Thanks Ted, Your evaluation of the two Arthur Hensel guitars was absolutely fascinating and historically significant. I suspect that the explanation of the peghead design is quite simply that it required absolutely no investment in materials. The entire rather attractive artwork was accomplished with only hand tools. It also advertised his name in a way that couldn't be concealed. Thanks for the videos, I really appreciate them !
You will find that the bridge pin holes are drilled on a angle from tail towards heel. My artist has a 4 peice top as well as the back. They have a maple rectangular dowel as a truss brace subject to lots of relief.
I am really digging your videos. The edits, voice-overs, and camera angles are top-notch. Making videos like these is time consuming - thanks for sharing them!
I'm a new subscriber. Found your vids a couple of days ago and have gone down a rabbit hole. Really love the detail and explanations, and the knife work is impressive. Bon job.
I think you're dot on about the second guitar being in a window or something for a long time, that colour on the frets would have been from the shadows cast by the frets I recon
I just love all your roasts of the repairs on the second Hensel! They really did just pick up some cheap parts from the Home Depo to fix it and probably got angry that they couldn’t remove the neck 🤣.
I have one with only his name across the top of the head. Solid also. No cut outs. Wondering if it might have been one of his last. I think the tuning pegs are from the 50s. "N DELUX" brand name but could have been added. The bridge has a serious angle to it. Maybe to compensate for the issue mentioned in this video. There are a few slideshow pics of the guitar on my channel for the Hensel experts out there. Great qualty videos by the way. You do awesome work.
I'm starting to think that mine might even be bogus. Not sure why anyone would bother, but maybe someone carved Hensel onto something else. Would have to have been a long time ago.
If you think about it, in the 1930s inlay would be really expensive due to the economic crash, and employing people would be very cheap considering a great number of the workforce was unemployed. Also paying an old person who couldnt afford to retire to carve these would be easy. Thats my hypothesis anyway as to why he would do that instead of pearl inlay, but certainly more than painting it on.
As this video is 4 years old I realize there isn't much chance of getting an answer but what would one of these guitars go for? A friend has one that he wants to sell me. Going to look at it in a couple of days, he says it's made in 1936. Headstock is basically the same as these two
That last guitar top I've seen that type of wide line spruce on imported acoustic guitars and that action looks high for slide. People held on to these old guitars, could have very nice tone once it's done repairing.
Thanks for the video. Just discovered your channel. One little mystery I might be able to help with - the headstocks. You say why didn't he silk screen? That technology did exist in the 30s but it was just starting to become popular. He may well have had no idea how to do it. If he was a violin maker in the old country, then he would have necessarily had great skill with chisel-like implements of all sort, however, and it would just be the simplest and most obvious thing to make his mark there in the most prominent place using the tools he was already extremely fluent with. He was probably able to do that headstock quite a bit more quickly than you imagine. The "scroll" of the headstock is the one place a violinmaker gets to free-carve and show off his skill where it can be seen, and it's done with chisel-like tools including some that I suspect would match up very well with what you're seeing in the wood.
I love your hypothesis, Columbo! And the first thing I thought when I saw the second guitar was Douglas fir, so we're in agreement there. These guitars raise a lot a questions, don't they? I've never seen one out here in Vancouver, but I suppose that's not too surprising.
Gibson had some very blonde J-50s and Epiphone Texans in 1966-1967. Very blond. Some had the black dart, or point, whatever it was called, maybe a nod to early ‘50s J-200s that were also natural finish?
After carving violins, carving his name on the headstock may have seemed an easy way to distract from substandard materials and lack of precision workmanship. Or maybe not.
He came to Toronto in the early 30's from Germany. Possibly the son of a foreman in one of the German violin making firms. He built for the RS Williams company, which was a distributer for mail-order catalogs and music stores until the early 40's, and then under his own name into the 60's.
Top of the second guitar looks alot like hemlock. Weird choice in any case. The back looks just like luann plywood...which is radial cut and gives it the characteristic grain and texture. Also really weird.
I've got a little bit of a tough question you may be able to help with. I see one of these acoustics pop up every now and then but they usually seem to be over priced. what kind of price range should one expect to pay for one of these?
my favorite guitar of all time is a Musima Nashville, made in east germany. the apprentice that learned and worked for musima later went USA and today it is Martin guitars. so all the first martin designes are a 1-1 copy of that musima guitar ;) and you can find them for around 400-500 euro if you are lkucky to find one. superb quality and sounds way better then any martin out there.
Why would anyone do a thumbs down on these videos ? They are very well done and free instruction 🤔 I guess we all have our critics !
It's a true pleasure watching you do your craft. Thanks for sharing it
I can watch this stuff all day, great work! Well spoken luthier!
Thanks Ted, Your evaluation of the two Arthur Hensel guitars was absolutely fascinating and historically significant. I suspect that the explanation of the peghead design is quite simply that it required absolutely no investment in materials. The entire rather attractive artwork was accomplished with only hand tools. It also advertised his name in a way that couldn't be concealed. Thanks for the videos, I really appreciate them !
Discovery each time! Beautiful guitars really. Thanks Ted for sharing your talents and skills 🎶🎶🎶
Cool Guitars, I'm not sure yet if there are any other videos of these being fixed but they're cool
Awesome! love to watch you work on the Hansels
You will find that the bridge pin holes are drilled on a angle from tail towards heel. My artist has a 4 peice top as well as the back. They have a maple rectangular dowel as a truss brace subject to lots of relief.
I am really digging your videos. The edits, voice-overs, and camera angles are top-notch. Making videos like these is time consuming - thanks for sharing them!
