I guess "select" wood means different things to most folks. But in the end whatever is selected ends up as part of
a total package,....putting a luthier's talents to the test. For some the selection is mostly visual in deciding to
purchase a particular guitar or ukulele. We all prefer a beautiful piece of work,.....of course.
But in the end the tone and other sound attributes is what we really have to be satisfied with, for otherwise no
lasting enjoyment comes from owning or playing a particular instrument.
I bought a 2004 Thomas Humphrey "Millenium" classical guitar used 3 or 4 years ago. In the pictures i inquired
about what appreared to be a defect, or possibly some damage to a very small area in the spruce top. I was assured
the small darker area was indeed a natural part of the grain structure in the spruce,.....and it is.
(sadly Thomas Humphrey passed away a few years ago much too young,....only 59)
I was also informed by the seller that he had previously been in contact earlier with the builder to garner some info
about this specific guitar. Tom told him that this classical is actually a little smaller than his standard Milleniums, but
that he had found the sound traits of this spruce top warrented a build anyway. Not sure if that meant the tap tone,
stiffness/weight ratio, or any other specifics that makes a builder go out of the norm for a build.
Bare in mind Tom's classical guitars were selling in the $20,000 range, and to make one up a bit smaller might be
hard to market. It also created some extra work for sure, as most builders have a body "mold" they use to assemble
their guitars to a specific shape and size. Not sure if Tom built a new mold,....but probably just padded key areas
to fill the slight spaces while he put the body together for this one off. This slightly smaller classical also required a
new case,....and it resides in a wonderfully light (and super strong!) Karura carbon fiber flight case. (they alone run
around $1500 as i recall)
Anyway, the guitar truly sounds wonderful. Tom commented that it was a special guitar, and that he
would buy it back if offered. I once took it to a local luthier a few years ago, and there happened to be a talented
player in the store at the time. He seemed interested in the instrument, and i offered to allow him to play with it a bit.
(never got his name but he COULD PLAY)
......about 45 minutes later i put her back in the case, but not before being awestruck to the wonderful tone shadeings
he was able to garner from the guitar. It was all there,.... volumn, sustain,....and TONE! Thomas Humphrey was SO
RIGHT to have made the extra effort to use the bit of an ugly duckling runt of a piece of spruce! lol
The player hated to part with it, btw!
Here's a few pics....
Here's one of the rosette he used in most of his later guitars:
Thomas Humphrey's elevated fingerboard came to him in a dream, and was the basis of his new "Mellinum"
classical guitars. (along with a latice braced soundboard). The raised fretboard allowed easier access to the upper frets
without the smaller soundbox a cutaway creates, and the angled soundboard offers some technical benefits
with the bridge/string relationship. (boosting energy transfer to the soundboard
I predict they'll be a top ukulele maker using this design someday!