Goings on...
Acoustifest XI ~ Sunday, March 14, 2010
Join Jeff Hill and our friends at Melodee Music in Potomac Falls, VA ~ Sunday, March 14, 2010 for the 11th Annual Acoustifest sponsored by Authorized H&D Dealer, Melodee Music. Jeff will be on hand to answer questions and chat with you about your current H&D or your prospective new H&D! Seats are limited...call today to make your reservation. Enjoy!
We're back from Winter NAMM ~
The NAMM show proved to be busy and rejuvenating for us and almost everyone we've talked to that participated. Thank you to our long-time Authorized H&D Dealers...those that visited us at the show and those that placed orders from afar! We made some new friends this year, both State-side and Internationally. We'll have them listed soon as pieces begin shipping out to them...keep an eye on our Authorized Dealer page.
Here are a few fun photos snapped...
left:Bill Warmoth with H&D's Jeff Hill
right:Jeff Huss, Howard Gillespie, Jeff Hill
left: Jeff Hill w/DeForest Thornbird, Jeff Huss
right: Jeff Hill w/Jean Goodall, Jeff Huss
left: Jeff Hill and Jeff Huss with the Premier Guitar guys presentin us an award!
right: Jeff Hill w/ZZ Top...no, not really...Gayle Swinehart, Stan and Gayle's grandson.
left: Jeff Huss, Jeff Hill with Music Schmidt's Oliver
right: Jeff Huss amid Anahiem's finest cops...thank you Happy!
left: "rock, scissors, paper"
Stage Worn TD-M
Several years ago we built a very nice TD-R with Brazilian back and sides and a Red Spruce top for a dealer. When the top got it’s final sanding, it had a pronounced winter growth grain line on one half of the top, but not a corresponding line on the other half of the book matched top. The dealer was not pleased with the look and we ended up sun bursting the top and building a new guitar for the dealer.
Several months ago we had a TD-M come through with same issue. Rather than sunburst it, we decided to do a distressed or pre-aged experiment with this guitar since the grain line looked a bit like a repaired crack. We began by using nitrocellulose lacquer with a fairly dark toner on the top. After the finish was applied we placed the body in a freezer along with the frozen vegetables and waffles overnight and let the top finish check just like Dad’s old guitar. We also rubbed through the finish around the edges in spots and around the soundhole and bridge and placed some well thought out dings and scratches and abrasions all over the guitar to simulate the look of a ‘63 D-28 and a ‘47 D-18 that we own. The pictures will give a better idea. When it was said and done, we thought it looked like a well played older guitar and was a pretty cool thing but we weren’t quite sure what we were going to do with it! We hung it up on our display wall in the office.
The very next day some folks stopped in and said they were looking for a birthday gift for their son who was living on the streets of San Francisco (by choice!) and busking around town. They wanted him to have a nice instrument but were concerned that if it looked too nice or new that it might get stolen out on the streets…what are the odds? We ended up shipping the guitar out to Gryphon Stringed Instruments out in Palo Alto and the family bought the guitar for their wandering boy.
For years the Asian factories have been trying to build inexpensive guitars that look like expensive guitars, maybe they have had it backwards all along.
~ written by Jeff Huss
Hide Glue...a theory
One of our latest experiments here at H&D has been, oddly enough, with a pretty ancient product – animal hide glue. You would think that a product that was used for centuries as the glue of choice wouldn’t be much of a mystery but it has certainly been a learning experience for me. Much of the information on the internet is inconsistent and, at times, downright contradictory. Hopefully, I’m not just adding more fuel to that fire but I’ll share some of what I’ve discovered. First off, forget everything you’ve learned about glues from aliphatic resin or polyvinyl acetate. Warmth is your friend with hide glue – the secret is to never have too much or too little heat. This includes keeping your work surface warm to increase work time.
I also had to do some experimenting with water-to-glue ratios as well. Our experiment is using H. Behlen’s Dry Ground Hide Glue. It calls for a 1:1 ratio by weight of water to glue granules but this actually produced more of glue-like taffy that didn’t offer enough work time. I found that I actually needed about a 2:1 ratio of water to glue in order to have the ability to spread it and to have even a narrow window of working time before the adhesive starts to skin over. Even a slight hesitation is too long with this stuff but a nice property of it is that you can merely reapply fresh glue and it’s good to go. Anyone who has worked with wood glue knows that this is a plus. It also means that the hide glue is easier to repair since you don’t have to remove all of the glue as you would with Titebond, which will not adhere to itself. Despite how quickly it skins over it actually has a slower set time than PVA’s.
Once I figured out how to work with it I did have some interesting observations about the properties of the glue itself. Cleanup is quite a bit easier and less messy than wood glue. The squeeze out forms little pellets that are easy to scrape off without any residue. Once dry the glue is glasslike and has a tight bond (no pun intended). As mentioned already, the glue joint is much easier to repair. I was able to pry it apart without damaging the wood and simply apply some fresh glue and clamp. I look forward to learning a lot more about this time-tested material. ~ written by Dean Jones. In March 2010, Dean will mark five years with H&D. Among many jobs he fills here, one of them is book-matching and joining tops for every guitar.
This Custom OOO was built for Mule Extraordinare, Malcolm Jessup, at right. Mark Dalton, left, gives it a test play before delivery. It features a woodburning image of a mule head on the scalloped fretboard. It has an Englemann Spruce top, Indian Rosewood back and sides, Contact Jim Grainger at Custom Fretted Instruments & Repair |
Fortune-Williams Music Festival - September 25-26, 2009
THANKS TO ALL THE FOLKS BEHIND ORCHESTRATING THIS WONDERFUL MUSICAL WEEKEND.
