huss & dalton newsletter - february 2015

8/18/2019 Huss & Dalton Newsletter - February 2015

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Huss & Dalton Guitar Co., Inc. February 2015

20th Anniversary

The new 20thAnniversary Huss &

Dalton guitarcommemorates two

decades of world classluthiery. While it can becustomized according toyour choice of Standard

series model andpreferred woods orcosmetics, the basepackage features a

thermo-cured red sprucetop, cocobolo rosette and binding, and back and

sides of either bubinga orthe company's trademark

sinker mahogany.

The thermo-curingprocess "cooks" the resins

out of the spruce for adistinctly "aged" look

Hi, everyone.I'm Stephen Goodrick, and I'll be writing as an intern here at Huss& Dalton for the next few months. I've been obsessed with music

and guitars since I was a kid, and I approached Huss and Dalton because their operation was fascinating and because I wanted anexperience that would look something like my ideal first post-grad job. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to spend time with thiscompany, and I look forward to sharing some of my experienceshere during my final semester as a writing student at JamesMadison University.

You're reading the first of a four part newsletter series that I'll beworking on for the next three months. I'm expecting content to varyfrom issue to issue, but they will generally include some of mythoughts and interactions with what Kimberly Dalton calls "the dayto day rigors" of Huss & Dalton. You can also find out more aboutwhat's going on at the shop in the left-hand column -for example,the release of the gorgeous 20th Anniversary model.

As a musician, I want to share the kind of content that I would beinterested in as the owner or prospective owner of a Huss & Daltoninstrument. That said, you certainly don't need a musical background to appreciate the art of essentially crafting a guitar"from scratch"; it's an innately fascinating process that gives you asense of the humanity poured into each instrument that comes outof the shop.

Thanks for reading - enjoy the February issue.


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and sound. Read MarkDalton's submission to

Premier Guitar Magazinehere o n the subject ofthermo-cured tops.

The guitar also featuresan ebony fretboard,

cocobolo boundfingerboard andpegheads, Waverly 4071-G tuning machines withsnakewood buttons, and

a TKL tweed case -alltied together with acustom Shenandoah

mountain inlay on the12th fret.

Event... Action Music

Huss & Dalton tosponsor the

5th Annual DC

Bluegrass Festival@ Tysons Corner,Vienna, Virginia.

February 27-28,2015.

AuthorizedH&D Dealer,Action Music,

will be on-handwith a lovely

selection of ourguitars.

Join us, won't you?Info here.

First Impressions

Having been in the shop for a grand total of about 15 hours, myunderstanding of how things work here only barely skims thesurface. This operation is decades in the making, and there aremany moving parts in what might easily be called a well-oiledmachine. But the idea, says co-founder Jeff Huss, is to make aninstrument that couldn't have come from a machine. It probably

goes without saying that everyone here at Huss & Dalton hasmastered the alchemy of this craft, but their combined care andphysical involvement in every step of the process really bring theseguitars to life.

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21444-acoustic-soundboard-torrefied-woodsdont-be-afraidhttp://dcbluegrassfest.org/http://dcbluegrassfest.org/http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21444-acoustic-soundboard-torrefied-woodsdont-be-afraid


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Magic? Or Science?

Much of my time here has been spent distracting John Calkin andDean Jones in the company's milling room on the top floor. Their building environment is a lot to take in at first, but it's all organized

around the meticulous building process that Jeff and Mark have been perfecting over the past two decades. Every step of theguitar's construction can be mapped to a given corner of the shop,and the system is designed so that a builder can manage several building procedures at once without compromising the company'sdedication to quality and detail.

When you add master luthiers and top-notch materials to theequation, the end result is a line of gorgeous world classinstruments with individual personality. Whether it's the bindingor the finish or the final setup, each builder specializes in theirrespective contributions to the construction process, which meansthat every microscopic detail is left in the best hands. Technique isthe most crucial part of the entire operation --you really can't getHuss & Dalton quality any other way. Even the most seeminglystraightforward procedure takes hours of human effort when it'sdone with the intensive care that defines these instruments throughand through.


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Labor of Love

Dean Jones is usually in charge of the bracing on Huss & Dalton

guitars. Where the tops, backs, and sides on the company'sTraditional series are (perfectly) flat, non-traditional models arepressed and braced into a 25' radius. In other words, the surfaceshave been arched so that the inside of the top would align perfectlywith any point on a 25-foot sphere.


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As you might expect, Dean's red spruce bracing is uniformlyperfect. This makes for a lighter guitar with more balanced mid-range response and it's also very cool to look at. Unfortunately, youmight not get a chance to really appreciate the time and and carethat goes into shaping, sanding, and securing each individual braceunless you're physically watching it happen. You can tell just fromlooking at a Huss & Dalton guitar that it's been thoughtfullydesigned and lovingly crafted, but the things you can't see are whatgive it an identity. In my short time here I've started to see theseinstruments as human artifacts with stories of their own, and I hopethat by the end of this series you'll have a better sense of why I'm

excited to be here.

And I'd be remiss if I failed to mention what a joy it's been to spendtime around everyone involved with the company. Anyoneinterested in Huss & Dalton guitars should be aware of howfriendly, well-informed, and utterly unpretentious the entire staffis. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more of what they haveto say.

Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for the March issue!

huss & dalton newsletter - february 2015

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