Episode 5 - Nik Huber Guitars
I’m not really sure when I first saw one of Nik Huber’s guitars but I’ve been admiring them for a long time, always considering them to be some of the finest crafted guitars out there. After the success of the episode with Patrick Eggle I was looking around for another high end guitar builder to film and so fired off an email to Nik and got a reply straightaway saying they’d be interested in being involved. I have to admit to being pretty excited about getting the chance to look behind-the-scenes at Nik Huber, but despite our best efforts our clashing work schedules meant I had to wait six agonising months before we could find a date that suited both of us. Finally in October we managed to find a time that worked and as I spend part of my time in Chamonix, France I jumped in our clapped out Citroën C1 and set off through Switzerland in the direction of Germany. After what seemed like an endless journey getting stuck in traffic around Karlsruhe and Mannheim I finally made it to the sleepy town of Rodgau just outside Frankfurt
Stepping inside the factory was like entering a guitar wonderland, with incredible looking guitars in various stages of completion everywhere you looked. We started off with Nik taking me on a tour of the whole factory and it quickly became apparent that if you could dream it up, Nik could build it for you. I was blown away by some of the craftsmanship on show, especially the intricate inlay work, and the highlight was definitely a Maori inspired turtle inlay covering the whole body of a Reitbergen hollowbody. After the tour I was pretty excited to get started with the filming and so jumped straight into shooting Nik selecting some tops from his impressive collection of woods, which included some beautiful pieces of 50 year old Brazilian rosewood that had originally been intended for billiard cues.
The next two days became a bit of a blur as I marvelled at the craftsmanship and attention to detail that went in to each stage of the build process and I could have happily spent another week filming. It was also great to hear Nik talk about how he got into guitar building and particularly how he first met Paul Reed Smith in 1994 by blagging his way into a Frankfurt music venue on the pretence of giving Paul some cassette tapes that he needed for the gig. This encounter led to Paul taking Nik under his wing and helping him in his early days of guitar building; being well before the days of the internet Nik would send Paul questions about guitar building via fax, getting answers back days later. When it came round to editing the film Nik managed to dig out some brilliant photos of one of his first meetings with Paul Reed Smith (complete with early 90s hair!) and these made a great addition to the film.
A huge thank you to Nik and Clemens for allowing me the opportunity to come and get in the way for a couple of days. The finished film is available on the Six String Tales YouTube channel now!
nikhuber-guitars.com - instagram.com/nikhuberguitars/ - facebook.com/NikHuberGuitars/