Author Archive
Someone recently reminded me of a video I created some years ago, so I thought I’d share it here. I can’t claim that I always get a scraper working this well, but it’s very satisfying when it happens!
At the end of June this year I had my last day at Newark College. I had been teaching guitar making and repairs at Newark for over 20 years, but recent events have resulted in a high risk that the guitar making course (along with violin, woodwind and piano courses) will close down. The teaching…
Finally, after quite a long wait, my repair book has been published! The book took nearly two years to write, and covers a wide range of maintenance and repair work for acoustic (steel-string and classical) guitars. 270 pages with over 600 images covering everything from string changing through setup to replacing a soundboard. It…
Making a Traditional Classical Guitar Rosette The traditional classical rosette consists of a number of components inlaid into the soundboard around the soundhole. The rosette in the image below has a central “end grain” pattern, a number of veneer lines, and two lines of half-herringbone (or rope). Some luthiers construct the whole rosette on…
I spent last weekend in Birmingham at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Guitar Festival hosted by Mark Ashford. The event combined concerts, masterclasses and workshops, and I took two guitars to exhibit, and a handful of students from Newark College, who had their own stand to exhibit their guitars and promote the guitar making course at…
Now that the new year has arrived, my thoughts turn to what exhibitions I will be attending this year. Actually, I’ve been thinking about this for several months now, and in particular, what my exhibition guitar will be this year. In recent years there has been an increasing amount of interest in shorter scale length…
Some stuff about tonewoods… What is a tonewood? A tonewood is any timber that has appropriate acoustic properties for musical instrument making. In terms of tonewoods, by far the most critical part of a guitar is the top (soundboard). There are a number of properties that a good tonewood should have. It should be stable…
What are struts (braces)? The struts are lengths of wood glued to the inside of the top (soundboard), which act to support the top against the tension of the strings, and to control the overall sound that the guitar produces. They are usually made of the same material as the top, although often cedar…
Just returned from the West Dean Guitar Festival. Had an enjoyable time as always, much of it spent chatting to other luthiers! Highlights were mostly provided by the great Pavel Steidl, who gave a wonderful performance on the Saturday evening, and then tried one of my guitars at the exhibition (a spruce/rosewood guitar), and was…
Travelling to Belgium for the Cordefactum Guitar Festival this weekend. I will have 2 guitars with me – one spruce/Indian rosewood, and the other is an all non-tropical woods guitar (walnut/spruce), photo below. I’m also happy to say that Marcin Dylla will be playing the spruce/maple guitar he has on loan in the Saturday evening concert. James
The Classical Guitar Magazine article mentioned in a previous post is now available online. You can see it here: http://classicalguitarmagazine.com/fretwork-luthier-james-lister-blends-old-and-new-approaches/ Online version of my interview with Classical Guitar Magazine now available… https://t.co/EL5pruQTf5 — James Lister (@JListerGuitars) November 5, 2016
An increasingly popular feature on my guitars (and others) is the armrest. Armrests serve two functions – firstly they improve playing comfort for the player, by providing a smoothly curved surface for the right arm to rest on, rather than the edge of the guitar, which is usually only very slightly rounded or beveled. The…
Way back in February I did an interview for Classical Guitar Magazine, and had almost forgotten about it, but it has finally been published in the latest (Fall) issue, featuring Laura Snowden on the cover. So far I’ve been fairly impressed with the new incarnation of CG magazine. It’s nice to have more colour, and…
Off to the West Dean Guitar Festival this weekend. I will have just 2 guitars with me – a Romanillos model (left), and the spruce/maple Torres model (right) shown below. If you’re at West Dean on Sunday, come and say hello! James
Most of my guitars now use 12-hole tie-blocks, rather than the traditional 6-holes. There are a few advantages – they look neater, the basses are very simple to tie, and they give a more consistent and slightly larger break angle for the strings over the saddle. However, although the basses are very simple to tie,…
I returned home a few days ago from another very enjoyable visit to the Isle of Cumbrae in Scotland for the 8th Classical Guitar Retreat. I’ve been fortunate enough to have exhibited my guitars at all but the first of these retreats run by Matthew McAllister. A new feature of the event this year saw a selection…
It’s always a special day when the strings go on a new guitar. Well, actually the special day is a few days after the strings go on, as I’ve found that playing a new guitar as soon as the strings are up to pitch can be a mistake. In those first few hours/days, the strings…
See below a very nice review of my French Polishing DVD by Roy Courtnall (author of Making Master Guitars). The course is no longer available as a DVD, but can be viewed online. Email me for details of how to access the course. “Many practical skills can be learnt by reading a relevant book…