Martin Guitars: Where lo-tech meets hi-tech

    Last week, our Upper School woodworking students toured the C.F. Martin Guitar & Co. factory in Nazareth, PA. I went along as an additional chaperone but by visit's end had learned a lot about how traditional craftsmanship and cutting edge technology can work together.
    The Martin Guitar story starts in 1833 in New York City. By 1838, the company had relocated to Nazareth, PA. Though the site of the original manufacturing facility has changed, the company remains rooted in the same community all these years.
    The Martin Guitar company makes a few products including guitar strings, ukeleles and electric guitars, but their business is built around hand-producing acoustic guitars. They are world renowned for the quality and craftsmanship of their acoustic guitars. In their marketing materials, they emphasize that all their guitars are handmade and that each guitar is either produced adhering to the highest specifications of craftsmanship or it is destroyed.

At an individual work station, a craftsman files a guitar neck.

    The factory is quite large but is actually designed as a series of individual workstations. Factory employees (there are about 500 in total working in the Nazareth facility) work on one facet of guitar production and then various pieces are assembled by other employees specializing in that skill.

A part of the factory where wood is sorted and initial cutting is done.

    Acoustic guitar making can be painstakingly detailed. As workers inlay design elements, adjust bridge heights and glue soundboards, a visitor repeatedly sees intense concentration as the worker completes his or her tasks.

     Midway through our tour, we began to hear about how digital technologies were incorporated into production.  There are, for instance, laser cutters that can be programmed to cut guitar necks and bridge inserts to phenomenally fine tolerances. Still, after laser cutting is completed, someone will take each cut piece, hand inspect it and then sand it as needed. Similarly, robotics are employed in the polishing process, though hand polishing will always follow.  When a guitar is polished by a robotic arm, the machine follows the programmed instructions to move the robotic arm to the spinning polisher in ways that exactly fit the form of the particular guitar model being polished.

A robotic arm programmed to manipulate the guitar onto a spinning polisher.

     The Martin Guitar factory is a bit of an anomaly in today's world. It makes a concerted effort to retain old world craftsmanship in producing some of the finest acoustic guitars made today. But it also reminds the visitor that today's digital technologies can far more efficiently complete certain production tasks. It is this marriage of old and new that satisfies some very fine guitarists including Jorma Kaukonen, Rory Block, Father John Misty and Sturgill Simpson.

     I want to thank faculty members Bob Ort and Cos Arnett for scheduling the trip. It was clear everyone learned a lot about fine woodworking in the 21st century.
     This post seems incomplete without a Martin Guitar demo by a world class player. Below, Billy Strings plays a 1935 Martin D-18. Still sounds great!

Talking Machines

  In technology, there is always something new to consider, an emerging idea or device to learn about. That's both the source of excitement and the root of a frustration inherent in the field. Personally, I love the sense of adventure that accompanies a job centered in academic technology. New ideas continually flow through my email, my conversations and the information sources I visit. The frustration stems from the fact that it's impossible to ever feel fully "caught up" with the field. There is always this sense that I should be more knowledgeable about devices and software and applications. But I've certainly come to realize that the feeling of never quite being completely caught up with the field of technology is a feeling shared with all my peers. To think otherwise would be foolish.   

    Thinking about technological developments in the last few years, voice recognition-based devices seem to me to be particularly significant.  The advent of Siri, Cortana and Alexa, for example, has given hundreds of millions of users the ability to talk to their phones or stand-alone devices and make requests. These requests can be for information or can accomplish tasks such as turning on lights or cueing up a song.  What was once science fiction is now reality. Walk into your home and talk to an inconspicuous table-top device and tasks are completed seamlessly. Wow! 
    Check CNET's site for an examination of how different software systems can work in your home. 
    I'm confident this particular technology will find its way into schools and become part of our future learning environments. Teachers and students will pose questions in class as they have done for millennia, but in the near future, these questions will be prefaced with a verbal cue that will activate a device that offers a response. It will be like having an omnipresent expert in the classroom. 

