The Luthier's Handbook: A Guide to Building Great Tone in Acoustic Stringed Instruments [Paperback]

Roger H. Siminoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2002

An essential item for the instrument builder, The Luthier's Handbook explores the secrets and science behind making good-sounding acoustic stringed instruments. Renowned author Roger H. Siminoff brings to the table more than four decades of luthiery experience and shares the time-tested philosophies, tips and technology of the craft. As the ideal complement to other books on building instruments, this text describes the structural and acoustical attributes of air chambers; what to listen for when tap-tuning; selecting a good piece of wood; placement of the braces and tone bars and how to tune them; how to select the right strings; what to consider in bridge design concepts; and much more. Includes a free String Gauge Calculator for determining the right set of strings.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634014684
• ISBN-13: 978-0634014680
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Reference
  • #62 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Theater

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

117 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat less than I hoped, June 15, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Luthier's Handbook: A Guide to Building Great Tone in Acoustic Stringed Instruments (Paperback)

I'm kind of puzzled by the exuberance of the previous reviewers. This isn't a bad book, but it certainly isn't a wealth of information on building instruments with fabulous tone. What I mean is, it's an 89 page booklet. 70 pages are devoted to a very general (read "vague") summary of instrument making.

If you are a novice, this information is completely inadequate. If you already have even a very basic understanding of stringed instrument making, you've read it all before. The section on necks, for instance is barely more than a 1/4 of a page. How much can you say in a 1/4 of a page? Well, frankly, not much more than to describe what a neck does in extremely broad terms. And while none of what he says about necks is wrong, what he says is just sort of obvious. I mean, don't you already know what the neck of a stringed instrument does, generally speaking?

That leaves 19 pages for the discussion on tap tuning. The message in this section is, get yourself a Peterson 5000 strobe tuner (only 5000 bucks) and you're off to the races. Oh, and once you get a perfectly tuned top, you can throw away the strobe tuner and use this top as a model for future tops when you employ Siminoff's "deflection" tuning method.

There are a couple interesting paragraphs here and there, and I'm sure that the guy knows what he is talking about...his reputation would indicate that he does. And for the price, I suppose you can't ask for too much more. Nevertheless, I'm left thinking this booklet is more like an outline for the book that he could have written. Consequently this is similar to those Time-Life books that explain how to build a Chippendale High Boy in 6 pages: It doesn't get you any closer to actually building a stringed instrument, but reading it isn't unpleasant.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read the preface before buying and complaining, June 22, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Luthier's Handbook: A Guide to Building Great Tone in Acoustic Stringed Instruments (Paperback)

The book gives exactly what the preface says. It is a collection of all the things a luthier should know and a little history behind them. It is not a construction manual and should not be criticized for not being what it is not. I actually bought this book for the tap tuning section alone but am delighted with the rest of it.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite what it says, but interesting, January 11, 2005

By 

Anachronus "Anachronus" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Luthier's Handbook: A Guide to Building Great Tone in Acoustic Stringed Instruments (Paperback)

It's unfortunate the author didn't choose a better title. You'd probably expect THE Luthiers Handbook to be a how-to, but it's nothing like that. Actually it reads more like a college-level textbook. Engineering/techies will probably love it, as will anyone seriously interested in the how & why of fine instrument architecture. There's a lot in here about the tonal properties of various woods, bracings, etc. Even if you never figure out the author's 'tuning' method (or don't have your own home physics lab) you still might find yourself tapping on soundboards and thinking about such things. For the beginning luthier sticking to the tried and true, it's not essential reading however.