And the winner is.....Mr. John Sleggs from New York!
Fortune-Williams Music Festival
E-News...
H&D E-Newsletter! Visit our Contact page and you will see a place to submit your email address that will sign you up for our Quarterly H&D
e-Newsletter. We thought an e-Newsletter would be a great way to share H&D info, on a bit more personal level, for you to enjoy in the comfort of your home...or office!
We hope you agree, sign up, and enjoy it.
Written words...
Earlier this Spring, Premier Guitar Magazine asked if Huss & Dalton would be interested in submitting an article every other month in their "Acoustic Soundboard" section of their fine publication! We said, "sure!" So, Mark and Jeff decided to take turns submitting their material and I've linked each article below. We're also pleased to share this spotlight with Bob Taylor! Thanks PGM!
Fear not the Magic, by Mark Dalton - Aug 2009
Sprucing Up the Place, by Jeff Huss - May 2009
H&D DVD Project!
We are excited about our first-ever H&D DVD Project. Laurie Lipscomb spent a little...well, alot of time here in our shop and filmed just about every aspect of our production. There is also a somewhat intimate interview with Jeff Huss and Mark Dalton sitting by the fireplace and story-telling the beginnings and creation of guitar making that led to Huss & Dalton Guitar Co. Also, on this very same DVD is a great little interview with Robin and Linda Williams finishing up with a lovely song. A fun watch and listen!
Contact Us with your US Mail info and we'll send you one. Many thanks to Laurie and Anne for many long, fun hours! View intro
Laurie...videographer/MAC guru/technical wiz/great guitar player
Laurie and his Brazilian
10 years or so ago, Laurie received a set of Brazilian Rosewood back and sides from his beloved, Anne. This beautiful wood hung out in Laurie's shop all of these years until he decided to have a Huss and Dalton Custom built DS-12 built with it. Here are the beautiful appointments: Sitka Spruce top, Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, Maple heel cap, standard DS fretboard inlay and binding, non-sunburst, "V" shaped neck, 4" soundhole, OOO-style Rosette, bone bridge pins with Abalone dot, and Waverly 4098 tuning machines w/Snakewood buttons.
Taubman Museum of Art...
Well, this exhibit closed on June 7, 2009...but we were very humbled to be a part of it. The OO-SP #2703 and the old-time Singletree Ken McAlack Designed banjo are available for sale.
Contact Us
The exhibit was named "In Life I was Silent, In Death I Sing" and we enjoyed being alongside one of the Luthier greats, Wayne Henderson pictured in red jacket with Mark Dalton below left.
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Luthier Designs
We asked our talented team of on-staff Luthiers to design their 'dream' instrument. After spending their days plying their trade creating instruments designed by Huss and Dalton, or by tradition, we wanted to see what designs resided in their minds! We will build one instrument per employee, for a total of 9, in '09 and '10. The first three are highlighted here.
Ken McAlack - a 5-year employee and certified "finish master", created his dream banjo, the Singletree limited edition, known around the shop as "the Kenjo!"
" I Love Old-Time Music! Especially Old-Time Banjo and Fiddle Music…So when Jeff Huss & Mark Dalton offered me the opportunity to design a unique instrument to 
present at the 2009 Winter NAMM Show I naturally chose an Old-Time Banjo.
One of my favorite banjo sounds comes from the old H.C.Dobson banjos with his patented tone ring. Recently, Bill Rickard from Canada has started to manufacture a reproduction of the Dobson tone ring. This tone ring would be what my banjo design would be based around.
I decided that, even though I really like the look of the traditional open-backed banjos of old, I did not want to design a “reproduction”.
So my goal was to utilize the Dobson tone ring for the sound that I wanted but to design the banjo “look” to reflect my respect for traditional and modern banjo construction. An instrument that would sound Old-Timey but that would have the subtle elegance that is Huss & Dalton!
I hope you like it!"
Ken McAlack
Specs:
- 12” Black Walnut Rim
- Fiberskyn Head
- Dobson Repro Tone Ring
- Ball type brackets, flat hooks, Nickel plated
- No-Knot Tailpiece
- Scorpion Bridge, maple/ebony
- Black Walnut Neck w/Dowel Stick, 25.4” Scale Length
- Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard, Fretted w/ Scoop
- Brazilian Rosewood Headstock Veneer
- Maple underlay throughout
5 Star Tuners, Nickel plated w/Ivoroid buttons
John Calkin - an 11 year employee and well known Luthier, designed this deep bodied Custom OM.
"For balanced tone and good volume, the OM shape has been my favorite for some time. I thought a deeper body would add some oomph to the overall package, and it seems that it has. 
Claro walnut is my favorite tone wood. It puts out as much as any other wood, and nothing can touch it for beauty. Just from listening to finished H&Ds I’ve become a red spruce believer, so it was a natural choice for this guitar. The koa trim is my fave, as are the abalone trim details. The walnut neck may add some sustain over mahogany, and of course, it fits the theme better. The frailing scoop and oval soundhole are just for fun, but who knows if they contribute anything sonically? The fine tone of the guitar suggests that they might. The fact that it’s a flattop rather than a radiused top also makes this model punchier."
John Calkin
This handsome guitar sold to Andy's Guitars in Tallahassee, FL. Call Andy today if you'd like to purchase this one-of-a-kind John Calkin design.
