Huss & Dalton Guitars - A Visit

Irene and I were busy paying our bills, a necessary evil, even on the road. We had put off buying our tickets for the James Allen Shelton dreadnought signature edition guitar being raffled off at IBMA's World of Bluegrass in two weeks as a fund raiser for the family after James' recent death. "Where should I send it?" I Googled Huss & Dalton and stopped, "They're right here in Staunton! Let's go over there to buy them and pick up the tickets." We drove over to the address given on the web site, to discover that it was the Huss and Dalton factory, a small compound of three buildings on a tidy back street. Realizing we had stumbled on the shop, we walked into the office, met the receptionist, who turned out to be Kim Dalton, a pretty, vivacious woman, (turns out to be Huss & Dalton's General Manager) who happily took our money. We asked if we could also tour the factory and were told there was a tour scheduled for 1:00 PM the next day. Worried that there would be a mob to try to keep out of our pictures, we nevertheless, scheduled ourselves in and went on about our way. Early on Friday afternoon, Mark Dalton met us and Pierre, a delightful guitar aficionado from Montreal, and the tour commenced.

Mark Dalton Examining a Neck Blank

 

At the beginning of the tour, Mark Dalton, emphasized that although Huss & Dalton is a relatively small shop, the manufacture of Huss & Dalton instruments is a production process. That is, like much larger instrument builders, Huss and Dalton guitars are built over a number of days in a production line with, these days, eight workers in the shop in a well-ordered and efficient process. He noted that it takes about sixty man-hours to produce a guitar, and that we would find a number of instruments in various states of production as he took us through the line. Huss & Dalton is well known for the quality and tone of their guitars, ranging in price from the high $3000's to over $5,000 depending on the model and options the buyer selects. A Price List can be found here. A list of authorized dealers is here. Both Mark Dalton and Jeff Huss had their early training as luthiers at Jeff Stelling's nearby banjo shop before deciding to build their own well-known instruments. They have recently returned to banjo making.

Rough Stock for Necks & Backs is Shaped and Dried

Molding the Sides Requires Heating and Then Shaping

in a Mold

Deflection Meter Measures Thickness and Pliability of a Top

Each top is subjected to testing on this deflection meter, which measures pliability and strength. Pierre asked whether they do a lot of tapping, but Mark suggested the major test, within limits in the thousandths of an inch provided most of the data they needed about the future sound of the particular instrument being built. Perhaps the most interesting element of this tour was the emphasis on bringing modern construction techniques to bear on making traditional looking and sounding instruments. Regardless of the modern tools used, Huss & Dalton guitars are traditional looking and sounding instruments crafted to meet the needs of pickers seeking the highest quality acoustic instruments. They are generally modeled on the Martin & Gibson instruments of the 1930's with the addition of computer assisted design and construction wherever it's deemed possible. Construction of Huss & Dalton instruments combines the best of hand  built and modern assembly-line  construction.

Braced Backs Awaiting a Body

Forming the Sides

Preparing for Top and Back to Be Applied

The Neck Still Needs to Be Shaped

Inlays are Shopped Out

The CNC Machine (Bits in Foreground)

The CNC Machine (Computer Numerical Control) has permitted much of the detail work to be done by machine. Once programmed, the CNC can actually change its own bits to meet the needs of the tasks assigned to it after computer assisted design has designated in excruciating detail, what the back, top, neck, or fretboard needs to look like. 

The Finish Room

Dust and dirt are the enemies of fine guitar finish. In the Finish Room, fine layers of lacquer are applied and built up. Here, Mark shows a freshly finished suburst body. The room is clean, antiseptic almost, and smelling of the alcohol in the finish. When work is going on, a strong fan removes most of the odeor.

Buffing is Painstakingly Slow Detail Work

The James Allen Shelton

This is the actual guitar that is being raffled to help the late James Allen Shelton's family with their obligations after his recent precipitous death from cancer. It is a precise copy of the Signature Model TD-R specifically made to his specifications and played on stage. T (traditional) D (Dreadnaught) R (Rosewood). The winning raffle ticket will be pulled at the Beard Guitar Booth in the IBMA World of Bluegrass Exhibit Hall on Saturday, October 4 at approximately 4:00 PM. Raffle tickets are $10.00 a piece, and can be bought here. Tickets will also be sold right up until the drawing at the Beard Booth in the Exhibit Hall at World of Bluegrass to be held in Raleigh, NC from September 30 until October 4th.

