Style 2 Hourglass

By the time Weissenborn started referring to his Hawaiian guitars in numerical "Styles", (around the time of his company formation in 1923) , he had already been making his guitars in each style for some years, even though they were not referred to as such.

As far as I am aware, all the early pre-production hollow neck models were what went onto be called Style 2s, and came in a wide range of construction details. Interestingly enough, despite Weissenborns fondness for this style, these were not big sellers when it came to production models. As George Noe pointed out in his book, most players in the 1920s fell into two camps; either they wanted a nice Weissenborn guitar, or they wanted a fancy one.

And not much has changed today. As a maker, the only other Style 2 I had built was during my prototyping years, and so naturally I was thrilled to receive the opportunity to build a proper reproduction in the old style.


Here is the result of many months hard work - a Style 2 in the late 1920s style, featuring old growth Koa wood, hide glue construction throughout and hand applied nitrocellulose over a natural resin called Seedlac. The tuners are by National Resophonic, retrofitted to my specifications.

After building the guitar and having it around the shop for a while, aesthetically the Style 2 is really something that grows on you. But mostly this guitar's charm lays in its voice - this is a gorgeous sounding and playing instrument, and I am really happy for the client with how well it turned out.

Reader Questions

I often receive questions regarding Weissenborns, and im always happy to discuss anything Weissenborn related - so if you have a question feel free to shoot me an email. This one covered some of the misinformation floating around about Weissenborns, so I thought others might find it interesting;

Hi Tony,
I follow the restauration of the teardrop, it's very interesting, i 'm waiting for the other parts;)

Tony ,I have a question for you:
I am found of Weissenborn's guitars since i've discovered Ben Harper's music, almost 15 years ago. Since then, i have tryed to collect as much informations, pics etc.. as i could ; particulary for my instruments projects .
Anyway, everybody do agree to say those instruments (hourglass, teardrop, konas certainly the same as ukes and spanish guitars...) sound purely amazing. The fact is that, sometimes, we can notice some small 'imperfections' in the building , rough internal surfaces,joint reinforcement not on the axe,i've heard about asymetrical body shape, i've seen tuners not well mounted...Finally, even if this presentation above is quite superficial and does not treat about what make a good sounding instrument, i wonder if Mr Hermann was a genious, who find the balance between, quick effective building process and sound, or if he was a just a 'good' luthier who had the 'chance' to find such wonderfull designs.

I'm particulary dubious about the fact that, i've seen numbers of original weiss with the tuners installed the wrong way (the key's gear not balancing the string force applied on the tuner head)
Can the design of the tuners allow to make the mistake of mounting them upside down during a restauration, or was it a 'normal mistake'?

Sorry for this long monospeaking message ;) hope it won't bother you.
Regards
Matthieu

Dear Matthieu,

Thanks for your message. This covers a lot of ground but I will do my best to answer everything as best I can.

To understand the ‘imperfections’ you are talking about, I think it’s really important to firstly understand things in perspective of the time and context in which they were built. Weissenborn began making Hawaiian guitars in the late 19’teens. Through his experimentation and relentless refinement, in less than a decade, he was able to take the style of instrument as it existed at the time, and shape it into what has become the modern standard by which all others are judged today. If you didn’t already know, George Noe and Dan Most documented this chronology in their exceptional book.

Looking at and playing Weissenborns guitars, It’s obvious that Weissenborn could articulate his craft at a high level, used finest quality material, and knew what he was after. There is no doubt he operated with a certain frugality (not uncommon for many makers at that time), but mostly I would say he focused on the detail.

I often hear about the ‘imperfections’, as you say, such as saw marks or glue squeeze out. I think the negativity surrounding this comes from some old, very misleading marketing into what at the time was a uneducated market - largely preconditioned to expect the sterile surfaces of guitars made with synthetic glue.You see these same maker marks at vintage Martins or Gibsons, and it does not mean the guitars are made badly, to me at least they are just made in a different time, more craftsman like if you will.


As far as the reverse tuners, this is how early tuning machines were made, with the worm shaft below the gear. Here is a picture found on the net to illustrate;

Around the early 1920s, the industry began making tuners with the worm shaft above the gear, like we see on tuners today. Why the change? Well, as you alluded to, any slop is pulled tight by the string tension, and tuning is much easier. So I wouldn’t say these early tuners are wrong, they can still work quite well, and simply engineered differently.

With regards to the mounting, with the exception of some curious early examples, they are mounted toward the treble side. Why? It makes tuning easier and more comfortable from the players perspective.


I hope this helps.

Best,

Tony Francis

NZ Music Month at Te Papa

As part of May Music Month, I will be talking at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa on Saturday 15th. Come along and bring a friend to the Marae, Level 4 at 1 pm. Free entry. I will have a couple of my latest guitars on display, and Thomas Oliver will be putting them through their paces in acoustic and over-driven demonstrations. Anyone is welcome to come and play one of my guitars at the end.

For more info see the Te Papa website.

For all my international based clients, we are hoping to have this gig filmed and on youtube at a later date.

Raw Power

I first met James Williamson after he contacted me about an old Spanish neck Weissenborn he had acquired. It turned out his Style A was really rare and in fantastic condition. You can read more about that wonderful guitar in James' article in the Winter '08 issue of the Fretboard Journal.

One thing lead to another and somehow I ended up making James a guitar. I had been sitting on this one special set of Koa for years, and when James expressed an interest, I knew I had found its owner. Patterned after my favorite late 1920s Style 4, this guitar has killer pillow figured Koa wood, Rope marquetry in Holly and Cocobola, flame Maple bridge and hide glue construction throughout. It is also the first guitar to feature the full line of my 1920s spec custom hardware.

James was really interested in learning about how this style of instrument was made, and so it was a great privilege to take him through some of the details over the course of its construction. He posted about it over at the Steelguitarforum, where you can check it out:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5





Making this guitar for James was a real privilege and honor. James is a man of real talent, humility and great Mana. He is also one of the kindest persons you could hope to meet.

I hope at some stage (after the Stooges tour) to persuade James to make an audio clip of this guitar. I will keep you posted!

Number One - Intro

Kia ora.

My name is Tony Francis. In 2005 I began my tenure as a guitar maker and vintage guitar repairman, specializing in Weissenborn Hawaiian slide guitars from the 1920s and 1930s. H.Weissenborn brought a level of craftsmanship to his instruments that is unsurpassed today. In a sea of disposable instruments, both now and then, the curious Weissenborn remains a much misunderstood masterpiece of acoustic purity and fine detail.

From my shop deep in the pacific, I hope I can take you into Weissenborns work through a unique luthiers perspective, and see what lays behind the curtain. Through my vintage work, I want to produce the finest Hawaiian slide guitars on the market - Period.