Goodbye 2020!
It’s always worthwhile reflecting a little at the end of the year. At the end of a tough, strange one, it feels especially important to acknowledge the things that have been difficult, but also the highlights – the things we’re thankful for.
It’s been hard across the music and guitar industry. At the same time, lots of companies have reported their best years ever in terms of sales. The uncertainty of March and April gave way to a summer in which everyone adjusted to the ‘new normal’ – and apparently started playing guitar! As close to normal as possible, we continued to build our guitars, and we’re incredibly thankful for all our dealers, artists and customers. Thank you to everyone who bought a guitar, to everyone following us online and to everyone reading this blog. With your support, it’s continued to be a very strong and busy year for us at Nik Huber Guitars.
Of course, we didn’t know any of this was coming when we released our new model in January. Named for my youngest son, Piet, it’s an important model for us for many reasons, and we were soon wondering how its introduction would go. Shows were all cancelled, and other opportunities to showcase the Piet were limited. But, inspired by the proactive attitudes of so many artists and others in the industry, we set about promoting it as much as possible in our virtual guitar realms.
In the end, Piet has been a huge success, and we’re incredibly thankful for how well it’s been received. We’ve been backordered on Piet’s most of the year, and we still are. They’ve been finding homes faster than we can make them and stores are keen for more. We were delighted when the Piet was awarded ‘High-End Guitar of the Year’ by Guitar.com – in a category containing some of the biggest brands in the world – and equally so when it was named ‘Gear of the Year’ by Guitarist Magazine. In a busy, competitive field, it’s incredible to win an award like this from one platform, but from two of the biggest in the same year is something we never expected. Thank you so much to everyone that has made Piet’s first year such a positive one, and a big thank you to Chris and the team at Guitar.com and to Jamie and the team at Guitarist.
As well as my youngest son, Piet also shares a namesake with our hollowbody and bass models – it was the first name of Mr. Rietbergen, my father-in-law. It was a huge blow to the family when we lost both of my parents-in-law this year; their name being connected to three of my models is just one small sign of how important they were to me. The importance of family is something I’ve had more time to focus and reflect on this year, and I can’t let this opportunity go by without thanking them. None of this would be possible without their support, and we’ve helped each other in the toughest parts of the year, particularly the loss of my wife’s parents. We’ve taken the opportunity of this year to also spend more time together, something else I’m very thankful for.
My eldest son Niko is now working fulltime in the workshop, and it’s fantastic to watch his skills and knowledge progress. In the previous year, Piet was also hard at work here, and it’s amazing to get to work with both of my sons.
And, without a doubt, I need to give a huge thanks to everyone on the team. This hasn’t been an easy time for anyone in any workplace. As you’d guess, guitar building isn’t work that we can do from home, and the positive attitude of the team to continue coming to the workshop and doing what they do has been outstanding – just like the quality of the work itself. Christine, Marcus, Alex, Matthias, Hans, Niclas, Gea and Jarle have been at their workbenches day after day, putting in more work than ever to always build a better instrument, every time. They blow me away with their expertise and skill, year after year, and together have made the instruments even better than I thought possible. Clemens has done an amazing job, rolling with the punches of this year and managing the business as smoothly as ever in a challenging time. Thanks to Anja, who has just left, and Nicole, who has just joined, all of our most important numbers and paperwork and details have kept running perfectly, even in these bumpy times. To all of you: thank you. I could not ask for a better team.
And it seems the world agrees with me! Outside of the Piet, the response to our guitars has been overwhelming this year. We’re currently on the cover of Bass Professor Magazine, have been featured on the cover of Grand Guitars and on the cover of Gitarre & Bass, plus we were one of four builders featured in Guitar.com’s Meet The Makers documentary series.
It’s been a hard year in many ways, and we’re all going to need to keep supporting each other going forward into the next. But there is a lot that I have to be thankful for as well. I’m here in my workshop, building guitars, with my dog next to me, my team around me and my family supporting me. So once again: thank you to my team, to my family, and thank you to everyone for being a part of Nik Huber Guitars this year. Let’s see what 2021 holds!
– Nik
