2004 Thomas Humphrey "Millennium" CD/CSAR

This 2004 Thomas Humphrey "Millennium" is a late classical guitar from his New York workshop, with a cedar top and CSA rosewood back and sides.

A 2004 Humphrey Millennium in Cedar and CSA Rosewood

The revolutionary "Millennium" model is Thomas Humphrey's signature design, played over the decades by Sharon Isbin, the Assads, Eliot Fisk and countless other concert artists. Humphrey re-designed the soundboard bracing with the purpose of increased transmission of tone, and gave the guitar its famous elevated fingerboard for playability – an idea several makers have since adopted.

Sound

The sound of this 2004 guitar is the trademark Humphrey tone – powerful, "hollow" and very focused – which is why these instruments shine on the concert stage, where added projection is welcomed by all.

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.