Official Luthiers Forum!

Okay, on making a submission to a professional journal on Lutherie. That means you'd need to know about previous submissions to the journals correct? Does that mean you'd have to study all previous issues to determine what is needed or would be of interest?

So do either journals Guitarmaker or American Lutherie request material on a subject? Thanks

Just email them with an idea, get going on it, and when they say it's fine, submit it ! Just Do It.
ASIA puts an ad in their magazine requesting articles of a particular topic for some issues, yes.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Things are not very formal at all. Do what Don says. email the editor with your idea and ask if it is useful. If he/she says yes, write your article. This is not The Journal of the American Medical Association. It is not necessarily a problem to cover a topic that has been covered before. What you have to say is probably a different perspective that what was said earlier anyway.

Yeah, how many ways are there to join a top? As it turns out, a lot!

Carlton

In a thread down below there is mention of the Arm Rest/bevel by Laskin and Ryan. I would love to see those covered in detail in some of these magazines. Is there a way to pester these guys into submitting an article?
Tracy

Tracy I think Grit did an article on it, it's his invention. I have an email somewhere from him explaining how he does it (provided it made it through my outlook upgrade).

I've been thinking about writing one about mistakes and how valuable they are, sounds weird but unless you screw up you'll never learn and some of us are on an endless crash course

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Someone on MIMF has the saying: Luthier = mistake fixer..... it's true.

Then there is:

Mistakes are acceptable in the pursuit of excellence.

Also:

Experience is a wonderful thing. It helps you recognize a mistake.... when you make it again.

Don't forget, "Good judgement is based on experience, experience is based on bad judgement."

Or, for the pesimists among us: "Experience is something gained right after it's needed."

As Editor of "guitarmaker" I read everything that's submitted with an eye
to its value for my readers. As a builder, I read them for ideas I can steal!

I try to find balance for each issue, between guitars and other
instruments, repair and construction, "how-to" and more conceptual
pieces, even between North American writers and those in other areas. If
an article doesn't work in one issue, it may well work in a future one.

And not every article has to be by one of those famous luthiers! Learning
the craft is a personal undertaking and if you have some insight into your
own journey, it might be of interest to others. Making mistakes and
correcting them is part of lutherie, too. I've said that lutherie is mainly
remedial. One of the best articles I ever read in "guitarmaker" (before I
became editor) was Ervin Somogyi's brilliant fix for a messed-up neck.

My job is to give ASIA members the best magazine I can. That means,
among other things, that I want each author to be as authoritative as
possible. I fact-check when appropriate, ask questions of other luthiers
about a technique or idea if necessary, and work with the author to make
the article as good as possible. Don't ever worry about your writing style
or spelling or grammar. That's what I'm good at and I'll help you make
your points clearly and succinctly.

What I don't run are previously published articles, either in print or on the
web. If you have posted an article on a website, it isn't appropriate in
"guitarmaker." I suspect that Tim Olsen (ed., Amer. Lutherie) feels the
same way, but check with him. Once an article is published in
"guitarmaker," ASIA holds the copyright. I have never withheld permission
for the author to make use of the article however he or she sees fit, but I
do ask for a credit line.

Don't be afraid to submit something! Like many editors, I'm a frustrated
author myself, so I'm pretty empathetic and gentle. If you have an idea,
email it to me and we'll talk.

PS: Grit was the originator of the armrest bevel and published an article
about it years ago in "guitarmaker." I'll find the reference and post it.Rick Davis38408.9878587963