650, 628 and 615

We often get questions about our shorter scale guitars, so here's a photo of 3 New World PLAYER model Guitars: 650, 628 and 615. The 2 on the left are Western red cedar and the one on the right is European spruce. You can get a sense the shorter scale guitars have smaller and different shaped bodies. 650 and 628 have 52mm [2 inch] fingerboards at the nut, the 615 has a slightly narrower 48mm [ 1 7/8"] fingerboard at the nut.

While the shorter string length means easier multifret stretches, the shorter string length also means less string tension, so the strings are easier to press.

These ergonomic benefits do not mean you have to compromise on quality. While smaller guitars may suit students and young people, these are not guitars for children. These guitars have a full, robust, satisfying sound, and are a complete joy to play.

All the PLAYER models are solid woods, Indian rosewood back and sides, ebony fingerboard, Spanish cedar necks. They all feature an adjustable truss rod, and easy to care for high gloss finish.

The shorter string length guitars offer smaller players and those with restricted reach access to a truly high quality, excellent sounding and comfortable instrument.

Hill Guitar at GFA Austin

2010 Guitar Foundation of America Convention & Competition

The Long Center for the Performing Arts
Austin, Texas
June 22-27, 2010
Hosted by the Austin Classical Guitar Society

Kenny will be there June 24 through 27. He'll have new PERFORMANCE and SIGNATURE models available to try as well as a lovely maple Torres FE-18 and New World models. Be sure to stop by our table.

How to Distinguish Something Special

2010 Hill PERFORMANCE model #3029
Lattice-Braced Double-top
$5500 with hardshell case
SOLD

The PERFORMANCE models are a very comfortable modern guitars with a lot of power, flexibility and range for the serious player and professional at an accessible price.

As you may know, every handmade guitar is different. After our guitars are strung the first time, like a maternity ward, we meet our new charges, sense those differences and speculate on their future.

Depending on how long the new guitars hang around the showroom, we can appreciate how their sound changes as they start t0 mature. Sometimes an instrument may sound a bit muted on one string at first, and within a day or two, it locks into expectations. Sometimes a guitar is exceptional right out of the chute.

#3029 is one of those SPECIAL ones.

We have been informal about this kind of situation in the past, to the point of not bothering to mention it to anyone, even the buyer. After all, not everyone's tastes are the same, and we've established a level of expected excellence in our instruments we needn't tinker with.

On the other hand, for those who might be interested, this brand-new lively guitar is really special already. It's unlikely we'll create any formal method of acknowledging this phenomenon in the future other a blog item, but we think you'll agree if you get a chance to play or buy it.

Kenny Hill Finishes New Composition THERE AND GONE

When I first started playing classical guitar I was around 23 years old, and I wanted to do just two things — play Bach, and write music. So that's what I did. It was a limited diet, personally satisfying, but eventually I needed to branch out to learn more about guitar playing and a broader musical vocabulary. I did indeed write quite a bit of music in those days (the 1970's) but it has fallen by the wayside and is now lost in filing cabinets in my attic. I've wanted to get back to writing, but my standards are higher now, and it can be a lot of work to write music, especially good music, and I've been kind of busy.

Jump to last January, I was in China and got an email from Randall Kohl. He was a student at UC Santa Cruz back when I was teaching there (1979-1982) and now he's a PhD and professor of music at the University in Jalapa Mexico. He recently got a grant to publish an anthology of American guitar music, and he asked me to contribute. I guess he was still thinking of me as the person I was then, which I'm mostly not, but I was flattered. I hadn't written anything in 30 years, but he suggested I could submit something from back then. That didn't seem quite right for me, so I immediately started on a new work. He gave me a deadline of May 1st, 3 months!

And it worked! I started the piece late January, and now it's done. And I like it. It's titled "There and Gone", whatever that means. I'm learning to play it now. I know that seems odd, that I can't automatically play something I've written, but it's just not so easy. I have to break it down and learn it bit by bit, just as I would any other piece. It's hard but it's fun.

I'm going to premier the piece on Sunday June 6th at the New Music Works Avant Garden Party, as well as playing some other pieces by my friends Andy York and James Kline. I'm a little nervous about it, but I've got to do it, that's what the music is for. Maybe you can come,there will be lots of other music and food and drink, it should be a great musical/garden event.