     For a review of how voice recognition technology has evolved over the last several decades, take a look:

    In considering the evolution of voice recognition software, my thoughts went back in time a century and a half, or so, to the emerging industrial revolution. It was a similarly heady time when, between the end of the Civil War and the advent of World War I, astounding technological advances were made. During this approximately 50 year period, in the words of Jacques Ellul, mechanization took command. Electricity was tamed, the internal combustion engine was put to use and the understanding of the physics of sound and light gave rise to such fundamental communication tools as the radio, the telephone and the electric light.  Flight was developed. So was the assembly line. In field after field, technology seemed to offer new, improved ways to accomplish time worn tasks. 
    As a reminder that new technologies have given past generations the same sort of wow factor we derive from today's cutting edge developments, an examination of the literature of technological progress circa the late 19th century is instructive. The particular work I'd like to focus on is by Philip G. Hubert, Jr. At the time he was the Music Critic for the NY Evening Post, but he also wrote an article titled "The New Talking-Machines" for The Atlantic magazine in 1889.  The article examines the phonograph as a new, cutting edge technology that has sophisticated voice recognition abilities. In the case of the phonograph, it is people  recognizing the voices the phonograph has recorded and plays.

 

    Mr. Hubert opens with a brief history of Edison's work on the phonograph. It was developed in 1875 but as a new invention, languished for a decade or more. It simply was not a good enough product for practical value. The problem with this early version is that it could not faithfully reproduce a human voice with clarity.  Whistles, tunes and other noises were fully discernible, but clear human voice reproduction was elusive. 
    Though patents had been taken to secure rights to the audio technology, Edison understood the early phonograph's shortcomings.  He vowed to work on it further when he had the leisure time to do so. In Edison's words, as quoted by Hubert, " When I get rich I will astonish the world with it." Edison's fortune came from his next project, the electric light. And about 10 years later, he again took up work on the phonograph, determined to improve the product so that the human voice could be captured and then replayed. 

    Hubert's article appears after the new, improved phonograph is available.  He tests the quality of human voice reproduction by listening to a reading of Nicholas Nickleby played on a phonograph. He declares "...the phonograph's voice was as distinct and as loud as that of a telephone in good working order." Hubert is a music critic so of course he is interested in the new machine's ability to replicate musical sound faithfully. "When it comes to music, the present achievements are wonderful. The phonograph will reproduce any kind of music - singing, the piano, violin, cornet, oboe, etc. - with a beauty of tone and accuracy which will astonish the musician." 
    Something I found interesting abut Hubert's analysis of the uses of the phonograph was how he saw utility beyond musical entertainment. He anticipates audio books reminding us that "Edison estimates that novels of the length of Nicholas Nickleby could be sold in phonogram (a rudimentary record) shape for a few cents." In fact, he speculates that with some minor technological tweaks, a continues reading of a novel would be possible.  He also notes that "As a saving in the time given up to writing, the phonograph promises to far outstrip the  typewriter. The businessman can dictate to the phonograph as fast as he can talk, and the wax cylinder, enclosed in a suitable box, can be sent off by mail to read out its message perhaps thousands of miles away." 
    Hubert goes on to speculate about the phonograph's uses in the creation of all sorts of written material and concludes that "I really see no reason why the newspaper of the future should not come to the subscriber in the shape of a phonogram." The future is very bright for this new piece of technology, according to Philip Hubert, wholly because the device has mastered the reproduction of the human voice. 
    Well over 100 years ago, Hubert examined a new technology and correctly saw a bright future for it. Without doubt, the phonograph served us well through the 20th century and even today, enjoys a second life as vinyl becomes a new-found listening pleasure for some. The phonograph's ascension as a successful technology was built on its ability to reproduce human speech. Today's voice recognition technologies are similarly on the cusp of immense growth for the same reason. They have not only duplicated the phonographs' success in reproducing speech but have demonstrated a reasonable level of proficiency in understanding what humans say. It is this achievement that creates a whole new set of boundless possibilities for this new technology, possibilities that will present themselves in homes, workplaces and schools.

