Stephen Hill 2021 Classical Guitar Cedar/Exotic Ebony

Details
      

• Year: 2021
• Country: Spain
  
• Back & Sides: Exotic Ebony
  
• Top: Cedar
  
• Scale Length: 650mm
  
• Finish: French Polish
  
• Nut Width: 52mm
  
• Case: Yes

Background:

British luthier Stephen Hill has been producing fine guitars since 1985, following a short apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. Early on Stephen studied guitar with Paco Pena, Juan Serrano, El Carbonaro and others in Spain after building his first flamenco guitar in 1988. During this time he spent many hours in the workshops of Manuel Reyes (Cordoba), Antonio Marin Montero (Granada) and other legends of the guitar making world. Following closely in the Spanish tradition, Stephen acquired the skills of his craft through hard work and isolation, travel and contemplation, and the a gradual refining of his sound and style over many years. From 1998, Stephen began to spend more and more time in Spain while running a thriving workshop in Lewes, England. 

But in 2004, he permanently moved to La Herradura by the coast in Granada province, Andalucia, the home of legendary Andres Segovia. La Herradura is also home of the Andres Segovia International Guitar Competition. In addition to building guitars, Stephen also teaches the art of guitar making for 2 months every year to students from all over the world. Stephen is the founder and director of the European Institute of guitar making based in La Herradura, Granada. Stephen also does high quality restoration work and has worked on some of the finest guitars in the world including Antonio de Torres, Hauser, Fleta, Bouchet, Manuel Reyes, Ramirez, Fabricatore and countless others. The opportunity to examine and appraise these historic guitars has added to his experience and knowledge as a veteran builder.

Description:

Typical of the ‘Granada’ style, this is a lightly built instrument with a big, punchy attack and very lively character of sound. It has lyrical trebles and plump, juicy basses. It’s very sensitive to the touch and position of the hands and so has great color, dynamics and expression. The smoothly rounded neck is very comfortable and easy to play for virtually any hand type or size. For this guitar, Stephen chose a fine cedar top, and a set of stunning exotic ebony for the sides and 4-piece back.

For this guitar he used a Bouchet-style bracing system of 5 fans (with the middle 3 passing through notches in the bridge bar), the lower harmonic bar is slit in 2 halfway along its length in the treble-side direction to give an asymmetric aspect to the thin cedar top. Stephen has implemented this new aspect to achieve more clarity and balance, as well as a great treble response and more open sensitive basses. Overall, a very versatile concert and recording guitar.