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To undersTand Michael hauver’s crafT is to experience finger-picking blues and ragtime guitar from the 1920s and 30s. To remember the old bluesmen, like the great Charley Patton, father of the Delta blues; Blind Blake, who became an accomplished blues guitarist despite being born blind; and Barbeque Bob, an early Atlanta blues player who worked as a barbeque cook. Modern blues guitarists pay tribute to these legends by mimicking their vintage sound—

sound best produced by the same guitars seen with them in early photos.

“New-Old” Guitars“Music mimics the human voice, and all instruments are about imitating,” says Hauver, a long-time repair-man of vintage guitars, and more recently, designer and luthier (builder) of his own line of new Stella-style guitars, or as he’s coined them, “new-old” guitars. “We

New Guitars Mimic Old-Time

Hauver shows off his finger-picking skills on the first guitar he ever built—a 6-string Stella replica based on the 1920s Galliano model.

Bluesall want to make guitars that sound like the vintage instruments, but vintage sound only comes with age,” says Hauver. “As wood ages, lacquer cracks and releas-es its hold on the wood,” he explains. “Also, tension from the strings can create 150 pounds of non-stop pressure. This causes the top to pull up and the neck to bend forward. More pressure on top equals more sound. It can take 70–100 years for the top and neck to settle in and for the sound to get better.”

Oscar Schmidt, the largest manufacturer of fretted (string) instruments in the early 1900s, built Stella guitars, one of the most popular and affordable brands through the 1930s. Today, Stellas (Latin for

“star”) are widely collected, selling for upwards of $10,000. And although age does breed a coveted sound, it also introduces a host of structural problems that often render these instruments unplayable.

That’s where Michael Hauver comes in.

From Collector to LuthierA long-time blues guitar enthusiast and musician, Hauver had collected a great number of vintage guitars, all in need of repair. One day, he decided to saw one apart and analyze how it was built. From there he began repairing his guitars, and took on jobs from friends and fellow collectors. Over time, he earned his reputation as the “go-to” guy for vintage, and specifically Stella, guitar restoration and refurbishing. What he had yet to learn was modern guitar-building techniques.

Hauver wanted to build new guitars the same way the old guitars were built back in the 1920s and 30s, with ladder—or “lateral”—bracing. “Ladder-braced guitars use less wood on top, producing immediacy and clarity of sound and a dry, burly tone that’s characteristic of the old blues,” he explains.

After the 1930s, “X” bracing became popular be-cause it supported heavier strings that amplify volume. Today, guitars simply plug into electric amps for more sound, thus removing amplification as a building factor.

“Music mimics the human voice, and all instruments are about imitating.” —MichaelHauver

Hauver felt the time was right for ladder bracing (see an example behind Michael’s left shoulder in the photo at left) to make a comeback. And in 2000 he attended the American School of Lutherie in Healdsburg, California, where he studied with Charles Fox.

Soon after, he opened Allegheny Blues Guitars in Sharpsburg, Maryland, and the first Hauver Guitar was released—a 12-string grand concert Stella replica based on the 1920s Galliano model. A series of models soon followed, all inspired by original Stella models and the great bluesmen who played them: the “Charley Patton,” the “Barbeque Bob,” the “Blind Blake,” “The Gambler” and “The Mustacio Grand Concert.”

New-Time Features for Old-Time GuitarsHauver builds four types of guitars, from smallest to largest: the concert, grand concert, auditorium and jumbo. “All can be built with six or twelve strings,” he says.

He builds each one to “fit” each individual for comfort and playability. He adjusts neck scale, shape and width to support a player’s reach and hand size; he lowers the strings so playing is low and easy on the fingers; and by using u

By Paula Pennell

PHOTO Paula Pennell

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Charlie Patton (grand concert guitar). Charlie Patton is considered in some circles to be the father of country blues guitar. The label features a Neil Harpe lithograph adapted from the only existing photo of Patton.

Hauver’s “Mustachio” Grand Concert Guitar has the same body dimensions and ladder bracing pattern as the 1920s A. Galiano guitar. The bracing runs horizontally from side to side and lends to the guitar’s dry, burly tone.

different woods, bindings and purflings (ornamental borders), rosettes, lacquers and decals, Hauver transforms each instrument into a true, one-of-a-kind reflection of the player behind the guitar.

As originally planned, he combines new-time features with old-time building techniques. “I build new guitars for players who want a vintage look and sound.” He also builds guitars that are easy to maintain and built to last. Three truss rods are built into the neck for strength. Two are carbon fiber, which has the weight of wood and the strength of steel, and one is adjustable to correct string tension. “The adjustable rod bends the neck either way so it stays in place,” he says, adding that he also uses bolt-on necks rather than glued-on to allow for easy neck resets, and reverse kerfing (lining)for added stability around the sides.

Hauver insists on building his guitars of solid wood. “Different woods produce different sound characteristics,” he explains. “For instance, maple

Gambler (auditorium) twelve-string guitar with decal motif of playing cards. These guitars are offered with six or twelve strings in several sizes and with a mother-of-pearl fingerboard.

Auditorium 12-string guitar. “Huddie ‘Lead Belly’ Ledbetter is undoubtedly the most famous name associated with the Stella twelve-string guitar,” says Hauver.

produces a harder sound, rosewood produces a softer sound, and mahogany produces a sound that’s in the middle of the road. I try to build a lot of warmth into my guitars,” he says. “Players can add the edge, but if the guitar is already bright sounding, you can never make it warm. Brightness can be added through the playing.” As for good tone, Hauver says the secret is keeping the bridge in the belly of the guitar. “That’s what Oscar Schmidt did.”

The Story Behind the LabelRecently, Hauver began engraving his name into his gui-tar handles, but the true brand of a Hauver guitar is in

the old-style label that displays from the interior. Neil Harpe, a blues musician/artist/collector/dealer and long-time friend u

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For more information, visit www.hauverguitars.com.

Little Toby Walker talks through the structure of a Hauver “Blind Blake” guitar and plays a demo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVfqUBGThWg A look at how an old Stella guitar is restored: http://www.stellaguitars.com/restoration%20of%20a%20Stella.htmR.L. Burnside plays the Hauver “Charley Patton” Guitar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjaYhhe2oWE&play next_from=TL&videos=dgqKXVr7LHAToby Walker plays the “Barbecue Bob” 12-string guitar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7plVe3VkQRg

of Hauver, designed the labels, which feature Harpe’s lithographic prints of old-time blues players based on early Stella labels. Harpe’s artwork is a natural fit for the Hauver brand. “Neil created those lithographs 15 years before I even began building guitars,” he says.

Hauver stays busy in his small studio filling orders for his “new-old” guitars and performing high-end repairs on guitars from all over the United States, Aus-tralia, Germany, Spain and the U.K. “I can complete one guitar in about 60 hours over a 6-week period,“ he says. “Much of that is downtime for drying and curing.”

His well-earned reputation continues to gain visibility as modern blues artists like Little Toby Walker, Stefan Grossman, Tom Feldmann and Happy Traum sing Hauver’s praises and use his guitars to teach future generations of blues musicians. “People see these instructors using my guitars and they want the same sound,” he says.

They also want the best of both worlds—new guitars with old sound. On this note, Hauver more than delivers. fluent

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