The choice of woods used in lutherie is nowadays an established practice. Recently, however, due to the indiscriminate cutting of trees, some woods became scarce forcing luthiers to find alternative woods that could compensate that shortage, without altering the acoustic qualities of musical instruments. The adirondack fir is a famous example; it’s a tree that grows in the Adirondack Mountains, east of New York; its wood has exceptional acoustic qualities and it’s been used for the construction of Martin guitars‘ soundboards for many years. In the late ’40s, when this kind of tree became hard to find, it had to be replaced with the Sitka spruce, that had a softer and less resonant wood. The result was that Martin guitars lost their original expressive quality, and lost much of their appeal on the market.

The timber usually used for the construction of acoustic and classical guitars‘ soundboards are spruce and red cedar.

The spruce (of the Picea genus) can be found from Scandinavia to the Balkans. It grows in mountain areas from 200 to 1000 meters high above sea level. Its trunk can grow up to 50 meters tall and reach a diameter of up to 80 cm. It has a light color and has great tonal quality.

The red cedar has a reddish-brown wood, it’s harmonically less rich than the spruce, but it’s quite resistant to deformation, that can occur due to string tension.

The use of Sitka wood, a pinkish-white wood from North America, for acoustic guitars gives -compared to spruce- a brighter sound, albeit slightly less expressive.

The necks of plucked instruments are often made of mahogany, a reddish wood with a rather homogenous grain, quite common in Africa, in the far east and in America. Its strength and weight vary from species to species, but its lightness, combined with a certain resistance to tension and compression makes it the ideal choice for many manufacturers. For the electric guitars is generally used maple; it’s a white and non-porous wood from Europe, rather hard and heavy, but with a long tradition in the making of stringed instruments.

For the construction of the fretboard, ebony it’s normally used. A non-porous dark -almost black- wood coming from Africa, southeastern Asia or central America. Its tight texture is easily polished, making it an ideal candidate for many instruments. It has a rather high specific weight. An alternative to ebony is indian rosewood, a porous and light wood, usually employed for the construction of acoustic and electric guitars. It has a smooth sound, quite rich in the low-mid frequency range, which makes it the ideal candidate for the construction of the sides and back of stringed musical instruments. It also has a great sound projection.

Cypress is a wood used for the sides and back of flamenco guitar and it’s characterized by its bright sound, light weight and intense and pleasant scent. It has a light yellow color.

In the construction of back and sides, mahogany, maple and walnut wood are also used. Along these traditional woods, some alternative ones have recently been used in lutherie, such as bubinga, ziricote, koa, cocobolo, sapele, ovangkol, jacaranda, zebrano, padouk and many other tropical woods. They all have beautiful and figured grain, good tonal quality and high resistance to deformation.

The woods generally used in the construction of electric guitars‘ bodies, are alder -a rather strong and clear wood- and ash, that has a more pronounced grain than alder, but has excellent acoustic qualities.

Happy lutherie to everyone, and see you next time!

Lukas Milani

Oncle Archibald

Among other things I had the opportunity to meet, in Heraklion, a jovial character, so frank and passionate about his work: Giorgos Xristonakis.

Thirty years old, curly haired and with an energy that seems inexhaustible, Xristonakis is known throughout the island of Crete as the best manufacturer of musical instruments’ cases. At a first glance, the most striking feature of his products is their beauty: elegant and completely handmade.

Giorgos shows them proudly: an elegant white leather case with brown stitching, or a brown leather one, with chrome stitching, or a double storage case to hold two instruments. A drum case, a percussion bag, or a bag with a curved-profile handle or… well, Giorgos may take hours to show his more ingenious, bizarre and beautiful models.

He builds everything to order: give him some measures and absolute trust, and he’ll manage to create a case that will match the reputation of your instrument. “Musicians usually travel with with cases that look like desolate coffins” he says, “I want to create stylish containers”.

Their light weight is the thing that strikes you most, when you pick one of them up. Giorgos Xristonakis’ cases weigh approximately half as much as the common ones, practically just a little more than the instrument they carry. That’s an obvious advantage while travelling. I know something about that, being a luthier and having bring guitars around the world …

Carrying the cases is also easy thanks to the shoulder strap: sometimes is easier lugging an instrument on a shoulder, when both hands are occupied holding amplifiers and pedals.

