MusicBooks Press publishes workshop manuals on building stringed musical instruments and books on musical instrument history.
The latest in these is The Caldersmith Papers, a book of the collected articles on guitar and violin acoustics by my friend, the late Graham Caldersmith. Graham died in 2019 and this book brings together over 30 articles which he wrote on various aspects of how guitars and violins produce musical sounds. He believed that understanding the physics of how sound is produced from little wooden boxes was a great help in making better instruments.
The Bouzouki Book was published in 2004 and is a guide to building Irish (flat-backed) bouzoukis and citterns. It is available as a print publication and an ebook.
That was followed in 2008 by The Mandolin Project. This covers the construction of four different styles of mandolin, from a simple flat mandolin to a fully carved A style instrument. This is also available as a printed book and an ebook.
The Mandolin - a history was published in 2016 and is the first comprehensive history of the mandolin around the world. It is over 400 pages with more than 350 colour illustrations. The print version is out-of-print but there are versions in ePub and Kindle formats for computers, tablets and e-readers.
The Ukulele - an illustrated workshop manual. was published in 2019, and has information on building five different styles of ukulele, from a soprano ukulele in the style of the Hawaiian builders of the late 19th century to a contemporary styled concert size, a tenor ukulele and a baritone. In print and ebook formats.
There are a couple more books in preparation.
From 1 July, 2025 there will be no distribution in the US and Canada, as the Independent Publishers Group in Chicago decided I didn’t sell enough books for them to be bothered continuing distribution.
