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Al was kind enough to carry some wood for me back from ASIA so I went up to his shop to pick it up. I thought I'd give you all some of my impressions of his shop.

If you know Al you know that he has taken a scientific approach to lutherie. You might expect his shop to resemble some high tech lab with bright flourescent lights over head, lab benches, beakers with strange colored liquids bubbling away. Or perhaps you might picture a scene from the the old Frankenstein movie with lots of Tesla coils and Jacobs's ladders buzzing mysteriously with a wild haired Al laughing hysterically.

But alas, it is not so. Al's shop is decidedly Old-world. The first impression you get is a sense of ambiance that states clearly the word "wood". This shop is not unlike a woodworking shop that you would find in a museum. Hand tools predominate. The heat is supplied by a wood stove. The wood shavings that are on the floor are shavings, not saw dust. Only after you look around carefully do you notice some equipment that you wouldn't expect in a luthier's shop. Even then Al has managed to give the high tech a Victorian look. His signal generator looks like it came from Edison's lab.

It was only after I got back home did I realize that there is a distinct division in the guitar building process where Al applies science and where he uses more traditional techniques. (Al's not a Luddite. There's a band saw and a few other power tools in another room). Al uses science to help him determine what to build not to automate the process. Should this top be thin or thick? Should the braces be one way or another? Once these things are determined, however, Al gets out the planes and chisels.

When I arrived, Al was in the process of measuring his top wood. He was recording the thicknes, density, Young's modulus, stiffness, resonant frequencies, Q value, etc for all his top wood. The idea is to use the data collected to see if you can draw any conclusions from the completed instrument. For example, if the ratio of the cross grain stiffness to length wise stiffness is a certain value, can the top be made thinner or should the X brace be opened or closed. The answer to questions like this will have to wait until guitars are built out of the tops and the resulting sounds evaluated and compared with the recorded data. It may turn out that no pattern emerges and we have to look for other wood characteristics that affect the design.

BTW, There's a really nice little Mexican restaurant just down the road. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures.
Mike Mahar38527.5101157407

Nice report. That is a visit I would love to make.

John

Me Too! Hey thanks to Master Luthiers like Al there IS data to learn and discern from. I would love to see some pics. Better yet I wish I were there!

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Mike,
Thanks so much.
You have definitely sparked my interest in Alan and his shop. I figured it would be interesting to see what he is up to.

And thanks for clearing up all those misconceptions all of us have had about Al and his work.

Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

Yeah, I gotta get me one of those Jacob's ladders: they're so cool!

The lo-tech look on the signal generator was deliberate: back when we were making them we tried to keep it as non-threatening as possible. Luthiers (thank goodness) are not an 'edgy' bunch in general. Wood looks friendly.

I will have to remember to get out the recording of Bach's 'Toccatta and Fugue in Dmin' the next time somebody comes up. Image is everything....

[QUOTE=Alan Carruth] Yeah, I gotta get me one of those Jacob's ladders: they're so cool!
[/QUOTE]

You should start working on your hysterical laugh. It's cheaper. At least you should get a white lab coat.

And I think to complete the image, you should have a hunchback named Igore who talked with a lisp and called you mathter and went out at night on wood pilfering expeditions.

[QUOTE=John Kinnaird] And I think to complete the image, you should have a hunchback named Igore who talked with a lisp and called you mathter and went out at night on wood pilfering expeditions.[/QUOTE]

Coffin wood, of course! "It's alive! It's aliiiiive!"

Carlton

Oh, you don't know how much I envy you! One of these days I would love to make the pilgrimage to Al's shop. I hold a great deal of respect for the depth of knowledge he possesses regarding the acoustics of tonewood.

Another guy who's really into testing wood, and who has made some significant findings, IMO, is Brian Burns. His methods of determining tonewood suitability, arrived at through the use of a suite of measurement instruments and procedures, seems to have demonstrable merit.

Another thing I'd love would be to see Al and Brian get together in some sort of collaborative effort.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

[QUOTE=CarltonM] [QUOTE=John Kinnaird] And I think to complete the image, you should have a hunchback named Igore who talked with a lisp and called you mathter and went out at night on wood pilfering expeditions.[/QUOTE]

Coffin wood, of course! "It's alive! It's aliiiiive!"

Carlton[/QUOTE] John Kinnaird38528.26125