Hancock Guitars.
Dane and Sean Hancock have gained a reputation for building some of the finest classical guitars coming from Australia.
This instrument is based on the famous Herman Hauser 1937 'Segovia' guitar. The sound is very sweet with the balance, clarity and volume of the best Hauser guitars.
The brothers began building guitars at a very early age Dane was 13 years old and Sean only 11 years. Both brothers learnt the craft from their father Kim Hancock who is also a well respected luthier. It is interesting to add that Kim Hancock started cabinet making with tools inherited from his Great Grand father Arthur Collingwood, who was a well known woodcarver in London in the late 18th century working on many landmark buildings including Westminster Cathedral.
Dane and Sean have travelled through Europe, USA and Japan and now sell their instruments through prestigious dealers in all areas. An advantage of visiting some of the world's best classical guitar dealers has been that the family have had the opportunity to study instruments from all the old masters including Torres, Hauser I, II and III, Fleta, Friederich, Santos, Romanillos, Miguel Rodriguez plus many others.
Sean has also learned the Spanish method of guitar building from two of the world's greatest Luthiers, Jose and Liam Romanillos.
Originally Dane and Sean's father owned a Manuel Reyes Flamenco before he started building guitars. The sheer natural beauty of tone lead Kim to adopt the 'traditional Spanish' style of building as oppose to the 'contemporary' style favoured by other Australian classical guitar builders.
Both Dane and Sean have built traditional guitars from the start of their career. They believe that although contemporary concert classical guitars have excellent projection and volume, the tone pays the price.
Select materials are used throughout including a master-grade German spruce top featuring 'bear claw' or 'haselfichte' in the grain. This natural phenomenon is gaining favour with many top luthiers due to both its visual appeal and its tonal attributes. The Indian rosewood back and sides are dark and straight in grain, favoured by the Hancock's. The neck is Spanish cedar and features the traditional 'v' join. The bridge and headstock veneer are Brazilian rosewood, while the fret board is select African Ebony. The finish on the top is French polish, while the back and sides and neck are finished in lacquer, this combination provides durability while not interfering with the sensitive soundboard.
The Hancocks believe that building a great classical guitar requires experience and good intuition and only a hand made instrument can possess the highest quality. Every instrument that leaves the workshop has to be of the highest standard.
Building a truly great guitar requires a balancing act of sound quality, playability, workmanship, material selection and aesthetics. These standards are reflected in the overall quality of this instrument.
Hancock guitars are played by some of Australia's top classical guitarists including Doug de Vries, Ken Murray and Geoffrey Morris.
Sean Hancock.
I build my instruments in the traditional Spanish method using the finest materials available. Traditional timbers, such as Brazilian Rosewood, Indian Rosewood, European Maple and European Spruce are my chosen woods however I also utilise some of the newer materials such as Western Red Cedar, our native Australian Flamed Blackwood and Queensland Maple, as well as the very promising Flamed New Guinea Rosewood.
I begin a guitar life by selecting the timber from which it will be built; examining each piece and making judgements on the visual and tonal qualities. The timbers I use are all hand selected including the Spruce soundboards which I select from Europe.
Because each piece of timber is different, adjustments are made at each stage of the instruments build ensuring the finished instrument has the optimum volume and tone.
Each Guitar takes up to 200 hours to construct and stays in the workshop for around three to four months. This allows time to give every guitar an extremely high level of attention to detail as required by traditional hand-craftsmanship.
Each part of a completed guitar, no matter how small, plays a role in the sound and look of the instrument. It is for this reason that I pay careful consideration to each stage of the construction, ensuring that the completed guitar is at its maximum potential. Each part of every instrument is created by hand, using mostly hand tools.
The bracing and tuning of a soundboard is one of the most important stages in the construction of any instrument. The completed soundboard absorbs the vibrations from the plucked strings producing the song of the guitar, therefore very close attention is paid to the construction of each soundboard ensuring the guitar achieves the desired voice.
My guitars are completely finished by hand using traditional French polish on the soundboard. An extremely thin coating of shellac is applied, which allows the soundboard to vibrate without impedance. The back, sides and neck are finished using either French polish or very thin lacquer, the lacquer gives these areas more protection from playing wear while having no noticeable effect on the sound of the instrument. After the finish is applied it is allowed to cure and then hand polished to a high gloss. The whole finishing process takes about 4 weeks and 30 hours of labour to complete.
Careful attention is paid to the final set-up, the frets are carefully dressed and bevelled and the action is set for an optimum level of tone and playability.
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Table.
European Spruce.
Neck.
Spanish Cedar.
Back and Sides.
Indian Rosewood.
Machine heads.
Reischl.
Finish.
French Polish
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