Here is a more or less up-to-date bibliography of my lutherie articles, including works on both lutherie practice and lutherie related scientific research. Links are available to full text for some of the articles and others are reprinted elsewhere on this website. In the cases where links to full text do not appear here, please contact the publisher of the article for reprints.
Initial appearance: August 2019
Last updated:
November 02, 2026
Mottola, R.M. "Book Review: Acoustic Guitar Design" American Lutherie #154, 2025, p. 68.
Mottola, R.M. "Book Review: The Caldersmith Papers" American Lutherie #148, 2023, p. 63.
Mottola, R.M. "Steel String Guitar Nut Slotting Using a Stick-On Template" American Lutherie #145, 2022, p. 48.
Mottola, R.M. "Drawing the Traditional Acoustic Guitar Pickguard" American Lutherie #141, 2020, p. 62. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Resurrection and Modification of an Inexpensive Old Factory Guitar" American Lutherie #138, 2019, p. 48. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Quantifying Player-Induced Intonation Errors of the Steel String Acoustic Guitar" OSF Preprints, November 2019. ABSTRACT, FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Savart Journal: Recent Research (v1, #7)" American Lutherie #137, 2019, p. 58.
Mottola, R.M. "Measuring Scale Length of Fretted Instruments" American Lutherie #136, 2019, p. 48. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Met the Maker: Mark French" American Lutherie #133, 2018, p. 22.
Mottola, R.M. "Same-Fretted-Note Intonation Variability of the Steel String Acoustic Guitar" OSF Preprints, January 2018. ABSTRACT, FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "The 'Mysteries' of Panormo" American Lutherie #132, 2017, p. 50. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Blind Listening Evaluation of Steel String Acoustic Guitar Compensation Strategies" OSF Preprints, October 2017. ABSTRACT, FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Was the Rule of 18 Good Enough?" American Lutherie #130, 2017, p. 52. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Drawing Acoustic Guitar Body Outlines Using Traditional Techniques" American Lutherie #129, 2017, p. 52.
Mottola, R.M. "Aligning the Bolt-on Butt Neck Joint" American Lutherie #126, 2016, p. 52. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Savart Journal: Recent Research (v1, #5)" American Lutherie #126, 2016, p. 60.
Mottola, R.M. "Savart Journal: Recent Research (v1, #4)" American Lutherie #121, 2015, p. 58.
Mottola, R.M. "Product Review: Garrett Wade Versatile Vise" American Lutherie #119, 2014, p. 54.
Mottola, R.M. "Savart Journal: Recent Research (v1, #3)" American Lutherie #118, 2014, p. 70.
Mottola, R.M. "Guitar Fretboard Camber and Action in the Context of String Bending", Savart Journal vol.1, #4, 2014. ABSTRACT, FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Thesis Review: Guitar Making in Nineteenth Century London, by James Westbrook" American Lutherie #117, 2014, p. 60. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "That Fine Fake-Old Finish" American Lutherie #117, 2014, p. 48.
Mottola, R.M. "Book Review: Technology of the Guitar, by Mark French" American Lutherie #116, 2013, p. 63.
Mottola, R.M. "Savart Journal: Recent Research (v1, #2)" American Lutherie #114, 2013, p. 62.
Mottola, R.M. "Meet the Makers: Bruand School Class of 2011" American Lutherie #112, 2012, p. 20.
Mottola, R.M. "Fretboard/Top Plate Geometry of the Flattop Guitar" American Lutherie #111, 2012, p. 32.
Mottola, R.M. "Visual Comparison of Ensemble Averaged Transverse Arching Profiles of Golden Age Cremonese Violins and Curtate Cycloid Curves" Savart Journal, 1(2), 2012. ABSTRACT, FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Savart Journal: Recent Research (v1, #1)" American Lutherie #109, 2012, p. 64.
Mottola, R.M. "Book Review: Contemporary Acoustic Guitar Design and Build, by Trevor Gore and Gerard Gilet" American Lutherie #109, 2012, p. 58.
Mottola, R.M. "The Bridge Mask" American Lutherie #108, 2011, p. 56. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "The Binding Frame" American Lutherie #106, 2011, p. 54.
Mottola, R.M. "Comparison of Arching Profiles of Golden Age Cremonese Violins and Some Mathematically Generated Curves" Savart Journal, 1(1), 2011. ABSTRACT, FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "About Alcohols Used as Solvents in French Polishing" American Lutherie #105, 2011, p. 38. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "A Method for the Design of the Guitar Body Outline, Part 3, Compound Radius Curves" American Lutherie #103, 2010, p. 60.
