American Lutherie 

Savart Journal: Science and technology of stringed instruments

Orfeo Magazine

Wood and Steel: Taylor Guitars Magazine

Websites

AcousticMusic.org  

Beginner Guitar HQ.  

Blogs

The Unique Guitar Blog

Bedell Guitars

Breedlove Guitars

Apurla  

The Luthier’s Apprentice: Jayne Henderson 

Discussion groups (Facebook and other)

Acoustic guitar forum

The Amateur Luthier

Barn Find Guitars

Cole Clark Guitars

European Guitar Builders Association – Open Forum 

Guitar forums

The Guitar Makers Guild

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 Guitars

Martin Guitars

Martin Guitar Owners & Friends

Martin&Co & Gibson Guitars (Vintage&New)

Parlor Acoustic Guitar Lovers Group

Santa Cruz Guitar Owners

Taylor Guitars Owners 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)

Guild Guitars.

Guild dating charts

Gibson Guitars (post 1975)

Gibson Guitars: Reverb, all years

Martin Guitars

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

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