Opening up one of the cases, I notice that the metal latches are placed at strategic points: unlike the economic cases from Asia, the shape of the case itself  helps to cover the hinges hermetically, preventing access to rain or dust.

The interior covering can be fitted with long hair or short hair, depending on your personal taste.

Aside from their light weight, their resistance is what strikes me the most. They are virtually non-deformable. I, of course, asked him what’s the material they are made of, but Giorgos answers vaguely. “Let’s say the base is polyester, but I use it only to harden the materials, which are different and a little complicated to explain briefly.” In short, Giorgos holds the secret to himself.

In conclusion, Giorgos Xristonakis’ cases meet faithfully all the qualities required from a good musical instrument case: lightness, strength, protection from the elements, and a firm grip on the instrument they carry. Everything is handcrafted with elegance and precision. Prices are reasonable, considering the quality of labor and materials. Clearly they are not as cheap as those made in China, but they’re not out of reach at all.

To have more informations, you can send a message to xristonakisgiorgos@gmail.com

Lukas Milani

Oncle Archibald

History (Part One)

If you had to name a french-made guitar, which stood out right from the start for its great qualities and went on to be internationally renowned, it would definitely be the Selmer guitar. It’s also the guitar that, for seventy years, has been the first choice for all manouche musicians. Created in the early thirties by the hands of luthier Mario Maccaferri, it would soon be adopted by early English and French jazz guitarists. It will undoubtedly be Django Reinhardt, though, the one that will give it its notoriety. In the Selmer-Maccaferri guitar Django will find the perfect tool for his style and he will almost exclusively play these guitars. Consequently, they will soon be -and still are- associated with his music. All the many guitarists that Django influenced have always used the Selmer-Maccaferri guitar, confirming it as an invaluable tool for those musicians looking a well defined and caharacterized sound. The Selmer-Maccaferri guitars were in the hands of the great guitarists of the jazz and swing orchestras in the thirties and forties; the big bands that accompanied singers like Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet or Yves Montand and, of course, in the small combos that played the valse musette along with accordions.

It all began in the early twentieth century with a young promising son of a numerous family in Northern Italy. He decided not to work in the fields, avoiding to follow his brothers’ footsteps, and revealing -instead- an artistic attitude: Mario Maccaferri (1900-1993) was born in Cento, near Bologna; at the young age of eleven he became an apprentice in the atelier of the master luthier and guitarist Luigi Mozzani, who greatly influenced him. Maccaferri decided to follow his master’s path, devoting himself to the study of lutherie and classical guitar. In 1916 he enrolled in the Siena music academy, where he graduated. After his graduation he temporarily abandoned the lutherie craft to devote himself to a career as a classical guitarist; a career that allowed him to travel far and wide throughout Europe. In 1929 he lived in London where he was called to give guitar lessons to the Duke of Windsor. Unfortunately he fractured his left hand in an accident and was consequently forced to abandon his career as a concert guitarist. That allowed him to come back with renewed vigor to the lutherie, his great and first passion.

Luca Leimer
Oncle Archibald

After you’ve applied a dozen shellac layers, your work is, in theory, over. You’ll notice that you could keep on rubbing the cotton swab for hours, since it never sticks to the surface and it makes the paint look more and more shiny. This is the point that indicates that the painting process is finished. To give the instrument a clear and mirror-like look, however, it’s necessary, after the proper drying time (two days are ok, a week is optimal) to proceed with the polishing.
The polishing is done with a cotton swab moistened with a few drops of polish that must contains no SILICON at all. Work on small areas, applying just a little bit of polish (just a few!) and spreading it in a circular motion until it’s completely removed from the surface. Keep on working like this and the result will be a beautiful finish, vivid and perfectly clear.

I forgot to mention… where to get the polish? After several years of experience I have to admit that the best kind is a scratch free compund sold by Stewart MacDonald. I also got good results with the Farecla products. If you know a store or a supplier you trust, you can ask them.

But remember: no silicon!