NoodleTools in the Middle School

    Research assignments have long been a part of our Middle School curriculum.  Regardless of the subject or grade level, a research project asks students to draw information from a variety of sources, integrate that information into a cohesive whole and cite sources through a works cited page.  Traditionally, students have organized their research through note cards that record specific pertinent information from a source.  As various sources are used, note cards proliferate. When the project's conclusion draws near, cards are organized and used to write a research paper.
    This process has withstood the test of time for generations of students, but it is not without its pitfalls. Note cards can be lost or forgotten at home.  Sources are, often enough, based online and citing URLs accurately can be a challenge. Physically arranging note cards to organize the final paper often demands table space that might be in short supply. In short, the traditional process was ripe for a new, improved version. NoodleTools provides just such an improved version.
    NoodleTools is cloud-based software that allows students to take notes, organize them and keep citations accurately matched to source materials.  Because it's cloud-based, it is available on 24/7 basis; cards are never lost or forgotten.  Created virtual note cards can be edited, saved and grouped according to the demands of the assignment. It is a convenient time saver as well. When sources are used and entered, a Works Cited page is constantly updated, ready in an instant when research work is complete.

Lia Carruthers introduces NoodleTools to a seventh grade class.

     This year, as our 7th grade students begin their project on the U.S. Constitutional Convention, Middle School librarian Lia Carruthers has introduced students to NoodleTools to assist in their research work.  The assignment begins by matching students to actual delegates at the 1787 Convention. Students will then need to familiarize themselves with their delegate learning what state was he from, what his were positions on the issues of the day and why he might be undecided on certain issues. The issues of the day included Congressional representation, a Bill of Rights, the place of slavery in the new republic and states rights versus a powerful central government. You can see right away that keeping the researched information organized and clearly documented is important in a complex assignment like this one.
     How can NoodleTools help? Let's see by simulating some student note taking.  In NoodleTools, work would begin by logging in and starting a new project.

 

    Next step is to title your project, deciding which citation style you'll be using for the assignment and then select a citation level. The screenshot below shows the completed set-up form.

 

    The next step is to begin using NoodleTools for the project. Students will be brought to a dashboard screen and from there, five different options are made available. The screenshot below shows the options. Pictured below: the selected option to work with Notecards.

 

     Below, a picture of a note card.  In addition to places to enter source information, there are three editable boxes for information. One box (Copy, paste and annotate here) is designed to have students copy and paste text information from an e-source or simply write in directly taken information from a source. Another box (In your own words) is space for students to take the key ideas in the first box and put them into your own words.  The third box (Original thinking here) gives students a place to write thoughts and ideas that stem from the source material of the card.

 

    As multiple cards are created, NoodleTools is essentially building a database for the specific research project. This information can later be accessed to create a Works Cited page and easily retrieve notes and source information that has been acquired.

    Another valuable feature of NoodleTools is the ability of teachers to share account information with students.  In other words, teachers can easily have access to all of the students' work. Teachers can then comment on the note cards with suggestions or additional information.  These comments are archived in a time-lined history so a teacher can check to see if a comment has been made. Students have the ability to respond to comments.

    NoodleTools is a well thought out, easy to use software tool that helps students and teachers work smarter. It's not only being used for the 7th grade social studies project. It's also being used elsewhere in the Middle School and with our Upper School 9th grade seminar students as well. In the Lower School, NoodleTools is under consideration for possible use with our 4th grade. My feeling is NoodleTools can be helpful to students in a wide variety of research and note taking applications. 

    Teachers and students who need some additional help getting started will find our librarians ready to help.