Month: February 2018

Regarding the history of the archtop guitar, I was loosely aware that Orville Gibson created the arch, and Lloyd Loar (as a Gibson employee) added the f-shaped sound holes. It tuns out that was not at all the full story. And neither is the following, but hopefully it will give you pause for thought. One… Continue reading Earliest Non-Gibson Archtop Guitars →

Wm. C. Stahl's Popular Selections for Plectrum Guitar [1931] Stahl 1931 Plectrum Guitar - pdf of the whole book. Although the publisher's name appears on the front, the entire contents are by one Tony Nivello, which I suspect is a pseudonym. The contents - fourteen solos - are tuneful, pop pieces from 1930/31, which often sound… Continue reading Stahl’s Popular Selections for Plectrum Guitar →

Charles McNeil wrote a few excellent books for banjo and guitar, and lived at a time when the former was giving way to the latter in popularity. His Modern Method is subtitled, "A Plectrum Method for the Regular Spanish Six-String Guitar", and although published when Swing style was gathering momentum, it is largely backward looking,… Continue reading McNeil’s Modern Guitar Method (1930) →

I wanted to commission a new all-acoustic, non-cutaway, archtop guitar from a European luthier, and after much deliberation chose luthier Frans Elferink [WEBSITE] of Holland to make it for me. I say after much deliberation, as there are a few world-class archtop luthiers in Europe, equal to the best of the American school. The reason… Continue reading Frans Elferink’s Excalibur →