Longterm Test
A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist ’s longterm test report
Why don’t you try the ‘overdub’ guitar?” asked my songwriter and recording buddy as we discussed one of those songs that wasn’t quite working. The overdub guitar. Ha! That’s a pretty apt description of this borrowed Nik Huber Piet, an instrument that during the long months of lockdown got more playtime than any other.
Despite the constant stream of review guitars coming through the work schedule, whenever I’ve found time to hunker down to recording, the Huber has had the gig. If I’m honest, it’s become a bit of a talisman and I’ve become oddly in awe of it. I even kept the original strings on for a lot longer than I should have – I didn’t want to change a thing just in case the mojo left. Ridiculous!
I always thought players like Mike Campbell were a little odd requesting that his tech never cleans the fingerboard on his famed Broadcaster, but now I’m beginning to understand. When inspiration strikes, and a part or solo just seems to drop in from nowhere, you begin to believe an instrument might have special powers…
In the first part of this Longtermers evaluation (see issue 463), I discussed how important the Mastery bridge and vibrato are to this Piet, but, of course, a guitar needs a bit more than that. And certainly when you’re recording, you’re spending a lot of time with your instrument seated, often unplugged while you consider or simply practise parts and ideas. The actual acoustic sound – of even a solidbody like this – then is really important to your engagement.
When I spoke to Nik Huber earlier in 2020 he said: “I have a stash of American maple that’s not that heavy and not that hard compared to hard rock and Eastern maple. So it’s nice, fairly plain American maple but more on the lighter side – it’s my Piet neck wood.”
It was a quote I kept coming back to over the following months. If a guitar is special, there is usually a reason. So what’s going on with the wood?
“I actually wanted to go as plain as possible,” says Nik.“I wanted to leave off the wood figure of my other guitars. It was part of the Piet design. In the style of Fender too, I decided to use American maple; the Krautster, for example, has a European maple neck. So I went looking for American maple – usually I’d go for Eastern maple. Then a stash came in, boards that were quarter-sawn, which is more stable and secure for making a neck with. It turned out it was a lighter maple, too. So I had my alder, which I’ve had sitting here for a long time. We started making the prototypes and everyone here really liked it. Usually people who make Fender styles go for hard rock maple, typically slab- or flat-sawn. So we moved away from tradition a bit. We do very few different things in this conservative market, so I always enjoy doing something different, at least to try it out.”
You might look at the Piet and think it’s just another expensive alder-bodied mapleneck bolt-on, but this is guitar making at a high level. And for makers such as Nik, wood selection, condition and quality is everything.“It’s one of my passions: to own wood. Why? I don’t know, I just like to have all the options. If you came to visit my workshop, I could give you five, six, seven different types of mahogany to choose from, all in different colours and densities. I like that a lot: the opportunity – ultimately – to please the customer.
“I always try to get kiln-dried wood,” he continues,“but I buy it a long time before I’m going to use it. That way I can cut it, let it sit, cut it again and let it sit. Part of what I do is personally cut the wood. That way I have every piece in my hands.”
Wood sourcing, then, is a big part of Nik’s job and it’s becoming more and more expensive, which directly affects what we pay. He says: “I have a good friend and wood dealer from Vancouver who I was first buying wood from in 2005 or 2006, and today I’m paying four to five times the price I paid back then. It’s especially costly with figured woods. Koa is not really affordable any more, quilted maple is crazy expensive. Rosewood, too. I have a good stash of Madagascar rosewood, which I got for a very reasonable price, but now you can’t really get it any more. So, in reality, my personal wood stash has gone up in value considerably.”
Is this where this Piet’s mojo is coming from, then, its wood? Well, it’s fundamental and something that many of us overlook or take for granted.“Our passion is turning beautiful pieces of wood into excellent guitars,” states Nik’s website. Never has a mission statement been so accurate.
“Whenever I’ve found time to hunker down to recording, the Huber has had the gig…”