1986 Thomas Humphrey "Millennium" SP/CSAR

From 1986, the year Humphrey began building his new design exclusively, this Thomas Humphrey "Millennium" is a New York classical guitar in spruce and CSA rosewood, in excellent condition.

An Early Thomas Humphrey Millennium

Here is the famous "Millennium" model, pioneered by Thomas Humphrey and heard in the hands of Sharon Isbin, the Assads, Eliot Fisk, Ben Verdery and many others. By re-thinking the soundboard bracing he aimed at increased transmission of tone, and by raising the fingerboard he improved playability – the elevated fingerboard being the feature most players know, and one several makers have adopted since.

Sound and Materials

As for sound, this 1986 guitar has the trademark Humphrey tone: powerful, "hollow" and very focused – a voice made for the concert stage, where its added projection is welcomed by audience and player alike.

Materials are striking – especially the lush set of CSA rosewood used for the back and sides.

Condition

Apart from the center seam below the bridge having been lightly re-glued, the guitar is in excellent condition.

Thomas Humphrey (1948–2008): Classical Guitar Maker in New York

Thomas Humphrey was born in 1948 in Minnesota. Around 1970 he moved to New York City, where he apprenticed with the guitar maker Michael Gurian, and for many years he built his guitars in an apartment workshop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Tom died in Gardiner, New York, in April 2008.

The Millennium: A Revolution in Classical Guitar Design

In the mid-1980s Tom introduced the design that made his name: the Millennium. With its raised fingerboard and newly conceived soundboard bracing, it changed the way many players – and makers – thought about the classical guitar, and the elevated fingerboard has since been taken up by luthiers all over the world. His earlier, traditional instruments are now known as "pre-Millennium" Humphreys. Humphrey guitars have been the concert instruments of many leading guitarists, among them David Starobin, Sharon Isbin, the Assad brothers and Eliot Fisk.