Posted on January 1, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Three Craftsmen Three Craftsmen by H.E. Huttig previously published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly 10 #3, 1982 See also, “The Guitar & I” by H.E. Huttig “Woes of a Wood Merchant” by H.E. Huttig Just returned from a trip from Miami to Williamsburg, and return with visits to three fine craftsmen. First we visited Allen Chester in Jacksonville. Allen says he was inspired by an early article of mine to start building classic and flamenco guitars. The demand for electrics was much greater, so he changed over and now specializes in them. He is a builder and repairman for quite a few professional groups and is highly esteemed for his work on their instruments. He had tee shirts made up with his logo, and one of the groups wore them when their picture was taken for an album cover. Allen says that he has the luck to be in the right place at the right time. What he doesn’t say is that he has the talent to take advantage of opportunities and the abilities to back up his participation. Allen is multi-talented and experienced in all sorts of mechanical and machine work. He belongs to a sail plane club; not only flied but also builds the sophisticated and super light glider aircraft. He made a rosewood belt buckle with a mother of pearl inlay in the design of a sail plane. It was a gift for a friend, but now he has orders for the belt buckles. He lives in a comfortable house on which he has put additions and restorations. At least half of the building houses his well-stocked workshop. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on January 1, 2010March 11, 2024 by Dale Phillips Woes of a Wood Merchant Woes of a Wood Merchant by H.E. Huttig previously published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly 10 #4, 1982 See also, “The Guitar & I” by H.E. Huttig “Three Craftsmen” by H.E. Huttig We became interested in instrument building back in the ’60s and were given a couple of junk guitars by Ernest Kaai, a Hawaiian performer and teacher. We gave up our distribution of canned goods and began to import and sell instrument makers materials, impelled by our own need for supplies. We found suppliers on our trips to Germany and Spain. Later we imported from France, Holland, India and Brazil. The wood we get now is of mixed quality; we simply cannot offer a consistently standard product. The guitar builder must demand quality in wood as he is gambling his precious time to produce a saleable instrument. On the other hand, I can only sell him the best that I can get. Many builders have read “how to” book that state that all wood must be cut with vertical grain and that the grain must be straight. This is fine for spruce or cedar intended for sound boards but is not necessary or even desirable, say for Brazilian rosewood (it would hide the figure) or for mahogany necks (there is very little grain — the wood is like a bundle of fibres and there are not well defined growth rings). I have reviewed files that represent some ten thousand transactions and have chosen some of the customer’s complaints. Most are valid and all but one has been refused or exchanged. They are: Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