My friend Kevin MacDowell is doing the type setting of There and Gone in Finale, something I don't know how to do, and don't want to know how. It's brave of him to read my awful handwriting, and exciting to see this music come into print. It will be published in Kohl's anthology eventually, but in the meantime I'll be curious to see if anyone besides me learns it. Almer said he would, and I hope he does, he's such a great player.

The cool side effect is that there are other pieces bubbling to the surface. I don't have a deadline in front of me now to force action, but maybe I'll stay focused enough to harvest some more music. It's an interesting process. It seems like music is just hanging in the air all around, and it just needs some kind of special instrument to dial in and capture it. A little time spent each day, and somehow miraculously the music takes shape. It's refreshing, satisfying.

3 NEW Guitars in the SHOWROOM

We've listed 3 new guitars in the Showroom this afternoon: A Brazilian rosewood Signature, and Master Series' Rodriguez and Hauser '37 models.

The Signature features a beautiful European spruce/western red cedar double top with lattice bracing. One of the last of our knock-out Brazilian rosewood sets. And it sounds fantastic.

These 2 Master Series guitars, the most popular Rodriguez and Hauser '37 will be the last for the next 3-5 months, since there are no more in production...and maybe longer than that. So if Hermann or Miguel float your boat, you'd better jump as the rumored rising tide won't find any boats for the foreseeable future.

Lastly, for those paying attention, the BZ Signature is listed for sale at a $700 discount, so it's likely to disappear into a lucky someone's music room before you know it.

New 640mm SIGNATURE in the SHOWROOM for sale

This is a new Hill Standard Signature with double top: western red cedar/nomex/European spruce, elevated fingerboard, sound ports, 640mm scale.

We don't make a lot of these, but when we do, they go fast. {edit 4/12} SOLD TODAY. Let us know if you'd like one of these, and we'll build one for you.


More and more people seem to be seeking the slightly shorter scale length.

This guitar is braced with traditional fan bracing, although we have made a number of lattice braced models.

This one has a wide tonal palette, a natural warm sound with a lot of projection.

The guitar comes with a new double arched TKL 9100 case.

There are no more 640mm Signatures presently in the pipeline for the foreseeable future, so if you've been looking for one, this is it.

More photos and specs available in the SHOWROOM.

New HILL PERFORMANCE Models

The Performance Series is our latest line of guitars designed and built in the Hill Guitar workshop here in California. The intent of these guitars is to offer a high quality modern concert instrument at a medium price. The Performance Series is constructed in the traditional Spanish style, with the integral body and neck joint, but incorporates a modern soundboard, with double top and either lattice bracing, or fan-bracing. Sound ports are also part of the design, unless requested otherwise.

I've been working on this series for over a year now, and we finally introduced it officially at the NAMM show in January 2010. The response was great, and I took many orders from dealers at the show. Until now they have all had lattice bracing, with both cedar and spruce double tops. As usual, the double top includes BOTH spruce and cedar, with the outer wood giving the dominant tonal influence. The guitars are powerful, and have a wide range of color, with the easy dynamic range and palette I have come to expect from the double top. The lattice gives a very quick response, and strong punch. We'll soon have some fan-braced versions completed, offering that choice of traditional, beautiful tone.

To contrast the Performance with the Signature, the most significant difference is that the Signature has the elevated fingerboard, while the Performance has a traditional fingerboard. Other differences include, the Signature has the sides laminated with cypress, while the Performance is normal solid wood sides, the Signature has V joint for the head, while the performance has a traditional scarf joint, and the tuners on the Performance are Gotoh, rather than the Sloane tuners used on the Signature. Also, the Performance has a simpler binding and purfling scheme, but with mahogany bindings that set off the outline of the instrument in a striking and beautiful way.

Over time we will develop a range of variations, such as string lengths, (640mm, 630mm etc,) other materials, (maple, Madagascar rosewood, cypress) and probably a cutaway and a narrow neck version. I hope to see it become a full line of high performance nylon string guitars to fill the needs of many kinds of players.

The Performance Series offers an excellent, world class guitar at a workable price. There are real differences between the Performance and Signature models, they are both very exciting to play, and they both are of a quality and superiority that belies their prices. This new Performance Series offers unique features and a level of quality that is not available anywhere else in the market.

If this strikes you interest please contact you local dealer and ask to try one out, or contact us with any questions at 1-800-262-8858, or email me at khill@hillguitar.com.