Frank Hartung considers his work a calling more than an occupation. He first became attracted to the world of lutherie because of the dissatisfaction he experienced with an expensive guitar made by a large, American company. The issues this guitar had were intriguing, and forced him to deal with materials and construction details and how they relate to each other. Eventually, this led Hartung down the road to building his first guitar.
It was a success for a few reasons: his vocational training as a carpenter, experience with the particularities of woods, and some valuable advice from fellow German luthier Ulrich Teuffel. Hartung quickly drew the attention of experts and musicians who encouraged him to continue building. While the budding luthier appreciated the accolades, it was the satisfaction of building with his own hands that inspired him the most, and he went on to craft instruments on a part-time basis for several years under the name of Forge Guitars. Over time, the awareness of his guitars increased and the orders piled up—so much that he quit his day job to become a full-time luthier under his own name.
Hartung cites Teuffel as the builder who inspired him to become a luthier himself, but when asked what builder or manufacturer has had the most influence on his designs, Hartung maintains that no one did. “I never intended to copy anyone’s style,” he says. “Instead, I always wanted to realize my very own designs and establish them in the market. My guitars are supposed to look and sound distinctive and comparable to none. I think things have turned out quite well.”
One creation that sets Hartung apart is his unique “flow-carving” design, which he developed in 2002 and uses on many of his instruments. With contour lines running fluidly into the surface of the body as if two top planks are melting into each other, flow carving is what gives the bodies their 3-D appearance. “With my flow-carving design, I have found my own aesthetic style, which is distinctive yet full of character,” he says.
Hartung’s twin brother, Andi, occasionally
assists with paint jobs, but Frank Hartung
Guitars is primarily a one-man shop, and the
luthier believes there are many advantages to
working in this manner. “I can do my work
very precisely, with the utmost flexibility for
my customers, and with the highest quality
standards possible,” he says. “I closely collaborate
with my customers and we discuss
every detail and create drafts during the
run-up.” Later, he’ll send pictures of the designated
woods to the customer and they’ll
decide together how everything will be done.
“Having close contact with my customers is
something I really like,” he explains. “All the
feedback flows into new projects, which makes
this part of building very exciting for me.”
hartung-guitars.com
Pricing and Availability
Hartung’s guitars start at approximately $4,000, but depending on choice of woods and specifications, the sky is the limit and prices can
reach upwards of $10,000. Currently, Hartung builds 30 to 35 instruments per year, with an average wait currently at eight to 12 months.
“Most customers are well aware of the waiting time and don’t mind it,” shares Hartung. “The joy of anticipation grows each day, and I
contribute to it by sending them pictures of their guitar’s status throughout the process.”
Enigma Scratchburst
This 25"-scale Enigma model finished in scratchburst brown
utilizes mahogany for both the neck and
body. In contrast to the dramatically figured quilted maple top the ebony fretboard boasts a minimalist approach for its
inlay work. The guitar also features a Tune-o-matic bridge, through-body stringing, Schaller locking tuners, and a pair of Ray Gerold custom pickups.
Embrace Hollowwood Deluxe
The Embrace Hollowwood Deluxe is a virtual treasure trove of top-quality
tonewoods. Boasting exhibition-grade quilted maple atop a
Honduran mahogany body, the guitar features a 1-piece Brazilian rosewood neck capped with a snakewood fretboard. For
electronics, the Embrace Hollowwood Deluxe is outfitted with a pair of
Ray Gerold Custom Shop pickups.
Glowing Moon
Appropriately named, Hartung’s custom Glowing Moon guitar
glows via the 32 toggle-switch-controllable LEDs located in the
aluminum ring outlining the instrument’s body. The ash body is stained in a “used violin brown” finish, and
the flamed-maple neck is topped with a heavily inlaid rosewood
fretboard. The Glowing Moon is outfitted with
a Häussel Hot Special B in the bridge, a Häussel HB Blade in
the middle position, and a Sustainiac Stealth Pro in the neck.
Diavolo Glacierblue
The Diavolo Glacierblue features a distinctive ace-of-hearts playing-card
inlay adorning the otherwise understated, ebony fretboard. The cedro body is topped with quilted maple
and finished in glacier blue. This version of Hartung’s Diavolo is loaded
with dual Bare
Knuckle Steve Stevens Rebel Yell signature humbuckers.
Caligo
With a nod to futuristic minimalism, Hartung’s new Caligo series of
guitars employs ebony for
both the fretboard and the fixed bridge, and Hartung chose red alder for
the bodies and curly maple for the necks. The guitar is outfitted with Caligo Special
humbuckers and features a distinctive upper horn that can be ordered with custom woods and finishes.
LP Special Custom
Mother-of-pearl crown inlays adorn the Brazilian
rosewood fretboard of the LP Special Custom, which also features a Brazilian rosewood neck. Tigerburst-finished curly
maple tops the mahogany body, which is equipped
with a set of Ray Gerold Custom Shop humbuckers.
