Huss & Dalton Musical Instruments

We were fortunate to be able to take a field trip through the Huss & Dalton Musical Instruments facility this week.  Although this field trip was with our homeschool group, this was TOTALLY for my husband, the girls and I just went as his alibi.  So if you saw a bright light glaring from our area, it was the husband, BEAMING at the craftsmanship, the wood, the sawdust.  This is his element.

Now, I’m not even going to pretend I can tell you what each photo is.  Because this is NOT my element.  But here is a photographic glimpse of the guitar building process.

I didn’t know it, but stringed instruments have braces under the top, to of course strengthen, but more to allow the sound to vibrate out and give the smooth sound.  See, this was educational, for me anyway.  Here is an up close photo of the underneath side of one of the guitars with the braces in place. 

Mr. Huss himself, working on a guitar neck.

Two of the poplar trees, planted by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello fell sometime in the recent history.  The trees were processed, and Huss & Dalton is making guitars from those trees.  Below is some of the remaining poplar.  An interesting side note, those guitars sold for $15,000 each (yes that is the correct amount).

This next photo looks SO much better on my camera.  If you look closely at the back of this guitar, you’ll see the reflection of all the tools that are sitting on the work table across from it. The shine is that intense, it’s like a mirror in real life…but here it may just look like smudges.

Pieces parts of banjos in the works.

A few of the finished products, waiting to be shipped.

If for any reason, you’ve ever wondered what a really mad girl friend with a hammer can do to your high end guitar…well here’s the answer.

The folks at Huss & Dalton were wonderful.  They were super nice, really knowledgeable and you could tell they loved what they were doing.