THE MAINTENANCE

The shellac may be revived within a short time applying a couple of layers of polish, with the aforementioned process.

Good work!

Lukas Milani

Oncle Archibald

Take a square cotton cloth and fold it in a trianlgle, several times. Moisten it with a few drops of oil and pour a little alcohol over it, using your fingers (which must be clean) to properly mix the two substances. Drop a ltittle bit of shellac (not too much!) and mix it in the cloth, as you did with alcohol.

Begin to slide the moistened swab on the piece of wood that has to be painted, following the wood’s grain. Apply regular movements, trying to evenly spread the shellac. After a few seconds the shellac will already be dry, and you will be able to repeat the operation. Continue until the pad becomes dry, then moisten it again with more shellac. If the swab sticks to the surface or does not slide evenly, add a few drops of oil.

At this point the wood’s grain, that rose due to the alcohol moistenin, must be smoothed with 320 or 400 grain sandpaper. After that, apply the shellac once again, as you did before. Do it with strong circular movements, to prevents the pad from sticking to the surface. Moisten the swab with the right amount of oil, alcohol and shellac. After this first draft of the work, let it all rest overnight.

After an adequate drying time, moisten the swab as you did the day before and start to spread the shellac in a circular motion all along the surface. When you’ve laid an adequate amount of shellac, pour some alcohol on the pad and pass it quickly on the surface, following the grain of the wood. This will help extract the oil in the paint, facilitating the hardening of the shellac.

Repeat this simple process after three or four hours. Remember that the swab should not stick to the surface, otherwise it could ruin the paint’s surface, and you will be forced to sand it down and start again. As we apply the various shellac coats, it will become brighter and the surface will look full and vivid. If -instead- it appears dull and opaque, try not to overuse the oil, which rises above the shellac’s surface as it dries. You can remove it applying a litte alcohol, as mentioned above.

Lukas Milani

Oncle Archibald

The shellac must be dissolved in alcohol in order to be applied. Typically the ratio is one part of shellac for ten parts of alcohol but is not a fixed rule, because other pros use different proportions. Pour the alcohol and shellac in a glass jar, close tightly and shake it vigorously. Continue to stir for about ten minutes, then place the jar near a heat source (a stove, or under the sun). Remember to shake the jar every now and then, and if you have followed the procedure correctly, you’ll find that the shellac will be almost completely dissolved, on the following day. Filter it through a cloth and you’re ready to begin.

Lukas Milani

Oncle Archibald

The Shellac (Lukas Milani)
The use of shellac as a coating paint was only introduced in the early nineteenth century; early on, the wooden furniture was usually coated with wax. Various layers of wax were applied by hand and rubbed off until the surface was shiny enough. This kind of coating, though, had some disadvantages. It wasn’t strong enough against external agents such as water, mildew, and abrasion. The use of  ahlcohol-diluted shellac, applied with a small tampon, that arose in France around 1820, seemed so effective that quickly spread throughout Europe.
Applying the shellac with a tampon became over the years a kind of art for the furniture-makers, and until the advent of synthetic paints remained the paramount coating method. The shellac has indeed several advantages: it is not toxic, it easily spreads over the surface, it dries quickly and it’s cheap.

MATERIALS

The shellac itself, of course. It is sold in powder or flakes. It’s available in various colors: orange, amber, ruby, white, etc.. It’s easily dissolved in alcohol (methanol, ethanol, propanol and butanol), and the solution that is obtained maintains its properties for about six months. To apply the shellac with a tampon you obviously need a cotton swab, which should be cleaned and wrapped around itself like a gauze. You also need some oil, preferably linseed, to allow the pad to slip over the layer of paint that was previously applied.

Lukas Milani

Oncle Archibald

This video, shot by Luca Leimer and featured in his doctoral thesis at the D.A.M.S. department, at the Univeristy of Padua, portrays the skilled luthier Lukas Milani, building a Selmer Maccaferri guitar.

There are several interesting considerations on the soundboard, the sound, the structure…

Of course the guitars used by Oncle Archibald are also built by Lukas, with painstaking care and attention to detail.

Oncle Archibald

Lukas Milani

Fast Tube by Casper