Chops: Intermediate Theory: Intermediater Lesson Overview: • Learn different ways to arrange scales. • Combine various sequences to create more intersting lines. • Solidify your technique by practicing unusual groupings of notes. Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation. |
Vox’s Valvenergy Tone Sculptor
I spent a day workshopping ideas in my studio using just the Vox Valvenergy Smooth Impact compressor and Tone Sculptor EQ, and a dash of amp tremolo and reverb to taste. In the process, I produced more arresting sounds than I had heard from my guitars in many days. There were radical direct-to-desk-style Jimmy Page/Beatles distortion tones, sun-sized, cosmic electric 12-string, Bakersfield twang that could burn through crude, and many other sweet and nasty colors. Most decent EQ and compressor combinations can achieve variations on all those themes. But the Smooth Impact and Tone Sculptor also reveal interesting personalities in unexpected places.
The individuality and energy in the Vox Valvenergy pedals is attributable, in part, to the Nutube vacuum tube used in the circuit. Though it looks little like a vacuum tube as most guitarists know them, the thin, wafer-like Nutube is, in fact, a real vacuum tube like those used in fluorescent displays. Fluorescent display tubes have limitations. A maximum operating voltage of around 40 volts means they aren’t useful for bigger power tube applications like a 6L6, which has an operating voltage of about 400 volts. But it can work quite well as a preamp tube in concert with an op amp power section, which is how the Nutube is used in the new Valvenergy pedals, as well as older Vox products like the Vox MV50 and Superbeetle amps.
Valvenergy Tone Sculptor
When you think about “cinematic” effects, you likely imagine big reverb or modulation sounds that create a vivid picture and feeling of space or motion. But narrow, hyper-focused EQ profiles can evoke very different and equally powerful images. Radical EQ settings can add aggression, claustrophobic intimacy, and stark, explosive dark-and-light contrasts more evocative of Hitchcock’s Psycho than Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.
Any of these moods can be summoned from the Valvenergy Tone Sculptor. Six sliders cut or boost 10 dB frequency bands spanning 100 Hz to 5.6 kHz. A seventh slider cuts or boosts the master output by 12 dB. This platter of options might not sound like much. But you can use these seven controls together to very specific ends.
“Radical EQ settings can add aggression, near-claustrophobic intimacy, and stark, explosive dark-and-light contrasts.”
For example, bumping the high-midrange and the master output produces narrow cocked-wah-like filter sounds with enough push to produce extra amp overdrive—effectively turning the Tone Sculptor into a buzzy, almost fuzz-like filter effect. But unlike a wah, you can carefully scoop high end or add a spoonful of bass to blunt harsh frequencies or give the tone a bit more weight. You can also broaden the palette of an amp/guitar pairing. I matched a particularly trebly Jazzmaster bridge pickup with a very hot and toppy Vox AC15-flavored amp for this test—a recipe that can be spiky on the best days. But with the Tone Sculptor in the line, I could utilize the same sharp, fuzzy, and filtered Mick Ronson wah tones while shaving some of the most piercing frequencies.
EQ pedals exist on many points along the cost spectrum. And at $219, the Tone Sculptor lives on the high side of the affordable range. Does it offer something less expensive models can’t deliver? Well, for one thing, I found it relatively quiet, which is nice whether you’re shaping toppy high-contrast effects or performing more surgical adjustments. And the sliders feel nuanced and nicely tapered rather than like a dull axe with a few basic frequency notches. But in many situations I also liked the color imparted by the circuit—generated, presumably, by the Nutube. “Color,” in audio terms, is a broad and subjective thing, and one should not necessarily expect the warm, tube-y glow of a vintage tube Pultec. Still, the Tone Sculptor has many forgiving, flattering qualities—typical of studio EQs—that enable fine tuning and experimentation with more radical and creative applications of the effect.
Valvenergy Smooth Impact
As with the Tone Sculptor, the Smooth Impact’s use of Nutube engenders certain expectations. It’s easy to surmise that because Smooth Impact has a vacuum tube in the circuit that it will behave like a little Teletronix LA-2A leveling amplifier. That’s a big ask for a $219 stompbox. On the other hand, the Smooth Impact exhibits some appealing characteristics of studio tube compression. At lower compression levels, it works well as a thickening agent—adding mass without much additional noise. And at higher compression levels it can sound snappy, crisp, and tight without feeling like you’ve bled every trace of overtone from your signal.
The Smooth Impact’s controls aren’t totally atypical. But because it lacks some familiar features like variable attack and release, yet is more complicated than a 1-knob DynaComp, you have to trust your ear to navigate interactions among the controls. The most unfamiliar of these is the 3-way vintage/natural/sag toggle. The first two are defined by preset attack and release settings: Vintage is slow attack and long release, and natural is the opposite. The sag mode’s compression is more like what you get from tube saturation, and it’s useful for adding thickness and complexity to a thin amp tone at modest compression levels.
Though the vintage and natural modes certainly have a different feel, they don’t always sound worlds apart. And like the sag mode, the thing they have in common is the way they enrich lifeless amp output at low to medium compression, with a bit of grind from the tube gain and a little extra makeup gain from the output. At the most aggressive settings, the tube gain can get a little crispy. And really crushing the compression can flatline your tone without adding much in the way of extra sustain. These are limitations common to many compressors with similar features. But unless I was chasing very ultra-snappy Prince and Nile Rodgers fast-funk caricatures, I enjoyed the Smooth Impact most in its in-between ranges, where mass, mild, harmonious drive, and low noise showcase the pedal’s sometimes studio-like personality.