I'm a new subscriber. Found your vids a couple of days ago and have gone down a rabbit hole. Really love the detail and explanations, and the knife work is impressive. Bon job.
I think you're dot on about the second guitar being in a window or something for a long time, that colour on the frets would have been from the shadows cast by the frets I recon
I just love all your roasts of the repairs on the second Hensel! They really did just pick up some cheap parts from the Home Depo to fix it and probably got angry that they couldn’t remove the neck 🤣.
Lots of repair ahead ,tnx for posting
I love Ted's vaguely dismissive "HMmmm" . . . . "The outline is a bit ... HMmmmm"
😄
I have one with only his name across the top of the head. Solid also. No cut outs. Wondering if it might have been one of his last. I think the tuning pegs are from the 50s. "N DELUX" brand name but could have been added. The bridge has a serious angle to it. Maybe to compensate for the issue mentioned in this video. There are a few slideshow pics of the guitar on my channel for the Hensel experts out there. Great qualty videos by the way. You do awesome work.
I'm starting to think that mine might even be bogus. Not sure why anyone would bother, but maybe someone carved Hensel onto something else. Would have to have been a long time ago.
HENSEL, AGAIN??? Don't you have any pre-Hensel tales? ...2-3-4! Great show.
OMG, what a horrible pun... and as such, I approve! Lol
One of these days I would like to get a Hensel for myself.
Thanks for another great lesson. 👍
dammit you are erudite! thanks for being brilliant absolutely the best luthier i have ever watched
If you think about it, in the 1930s inlay would be really expensive due to the economic crash, and employing people would be very cheap considering a great number of the workforce was unemployed. Also paying an old person who couldnt afford to retire to carve these would be easy.
Thats my hypothesis anyway as to why he would do that instead of pearl inlay, but certainly more than painting it on.
I think the Holes in each side of the fingerboard were For where a Pick up was fitted !
I love them headstocks .
As this video is 4 years old I realize there isn't much chance of getting an answer but what would one of these guitars go for? A friend has one that he wants to sell me. Going to look at it in a couple of days, he says it's made in 1936. Headstock is basically the same as these two
Never seen a finger jointed brace before.
That last guitar top I've seen that type of wide line spruce on imported acoustic guitars and that action looks high for slide. People held on to these old guitars, could have very nice tone once it's done repairing.
Thanks! Are all of these X braced??
Thanks for the video. Just discovered your channel. One little mystery I might be able to help with - the headstocks. You say why didn't he silk screen? That technology did exist in the 30s but it was just starting to become popular. He may well have had no idea how to do it. If he was a violin maker in the old country, then he would have necessarily had great skill with chisel-like implements of all sort, however, and it would just be the simplest and most obvious thing to make his mark there in the most prominent place using the tools he was already extremely fluent with. He was probably able to do that headstock quite a bit more quickly than you imagine. The "scroll" of the headstock is the one place a violinmaker gets to free-carve and show off his skill where it can be seen, and it's done with chisel-like tools including some that I suspect would match up very well with what you're seeing in the wood.
Could that second Hensel be somehow a marriage of two different guitars? Headstock, neck, and bridge original and the body from something else?
Those holes on the neck might be for a top mounted pickup.
I love your hypothesis, Columbo! And the first thing I thought when I saw the second guitar was Douglas fir, so we're in agreement there. These guitars raise a lot a questions, don't they? I've never seen one out here in Vancouver, but I suppose that's not too surprising.
Gibson had some very blonde J-50s and Epiphone Texans in 1966-1967. Very blond. Some had the black dart, or point, whatever it was called, maybe a nod to early ‘50s J-200s that were also natural finish?
Great video. I have a Hensel Minerva, do you anything about that model...I can’t anything on this model.
I've only worked on Artists. I've never seen a Minerva. I know he made some mandolins, too.
Shawn. I have a Minerva too. Love any info on these
Maybe the second one had spent a lot of years sat in a conservatory with lots of sunlight beating down on it
Someone may have added a fretboard mounted electric pick-up with those holes.
After carving violins, carving his name on the headstock may have seemed an easy way to distract from substandard materials and lack of precision workmanship. Or maybe not.
👍👍😎
What's the history behind hensel
He came to Toronto in the early 30's from Germany. Possibly the son of a foreman in one of the German violin making firms. He built for the RS Williams company, which was a distributer for mail-order catalogs and music stores until the early 40's, and then under his own name into the 60's.
that does look like doug fir
So the moral of the story is when Hensel got it right, he got it right. When he didn't, the guitars were basically kindling.
Top of the second guitar looks alot like hemlock. Weird choice in any case. The back looks just like luann plywood...which is radial cut and gives it the characteristic grain and texture. Also really weird.
Guitar elves carve for free at night while you are sleeping.
I've got a little bit of a tough question you may be able to help with. I see one of these acoustics pop up every now and then but they usually seem to be over priced. what kind of price range should one expect to pay for one of these?
Maybe a lefty and a righty were playing this thing ?
Jesus H Christ guitar build. So many bad yet funny comments go through my mind. 😂😂
That’s more than half hrs work on the peg head .
Maybe that guitar is a copy of orgenial guitar. Most likely made in the 70,s. Maybe 60,s. Do you think that's possible?
That seems very unlikely.
The lighter colored one should be named “Gretel”
With all those big differences maybe this is copy instead of a real Hensel?
That seems unlikely.
my favorite guitar of all time is a Musima Nashville, made in east germany. the apprentice that learned and worked for musima later went USA and today it is Martin guitars. so all the first martin designes are a 1-1 copy of that musima guitar ;) and you can find them for around 400-500 euro if you are lkucky to find one. superb quality and sounds way better then any martin out there.
LOL Jesus h crist