As American men went off to war during World War II, women stepped in to fill the jobs they left behind, keeping the factories and shipyards running, and the economy humming. While most were praised for their patriotism, one unheralded group of women worked in the shadows building Gibson guitars. The maker of the famous instrument never confirmed that women crafted its guitars during the war, and in an official company history, even reported it stopped producing instruments for those years. But now the time has come to shed some new historical light on the Kalamazoo Gals. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Mar 17, 2013 - 15 comments

Masters of handcrafts, showing how they work in beautiful short-form videos. Flamenco guitar luthier. Carpenter. Potter. Letterpress printer. Furniture maker.
Much more at Those Who Make and whycraft.com. Post intended as something of a sequel to this, previously.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul on Aug 27, 2012 - 5 comments

Hans Reichel, of Wuppertal, Germany, maker of exquisitely beautiful guitars, on which he made exquisitely beautiful and idiosyncratic music, inventor of the delightfully expressive daxophone, on which he made delightfully expressive and often humorous music, creator of elegant fonts and architect of one of the most endearingly creative flash websites you'll ever see, has died at the age of 62. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Nov 23, 2011 - 25 comments

Luthier Keith Medley plays his custom 27-string guitar. [more inside]
posted by specialagentwebb on Aug 21, 2011 - 29 comments

How to Build: A simple washtub bass. Some variations (on a crazily made webpage). A cookie tin banjo. (Previously) A cigar box guitar, and a cigar box ukulele. A fancy cigar box uke. (Kathy Marsushita's whole amateur luthier projects page is worth checking out, as is this gallery of cool cigar box ukes.)
posted by OmieWise on Apr 22, 2009 - 22 comments