Vintage musical instruments aren’t made; they’re created. Each instrument has its own personality molded by the craftsman and a sound that develops over the years like the subtle flavoring of a fine wine.
A new exhibit at the New Braunfels Museum of Art & Music in Gruene documents the love and skill that musical-instrument makers around America put into their creations. Hearts & Hands is a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit, built from the national museum’s extensive holdings of handcrafted instruments and photographs. On display through Oct. 19, the museum opens Wednesday through Monday. For more information, call 830/625-5636 or visit their Web site at www.nbmuseum.org.
As a companion to the national show, the New Braunfels museum has filled the Second Floor Gallery with the works of a dozen instrument makers from Texas. Among the exhibit are steel guitars by Herb Remington of Houston, Fredericksburg’s Hill Country Dulcimers, and guitars by Bill Collings, Tom Ellis, Mark Erlewine, and Jamie Kinscherff.
One of the highlights of the show is a resonator guitar built by Wimberley resident Tony Nobles. The shiny red guitar with a silver, teardrop-shaped plate on the front is made in the style of smaller blues guitars rather than its larger country and bluegrass cousin, the Dobro.
Nobles says he likes to coax a big sound out of a smaller instrument. By carefully selecting the materials, the tone of the instrument can be expanded. Because of this, no two instruments sound exactly the same, and the sound develops over years of use.
“That’s why a beat-up, old guitar that has been played every night will sound better than a pristine, high-dollar guitar,” Nobles says. There is something about the use that refines the sound.
Nobles uses rosewood and mahogany in his instruments that are modeled after the 1930s blues guitars. “The fun is manipulating the wood to get the sound you want,” Nobles says. “When you’re dealing with wood, no two pieces are exactly the same. The guitars will be similar, but you want to find the individual ‘voice’ of the guitar.”
Growing up in West Texas, working around his father’s construction company, Nobles nurtured a love for discovering how things worked early. “Out there, if something breaks, you learn to fix it,” he says. Noble’s first guitar was a Martin kit that he put together in shop class.
After earning a degree in industrial technology, Nobles worked for Mark Erlewine in Austin repairing guitars. With seven years of working with Erlewine Guitars under his belt, Nobles opened his own shop in North Austin.
A little less than five years ago, Nobles turned his back on Austin traffic and the frustration of deadlines to open a home workshop, building custom guitars on the outskirts of Wimberley. For many years, his signature instrument was a Gibson-style electric guitar that sounded better than the original.
Ray Wylie Hubbard, another Wimberley resident, owns three Nobles Guitars. “He got me doing acoustic guitars,” Nobles says with his infectious laugh. “I prefer to build acoustic, but like to play electric.” The 37-year-old craftsman makes about 12 instruments a year that sell in the $3,000 to $6,000 range.
Although professional musicians buy a lot of the high-end instruments, most are purchased by collectors, says Kevin Davis, owner of Hill Country Guitars in Wimberley and a sponsor of the exhibit on Texas musical-instrument makers. His shop in the village of gift shops and boutiques carries 50 to 60 vintage guitars, plus instruments made by custom builders Huss & Dalton and Bill Collings. The shop is the only place you can order a Nobles Guitar.
“This shop isn’t for teenagers,” Davis says explaining why he left the advertising business in New York City and relocated to the Hill Country. “It’s the opposite of keeping up with the Joneses,” he says. “These guitars are for people who want to have something that is very rare. Not something that everybody else has.” To see his collection of instruments ranging from a 1940 Gretsch to a 1990 Gretsch, stop by the shop at 106 Wimberley Square. Davis can be reached at 512/847-8677 or at www.hillcountryguitars.com.
640th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of Day Trips 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
This article appears in September 12 • 2003.
