1974 Humphrey Steel String Cutaway

In 1974, Thomas Humphrey built a small number of steel string acoustics. This example is a concert size with an unusually deep body with a Florentine cutaway. The back, sides, fingerboard, headplate, and bridge are East Indian Rosewood. The top is European spruce. The lower bout is 14 1⁄2” and the upper is 10 7⁄8”, though the body shape resembles a small dreadnought, an atypical choice for a smaller design. The 4 3⁄4” body depth resembles a Nick Lucas Special, both in looks and in tone.

The top is X-braced with a small rosewood bridge plate. A three ring rosette surrounds the soundhole, with thin lines of ebony and boxwood on either side of wider rosewood strips. The thin strips of boxwood and ebony also alternate in a four ply purfling edged with a rosewood binding on the top. The back is similarly bound with a rosewood heel cap joining the ends of the binding.

The neck is mahogany with a comfortable “D” profile. The nut width is 1 3/4” and the fingerboard has a shallow 20” radius and a long 25 1⁄2” scale length. Side dot markers appear at positions 5,7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 19, and 21. A single action truss rod is covered at the base of the headplate with a celluloid cap. There is a relief carved fleur de lis on the back of the headstock.

The interior label is signed and dated and the underside of the top is signed and dated on the bass side upper bout. There are some carefully executed repairs under the upper bout. Two finger braces were added between the front legs of the x-brace and the transverse brace and a cleat was added to seal a crack underneath the fingerboard extension. 

The guitar speaks with a deep clear voice with well developed overtones. The deep body provides excellent headroom, allowing for impressive dynamic range. The guitar plays incredibly well, and is ready to find a new home. 

Included is a HSC.