1993 Thomas Humphrey "Millennium" CD/CSAR

This 1993 Thomas Humphrey "Millennium" is a classical guitar with a cedar top and CSA rosewood back and sides, built in New York and later looked after by Yuris Zeltins – from the Russell Cleveland collection.

Humphrey's Millennium in Cedar

Played by Sharon Isbin, the Assads, Eliot Fisk, Ben Verdery and countless other concert artists, the "Millennium" model is the design that made Thomas Humphrey famous. Its revolution lay in the re-thought soundboard bracing, aimed at increased transmission of tone, and in the playability of its best-known feature, the elevated fingerboard – which several other makers have adopted since Humphrey popularized it.

Sound and Materials

Tonally it is a classic Humphrey of 1993: powerful, "hollow" and focused, with the projection that makes these guitars a natural choice for the concert stage.

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

Condition

Yuris Zeltins did some minor repairs to some hairline (invisible) cracks in the top; otherwise the guitar is in excellent condition.

From the Russell Cleveland Collection

This guitar comes from the Russell Cleveland collection.

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.