Thank You for a Wonderful 2022
That one flew by, huh? First things first, a massive thanks is due to all of our customers, dealers, artists and everyone following along with our work – including you reading this blog. We packed this year full of achievements and exciting new projects, and none of that would have been the slightest bit possible without you, so thank you.
And of course, none of it would have been at all possible without the incredible team here at Nik Huber Guitars, so I need to say a huge thank you to them as well. They’ve been working harder than ever to nail some of our most ambitious and challenging work to date, and the results really do speak for themselves. I’m incredibly lucky to have such a team working with me – including to make some of these wild ideas a reality.
It’s hard to cover everything we got to over the last twelve months (and some top secret things are still in progress…) but here’s a quick roundup of some of my highlights from a busy year of guitar building:
Bernie Marsden Signature model
It would have been an honour even just to build Bernie a guitar, so to create a new signature model with him has really been something else. It’s also been a privilege to get to know Bernie and become friends with him through the process, and I’m thinking we haven’t heard the last of the Nik Huber Guitars and Bernie Marsden collaboration (keep an eye out next year…).
As well as being an amazing personal collaboration, the Bernie Marden Signature has also been about exploring new ground in our design and building. You can get the full lowdown on the guitar in this post here, but one highlight I’ll pick out is the honeycomb chambering – we couldn’t be happier with the results, and it’s exciting to think where else we could go with these ideas. As I say, stay tuned…
Gear for Hope auctions
Okay, another big ‘thank you’ is due, this time to everyone who was involved in the Gear for Hope auctions. Whether you donated items to the auction itself, placed a bid, bought something or simply liked and shared posts to spread the word: thank you.
With all of our efforts combined, we managed to raise a total of €67,771 to donate to charities and organisations helping those affected by the war in Ukraine. It’s a mammoth effort from the guitar and music communities around the world pulling together, and one that I think we can all be proud of.
Oh, and another ‘thank you’ to the kind bidder that contributed €4000 themselves to buy our special Krautster hand-painted by Ukrainian artist Irina Garshina.
Guitar shows and clinics
After two years of start-stop lockdowns, getting back out there to do shows and clinics has been a special part of 2022. Again, we’ve got plenty more planned for next year in this regard, but in terms of this year’s outings, Guitar Summit in Mannheim and my clinic at Ahead Music in Cyprus have been highlights.
In Mannheim, it was getting to meet and speak with so many of you again that really made the weekend. Seeing people come over and try out a few models is something I’ve really missed, and actually getting people’s reactions to the Bernie Marsden Signature face-to-face reminded me why these shows are so important.
In Cyprus, it was also all about the people. Don’t get me wrong, the beautiful location is hardly a drawback! But being hosted by the team at Ahead Music and getting to chat with a small group in the intimate atmosphere of a clinic – that’s what really did it for me. Plus, I learned that Cyprus has some seriously killer players!
Clinics are such a cool way to connect with all of you and share some of the stories behind what we do, so definitely look out for more of these to be announced next year.
New team members!
The team has continued to grow this year, and we’ve been lucky enough to have several new experienced, skilled luthiers join the workshop, even from as far afield as South Africa. The quality of work the team puts out year after year has continued to amaze me and exceed all my expectations, and I couldn’t be happier with where we’re at.
Oh, and we got a big new CNC (the workshop nerd in me still finds that exciting), nicknamed Arnie. Exciting times in our little company (that’s now a bit less little) and we’re looking forward to what the new year will bring.
As it’s that time of year…
Well, there’s more than one way to say ‘thank you’, so as a little token of my thanks, and in the spirit of the season, here’s a 10%-off code for our online store, valid through to the end of the year:
NHGXMAS22
Just in case some guitar swag makes for a tempting present to yourself this year!
Thanks again to all of you for supporting our work, and catch you in the new year.
– Nik