Official Luthiers Forum!

This is not a step-by-step manual for making an ukulele or guitar from beginning to end. Please don't buy this book if that's the only kind of information that you're looking for.

This book is about trying to understand more about physics and engineering concepts as they are actually applied to instrument building. If you have already built several instruments and want more consistency, better mechanical stability and a deeper understanding of the effects of string load on your instrument (and many other subjects as well), this is the book for you.

I believe that if you take the time to read and think about the information herein and practice using the spreadsheets to understand more about your wood and building, that you will be considerably more consistent with respect to the type of sound you wish to achieve and the long-term stability of the instrument as well.

There is a lot to think about in the book and it may take some time to become comfortable with some of the calculations. In all honesty, it took me a fair amount of time to research and write the book since I am not facile in either physics or mathematics. Please be patient and take the time to work through the different problems and spreadsheets. In the end, I'm sure that both improvement and understanding will result.

In the following chapters, I apply introductory physics and technology to instrument making in a manner which can be used and tested by anyone with a knowledge of high school mathematics, a home computer and a few easily obtained or constructed instruments. I show experimental setups in sufficient detail so that those reading this book can duplicate and extend these studies. These setups are as simple as possible while maintaining an adequate level of accuracy and precision for the experiment at hand. For example, the top deflections studies only require a piece of 2”x4”, a moderately sized piece of plywood for the base, several different sized PVC pipe fittings, an inexpensive dial micrometer, a foot long 1/4” diameter metal rod, some calibrated weights (I used fishing sinkers), small wood scraps and the wooden plates of interest – hardly a room filled with $10,000 worth of science equipment.

I have tried to make the format of the book practical and readable: large pages, 24 lb stock paper for durability, relatively large print, a spiral binding so that the book can lie flat on a workbench or beside the computer without effort and a CD containing both spreadsheets for data manipulation / analysis and many color images of physical measurement setups.