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July 2003 |
Dear Friends,
I would like to invite you to take a fresh look at our web site at www.hillguitar.com. We have just completed an update that should make clear some of the exciting changes that have been quietly taking place here at Hill Guitar Company recently.
For the past three years, really, we have been working hard to upgrade our shop here in Felton California, and it is working quite nicely now, producing some amazing guitars, including my Signature Model, a great Miguel Rodriguez style instrument, a Crossover Model and a delicious Antonio de Torres Model. You can see more about each of these guitars on the web site. Also there is a new FAQ section, some more articles that I've published, Tech Notes articles, new photos, comments from customers, and still more to come.
We have just announced an additional guitar making class for September 8-19. The July class sold out quickly, and I decided to squeeze in another class so I wouldn't have to leave anyone out. There are still a couple of spots in the September class, and I should mention that I don't know when (or if) the next class might take place.
Hill Guitar is participating in a unique event, the Classical Guitar Cruise of the Mexican Riviera on the cruise ship carnival Pride December 7-14, 2003, leaving from Los Angeles for ports of call in Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. The event is becoming a guitar festival on a ship with artists like Benjamin Verdery, David Tannenbaum, Muriel Anderson and many others, and the cruise will be giving away a Hill Guitar Rodriguez Model as a door prize. You could have a great vacation, and if your lucky, come home with a great guitar as well. For complete details look at www.classicalguitarcruise.com or call us here.
And, by the way, we will be exhibiting at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival, August 14-17 at Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa, and at La Guitarra California Festival, September 26-28 at Cuesta College in San Louis Obispo. Hope to see you, somewhere.
In the August 2003 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine I am proud to see an article that I wrote about Antonio de Torres. Last year I received an 1856 Torres guitar for repair from my good friend Fred Walecki at Westwood Music in Los Angeles. This guitar really affected me. Just being in touch with this piece of guitar history was a great privilege, and I'm very grateful to Fred for sending it my way. I wound up contracting with Mark Tossman from Carmel Valley to help me with the repairs. Mark has tremendous experience in restorations of historic (and valuable) instruments, and I learned a lot by working with him. I've built a jillion guitars of all sorts, but repair is an art of its own, and it's good to know when to stand back and let the experts work. Mark did nice work. When the guitar was done I played a concert on it here locally. What fun. Anyway, this Torres guitar led me to investigate more about him, resulting in this article. The good people at Acoustic Guitar Magazine did a nice job putting it together - they worked hard on it. Check it out.
I've been to China three times over the past year. Just as a teaser I'll say that I'm working on some guitar projects there that I will be talking about over the next few months, but needless to say it has been a cultural adventure and personal eye opener that I never expected to experience. I'll tell you all about it later.
I know there is more to tell, but I have to get ready for this class. Thanks for being with us. I love this work. Guitars are more important than ever - music is more important than ever. We need it to make us whole, and keep us growing. Never stop growing.
Kenny Hill
July 8, 2003
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