Thomas Humphrey "#1"
Thomas Humphrey "#1"
The label inside the soundhole is a small patch of paper, about the size of a postage stamp. It reads, simply No. 1 For V.F. with Humphrey’s signature just below in somewhat faded blue ink. The identity of V.F. is lost to history, but we can be certain that V.F. received an instrument of the highest caliber from the newly formed Humphrey shop.
Early in his career, Humphrey was influenced by an apprenticeship with Michael Gurian. Thomas was the last employee taken on at Gurian’s New York shop before the shop’s move to New Hampshire. At Ben and Bucky’s we have two early Humphrey guitars, this example and one of a small group of steel strings made in 1974. The steel string guitar bears a striking resemblance to instruments made by noted New York luthier and repairman Lucien Barnes. It bears an almost identical body shape to the Fish guitar, an instrument made by Barnes for musician John Sebastian, now on display at the American Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale AZ. Humphreys is known to have worked with Barnes, but the full extent of the association is unknown. Certainly, Barnes was fully capable of guiding a young Humprey in the building of high grade instruments.
The fit, finish, playability and tone of this early Humphrey guitar would suggest that his talents emerged almost fully formed. Many of the features of his pre-Millenium guitars are in evidence here. The top is engelmann spruce, perfectly quartered with an even grain and aged to a lovely amber tone. The back and sides are carefully chosen East Indian rosewood, straight grained for the back and more wavy for the sides. The rosette is a traditional tulip pattern, carefully handcrafted in a style that resembles Humphrey’s later work. It is ringed on either side by six-ply rings of alternating boxwood and rosewood. The bridge is carved from tightly grained Brazilian rosewood, the binding for the top and back and the headplate are made of the same material. The purfling on top is two-ply boxwood and rosewood on top and three ply for the back, sides and underneath the headplate. A single thin strip of boxwood joins the back plates. The neck is Spanish cedar and the fingerboard is ebony with 19 frets.
Inside, the neck block is not a traditional Spanish heel. It is a smallish block that suggests a dovetail neck join instead. The top is fan braced in the traditional Hauser style, executed cleanly and delicately. Unlike most Humphrey guitars, the underside of the top is not inscribed.
The scale length is 660mm and the nut is 65mm (2 3/16”). The tuners are nickel plated with ivoroid tuners.
The finish is a thinly applied, though highly polished nitrocellulose lacquer showing light signs of use with some finish wear on the neck at the first position and a couple of lightly feelable marks. The only notable repair is a solidly resealed center seam separation between the bridge and tail block.