Mass Hirade - Takamine Model 15 / Husson and Duchene (around 1840)

Presented here is the model 15 I have in my posession.

I didn't bought it new but second hand just recently.

Built earlier by Hirade for Takamine as the label attests. 

The number on the heelblock as well on the label itself 

says it to be from 1984.

The own frequency of this guitar which means on

which it resonates the most is the note A so in Hz

that would be around 110 Hz. At first the sound of

this guitar didn't appeal to me to be honest but as I

couldn't imagine this was not a top guitar I searched

for some possible "defects. No issues at all but the

former own heightened the bridgebone with a

piece of a nylon string. Once removed and 

having made a new bridgebone, the sound of

this guitar certainly was there!

A nice rosewood back and flawlessly built as can 

be expected from Japanese guitars of that era.

Not the Kohno style bracing but a quite traditional

7 fan bracing. Back and sides: Solid Indian

rosewood. Scale 650 mm.

A really carefully cut nut that has a width of 52 mm.

Really great tuners that work very smoothly and even-

ly and have a nice ratio of about 1:18 (?)

Good Gotoh tuners, ebony fingerboard and provided 

with knobs that are changeable.

This should be the label, just number 15 without the 

"H". Odd is that they wrote "fifteen" the wrong way!

Remarkable is that the label in this Master Arte serie

normally has been hand signed and that counts 

already for the lower grade models.

One can clearly notice the slightly sprayed back of 

this guitar. Probably the influence of Masaru Kohno, 

who at those times supervised the production of the 

high end Takamines. The Hirade guitars however

have developed their own bracing and character, 

although Mass Hirade was a pupil of Kohno.

The edge inlay seems to be copied from the Kohno

guitars but probably a third party is responsible for this.

The spruce top has been colored to a "Cashew" like

varnish, so called and used by several Japanese

luthiers.,

Highly ornamented as also is the even higher model 20.

The latter has Brasilian rosewood for sides and back.

Even better visible here. The inlay around the sound-

board. You can click on this picture to even enlarge it.

Most remarkable, apart from the beautiful sound is

the playability. Much attention has been devoted to

the carefully cut topnut and playing action they

provided these guitars with. In comparison with

other "makers" of that time like Juan Orozco, these

guitars have a lighter, more vibrant sound but still

the real depth is there as well as volume.

Husson Duchene (plm. 1840)

Here is a front view of the guitar that most likely 

was made for the house Husson et Duchene.

The label in this guitar is lost but a lot of features

are pointing in that direction. When you compare

this picture with the one beneath you might be able

to trace the repaired cracks (3) and the outer

ends of the bridge. It received new fretwork as well.

The firm Husson et Duchêne was established in Paris 

in 1839 by two luthiers Claude Charles Husson (1811-1893) 

and Jean-Baptiste Colin Duchêne (b. c.1800-d.1889) This 

French romantic classical guitar was made between 1839-

1845 when their shop was at Rue Grenéta, no 13.

This firm eventually gave birth to Thibouville-Lamy, 

the largest purveyor of musical instruments in France.

When Duchêne left the partnership in 1848, Husson 

took on a new partner, Charles Buthod (1810-1889).

In 1861, they were joined by Jerome Thibouville. 

The firm of Husson, Buthod, and Thibouville brought 

together regional factories which made woodwinds at 

la Couture, brass instruments at Paris-Grenville, and 

string instruments (including guitars) at Mirecourt.

By 1867, the partnership had become simply the firm 

Thibouville-Lamy. By 1900, Thibouville-Lamy had 

branches London and New York. This firm, in fact, still

exists. This little finely made French guitar has rosewood 

back and sides, a bit uneven grained spruce top, and a 

very lovely engraved rosette made of mother-of-pearl.

Machine heads with metal rollers. These are marked EON 

fils and are not original. The scale is 625mm, with a 

47 mm nut. The tone is romantic, with some silky soun-

ding trebles, firm basses, and excellent volume. This 

Husson et Duchene classsical guitar will be restored 

and can be brought back in excellent condition.

The back of this instrument that in fact is veneered 

as was common on more instruments of that time.

The inner layer is mostly made of quarter sawn spruce. 

You can see that in the next picture around the label

of this instrument that furthermore has a simple 

ladder bracing glued to the soundboard.

Presented here is the label later placed in this guitar. Around 

the label the use of a spruce layer on the rosewood back can 

be seen here. Husson Duchene were not the only ones though

 A lot of Thibouville Lamy guitars are equipped with a back 

like this. Not that strange as Husson and Duchene were the

predecessors of the Thibouville Lamy & Cie company.

As can be seen here above, there were more labels

from this luthier, in this case with another address but

still with the name "Husson" not mentioned. Duchene

moved to Nancy and thus left the partnership with

Husson who later worked together with Buthod.

Duchene started in 1839 and ended the collaboration

with Husson in 1845 thus marking the exact period 

in which this guitar must have been made.

 https://www.musee-mirecourt.fr/fr/instruments-a-cordes-pincees.html

This link will show you the stringed instruments such as mandolins and

guitars. It might give problems to enter it with this link but you can

always search for "Musee Mirecourt - France". A lot of names from

the 19th century French luthiers and pictures!

By clicking on this picture you can enlarge it as the 

fingerboard is in one line with the soundboard. The 

bridge with the damaged outer ends: In fact this guitar 

came to me with metal strings so the bridge came off

as well! Luckily it has been glued with the original old 

glue so removal isn't that difficult.The outer ends will be

glued again to the existing bridge. These models can be 

found on the Lacote as well as the Aubry Maire 

instruments, making it possible to examine it carefully.

Especially the green abalone motives are attractive as

was done on many Aubry Maire instruments. In fact the 

plantilla resembles these instruments a bit. There were 

possible relations with Aubry Maire as a supplier of 

instruments for Husson et Duchene but regarding this 

instrument it is still a supposition.

(source: Sinier de Ridder)

The unusual shape of the head makes these guitars 

easy to identify though I found this headshape on a 

Boulanger guitar as well. That instrument (and many 

more) can be found at the Mirecourt museum site. 

Carefully veneered head on front as well as its' back.

The back of the head that shows the 

carefully placed head on the neck.

The heel of this instrument appeared to have a lining
after some cleaning. I have to place a new one on the right
side of the heel. Some additional gluework will be done.

I've added a new inlay on the right and flattened out the

side on that spot as well. After cleaning the left side it

was obvious there was no restoration needed.

 Restauration of the endpin would have been allmost

impossible as it allways will be prone to future damage.

I made a new one out of a very old cello tuning peg.

Here's a picture of the restored endpin though the first one

could be a later addition as well. But that's part of this guitars'

history and I kept it that way. A trick that I learned from

a musical instrument dealer (Mr. Bissonet) near Place des 

Vosges (Paris) was to place that old peg in a drilling 

machine thus creating a kind of turning lathe. Some 

secure working files then will do the job.

The EON tuners that were introduced in the second

half of the nineteenth century. In combination with 

the inline fingerboard / soundboard one must conclude 

that though these tuners are of good quality, they are not

original. Metal rollers and ebony knobs. It is very obvious 

that this guitar has been built a bit earlier than these tuners.

Probably due to the use of metal strings the original bridge

cracked into two pieces alongside the openings for the pegs.

As there were allready some reparations made to it I

decided to replace it and made a copy of the original one.

It has to be sturdy and strong in the first place to prevent

future damages to the soundboard.