Technician Attaches the Neck

String, Setup, and Out the Door

 Mark Dalton completes the final steps of placing a number plate inside the guitar, stringing it, and completing final setup before placing the new instrument in a distinctive Huss & Dalton case and sending it out the door. Nearly all Huss & Dalton guitars are already sold by the time they're built. Here's a list of authorized dealers. There's also a lively online market for these fine instruments. Mark Dalton shows no great eagerness to make the shop much larger or to rush the process. Huss & Dalton completes approximately five guitars a week. Mark Dalton himself is a friendly and forthcoming man who never ducked any questions. When I asked him if there were any trade secrets I should be careful about disclosing, he said there really aren't any. Top luthiers, while competitors, are usually pretty friendly rivals, working together and sharing information when necessary or desirable.

We very much enjoyed our visit to Huss and Dalton, which is located at 420 Bridge Street in Staunton,
VA. Tours are free and offered on Fridays at 1:00 PM. Call (540-887-2313) to schedule yourself onto one.

How to Get to Huss & Dalton

 

Vintage Fret Shop - Ashland, NH

Martha and Jay Sheperd dragooned us into taking a visit to what Martha described as a "really funky" shop we must see. I was a little annoyed, as this unscheduled trip eliminated my regular nap time....Of course, Martha was right, and I'm sure glad we drove over to Ashland, just a mile or so off Exit 24 of I-93 near Plymouth, New Hampshire to visit the wonderful Vintage Fret Shop and meet its owner David Colburn. From our entrance, greeted by the sound of a strummed guitar, through our perambulations around the compact, instrument and gear filled former blacksmith shop to our leaving after a brief hour's visit, the Vintage Fret Shop was a pure delight.

The Door "Bell" er...Strum

My first impression, walking in the door, was of instruments, new and used, hanging everywhere. Guitars predominate in all varieties from new and used Martins to a large range of other manufacturers. Many of the instruments has some wear on them, obviously played and cared for. Comfortable stools are available, and customers encouraged to pick up any instrument and play it.

A Customer Samples at David Colburn Looks On

Guitars, Guitars, Guitars are the main focus of the front room, but walk through it onto the back porch and a wider view opens. Looking out on a pond, the back room contains mandolins of all sorts including that strange oxymoron - an Irish bouzouki. On a high shelf over the windows are what appear to be some very old east Indian instruments. Hanging below them are a selection of banjos. On a wall to the side a wide range of fiddles hangs. On the floor stands a selection of hammered dulcimers. For an acoustic instrument aficionado, the Vintage Fret Shop is a little piece of heaven!

Behind the showrooms is a busy instrument repair shop, presided over by Ben Lamper, described on the web site this way, "factotum, amanuensis, guitar monster, and all-around good vibe. He'll help you if he can." While we were in the shop, Ben had been busily staffing the cash register, working at a desk, and trying to find some time to work on instruments. A young girl and her mother came into the shop with a cello they had just acquired, wanting some very basic information about what they had. Ben took some time to sit with them, tune the instrument, and give them some starting ideas. There was probably no prospect of a sale in this interaction, but it showed the kind of service this little shop provides.

Ben Lamper in the Office/Shop

Over this large and varied selection of standard instruments along with several unusual pieces, owner/operator David Colburn holds forth. As I watched him work with a couple of customers, I saw him carefully listen to what they saw as their needs before trying to help them find the precise combination of instrument and price that would satisfy them. He offered several alternatives, speaking about each one in terms of both its quality, and in the case of older instruments, its provenance. Obviously, his attention and presentation speaks of a deep well of knowledge and experience. Colburn has been operating Vintage Fret for over forty-four years while also performing in a folk duo. When I asked him about the spirit of the shop, he smiled quietly and talked of an almost mystical connection to some of the instruments, and through them to the songs they had played and the people who had played them. His love for the instruments and their deeper meaning is clear. He very much wants those instruments to find a good home.

David Colburn

with Guitar Once Owned by Del McCoury

and Signed by McCoury & Ralph Stanley

Vintage Fret Shop is located at 30 Riverside Drive in Ashland, NH (phone (603) 968-3346) and his open from Thursday through Saturday and Sunday afternoons or by appointment. Spend some time at their web site, and then stop by for a visit to play some instruments or spend some time getting to know David Colburn. You won't be sorry.

Martha Sheperd Looking for the Right One

A Visit with Wayne Henderson - Master Luthier

Wayne Henderson with Early Henderson Guitar

 We drove west along the Crooked Road through Galax and into Grayson County as the road narrowed and houses became less and less frequent, crossing the badly misnamed New River and beginning to climb into the highlands of Grayson County, headed towards Rugy, VA (pop. 7) including Wayne Henderson. I had wisely asked Wayne for a physical address the Friday before our trip there, because it isn't a place one just happens upon, but the trusty GPS took us right there, despite our reservations. We found the shop around noon, the time when Wayne customarily gets to work, and walked into a beehive of activity.