Mottola, R.M. "Testing Threaded Inserts" American Lutherie #101, 2010, p. 54. ABSTRACT
Mottola, R.M. "Parametric Models of Guitar Cutaways" American Lutherie #99, 2009, p. 60.
Svizzero, J., Mottola, R.M. "Fretboard Slotting with a CNC Router" American Lutherie #98, 2009, p. 46.
Mottola, R.M. "A Method for the Design of the Guitar Body Outline" American Lutherie #97, 2009, p. 52.
Mottola, R.M. "Blind Listening Evaluation of Classical Guitar Soundports" American Lutherie #96, 2008, p. 54. ABSTRACT, FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Constructing the Middle Eastern Oud with Peter Kyvelos" American Lutherie #94, 2008, p. 8, and American Lutherie #95, 2008, p. 18.
Mottola, R.M. "Chris Pantazelos 7-String Classical Guitar" American Lutherie #94, 2008, p. 64.
Mottola, R.M. "Sustain and Electric Guitar Neck Joint Type" American Lutherie #91, 2007, p. 52. ABSTRACT, FULL TEXT
Paredes, A., Mottola, R.M. "Construction of the Colombian Tiple" American Lutherie #90, 2007, p. 40.
Mottola, R.M. "Optimizing Playing Surface Geometry" American Lutherie #89, 2007, p. 56. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Rapid Prototypes of the Flattop Guitar" American Lutherie #88, 2006, p. 42.
Mottola, R.M. "Parametric Solid Modeling Software" American Lutherie #87, 2006, p. 40.
Mottola, R.M. "Alternative Headstock Decoration and Trussrod Adjustment Access" American Lutherie #86, 2006, p. 42.
Mottola, R.M. "Rib Depth of Guitars with Spherically Domed Plates" American Lutherie #84, 2005, p. 22.
Mottola, R.M. "The Helmholtz Resonance" American Lutherie #82, 2005, p. 38.
Mottola, R.M. "Book Review: Left-Brain Lutherie, by David C. Hurd" American Lutherie #81, 2005, p. 59.
Mottola, R.M. "A Savart-Style Upright Bass" American Lutherie #80, 2004, p. 22.
Mottola, R.M. "An Enhancement to the Outside Mold" American Lutherie #79, 2004, p. 58.
Mottola, R.M. "A Lightweight Electric Bass" American Lutherie #78, 2004, p. 51. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Desktop CNC Machines" American Lutherie #77, 2004, p. 60.
Mottola, R.M. "Fingerboard Radius Gauges" American Lutherie #75, 2003, p. 62. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Product Review: Colorado Soft Cases" American Lutherie #75, 2003, p. 64.
Mottola, R.M. "A Cheapskate's Sampler of Tools and Supplies" American Lutherie #74, 2003, p. 36.
Mottola, R.M. "A Listening Evaluation of Discrete vs Integrated Circuit Audio Preamplifiers in Stringed Instruments" Journal of Musical Instrument Technology #23, 2003, p. 8. ABSTRACT, FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Plywood: Some Observations and a Report on the Use of Laminated Wood in Lutherie" American Lutherie #73, 2003, p. 57.
Mottola, R.M. "Dot Marker Position Gauges" American Lutherie #72, 2002, p. 44. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Product Review: Asturomec Spray Gun" American Lutherie #72, 2002, p. 60.
Mottola, R.M. "Product Review: Grizzly Industrial Hand-Held Pneumatic Drum Sander" American Lutherie #71, 2002, p. 62.
Mottola, R.M. "Audio Spectroscopy in the Analysis of Stringed Instruments and their Components" American Lutherie #70, 2002, p. 44.
Mottola, R.M. "Another Method for Calculating the Area of a Plate" American Lutherie #70, 2002, p. 53.
Read, J., Mottola, R.M. "Wiping Varnish - A Guide" Guitarmaker #44, 2002, p. 50.
Mottola, R.M. "A Method for Specifying Contours of an Arched Plate" American Lutherie #69, 2002, p. 40.
Mottola, R.M. "Constructing an Under - Saddle Transducer" American Lutherie #68, 2001, p. 50. FULL TEXT
Mottola, R.M. "Product Review: Ameritage Cases" American Lutherie #68, 2001, p. 60.
Mottola, R.M. "Book Review: Music, Cognition, and Computerized Sound - an introduction to Psychoacoustics, by Perry R. Cook" American Lutherie #67, 2001, p. 60.
Mottola, R.M. "Computer Aided Design for Lutherie: An Introduction" Guitarmaker #42, 2000, p. 50, and Guitarmaker #43, 2001, p. 29.
Mottola, R.M. "The Bassola - Approximating the Sound of the Upright Bass" American Lutherie #64, 2000, p. 44.