Crooked Road Way-Sign

Independance, VA

 

Way signs like these are scattered all along the Crooked Road, (U.S. Highway 58) providing a history of local music and people from the early days of recorded music, often with sound samples played over low range FM radio and broadcast to your car. Independence was chosen as the county seat of Grayson County when two other towns competed for the honor. Wayne Henderson's shop is located in the Grayson Highlands.  The four highest peaks in Virginia are also located in Grayson County, as well as rugged country and hills carpeted with Christmas tree farms,which have replaced tobacco as a cash crop.

The Grayson Highlands

 

Wayne Henderson's Shop

Wayne Henderson has emerged as, perhaps, the greatest guitar maker in this golden age of contemporary luthiers. His designs, based upon the legendary work of the pre-war (that is WW II) guitars built by C.F. Martin and Co. in Nazereth, PA, are hand built in his small shop in Rugby, VA. He has built over 500 guitars, as well as assorted mandolins and the occasional ukelele. Wayne Henderson guitars are prized instruments owned by the likes of Eric Clapton (who waited several years for his first guitar) just like everyone else, including country singer Zac Brown, Doc Watson, Peter Rowan, and many others. He recently delivered two guitars to Eric and Leigh Gibson made from the same piece of wood and dubbed "The Twins." Wayne has a reputation for maintaining relatively low prices for his instruments, although they are in high demand and there is a long waiting list to obtain one. A physician located in New England waited seven years for his recently delivered Wayne Henderson D-18, and is said to have cried for joy when it arrived. There is a lively aftermarket for Wayne's instruments which sell for three to ten times their initial cost, but, should an owner decide to sell his, chances of getting another are nil. Other noted luthiers from the region (Jimmy Edmonds, Caleb Smith, Gerald Anderson, Spencer Strickland, and more) all credit Wayne's theories of design and approach to building as having been significantly influential in their own work. In 1995, Wayne Henderson was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship in a White House ceremony. Here's a more extensive article providing additional information about Wayne Henderson and his guitars.

Wayne at Work on a Baritone Ukelele

Wayne Henderson is no local genius working in solitude to build his wonderful and widely sought instruments. His shop is a lively place, filled with friends and visitors come to talk about guitars and gossip about local matters while Wayne keeps on working in their midst, a center of calm concentration surrounded by activity. While we were visiting, Wayne was working on a wedding, a gift Baritone Ukelele, an instrument he hadn't built before. He measured and remeasured to reassure himself that he was placing the fretboard and bridge in the precise places to produce the finest sound. He consulted with design books, checking and re-checking while consulting with others in the room before cutting and placing the diamond shaped inlays on the ebony fretboard. It was only after such constant attention to detail he glued the small, blue diamond shapes pieces in place. 

Consulting with Don Wilson & Harold Blevins

Cutting the Inlays

...and Gluing Them in Place

Herb Key

Herb Key, an employee in the shop, was described as the most knowledgeable Gibson repair man around. Here he works on a thirties era Gibson guitar.

 

Wayne's Filing System

Harold Blevins Sings "Irene, Good Night"

on His 1939 Kalamazoo Archtop 

We found Wayne Henderson not only interesting to watch working, but a warm and welcoming personality with an impish sense of humor and a wealth of stories to tell. I'd really like to go back and record more of his seemingly endless collection of  stories and reminiscences. While he has never strayed very far from the valley he lives in, where he grew up and his ancestors settled, he is a world renowned artist who's work has been recognized both in awards and in the prices his used guitars command.  There isn't an ounce of pretense in him as he seems to have remained the same down home guy he's always been, having continued as postmaster in his small home town for years after it would have paid him handsomely to make guitars full time, as he does now.

Wayne Henderson's First Instrument

...Saved by His Mother

Early Hendersons
 

National Heritage Award

Photo with Hillary Rodham Clinton

Irene off for a Ride with Wayne
in His 1957 Thunderbird 

When Irene and Wayne came back from their ride, Tom and Gail Watts had appeared bearing a delicious pot of chili with all the fixins'. There was plenty for everyone, and we had a very pleasant time visiting as worked stopped for a while. We said our farewells and headed down out of the mountains on a twisty, steep road I'd have liked to stop to photograph, but there were no pull-offs. We had a wonderful day, and hope to get to return.

 Wayne Henderson's Shop