Today, six years later, De Luca builds both custom and standard-model guitars as a one-man operation under the moniker DELM Guitars. The company name was derived from the first letter of the first name of his two daughters, his wife, and himself. In fact, all his model names have reference to someone of great meaning in his life. “If it weren’t for my eldest daughter giving me a book on guitar making and my youngest daughter later enrolling me in the Guild of American Luthiers, I would never have discovered the immense passion and satisfaction that creating musical instruments would bring into my life,” shares the now-established builder.
When it comes to wood choices for his instruments, De Luca chooses what’s appropriate case by case, but it must be stable, fit for the purpose, properly seasoned, and free of any structural defects. He usually goes with mahogany for the bodies, but has utilized Huon pine, Tasmanian and Australian blackwoods, and New Zealand rimu with “great results,” as well some of the other traditional body woods. For fretboards, De Luca favors ebony by far over most rosewoods because of ebony’s durability, density, and the rigidity it can add to the neck.
Certainly not a defining trait of most luthiers, De Luca winds his own pickups. “When I built the first guitar for my eldest daughter, I purchased a set of humbuckers for the guitar, and after a few weeks, I couldn’t resist the temptation of taking one of them out of the guitar and dissembling it to see how it was made, and how it works,” De Luca recalls. Again coupling his curiosity with research (and his background in electrical engineering), he built his own coil-winding machine. Though the first few months of tweaks and experimenting were difficult, De Luca eventually ended up with a machine he was happy with. He then started documenting his tone tests with a guitar he says has now been re-wired hundreds of times. “I am fortunate to have had many musicians test and critique my pickups, and with their suggestions, I’ve been able to finally produce pickups and wiring configurations for a diverse range of tone options,” he says. “Tone is a subjective topic, because what sounds great to one person may not be quite the same for another.”
De Luca doesn’t have a model that he considers his signature, but notes that his chambered-body PCP model was the very first guitar he designed from scratch. It’s the guitar that gained popularity almost immediately amongst players—becoming the workhorse for the development of proceeding designs. As for what continually drives his work, De Luca conveys that it’s actually the process itself. “Boutique builders put their heart and soul in each instrument they build. For me to create a guitar that inspires people to strive for perfection in expressing their passion and soul through music is my inspiration.”
LD-56
De Luca’s standard 17.5" LD-56 archtop with a
venetian cutaway features AAA-rated European
curly maple for the back and sides, and AAA-rated
European spruce for its top. De Luca also
uses European curly maple for the set neck,
which is capped with a Madagascar ebony fretboard
and a bone nut. This 25"-scale jazz box is
outfitted with a Benedetto mini humbucker in the
neck position, and other appointments include a
handcarved ebony tailpiece and mother-of-pearl
and abalone inlay.
ED-87
The ED-87 is a 16.5" double-cutaway hollowbody
that gives a nod to Gibson’s ES-335. Mahogany
is the predominant wood on the ED-87, used for
the neck, top, body core, and full-length center
block. Lacquer finished in a gorgeously deep
black, other appointments of the ED-87 include
a Bigsby B70, Grover Super Rotomatic tuners,
and mother-of-pearl and abalone inlay work. For
electronics, this black beauty is loaded up with a
pair of De Luca’s DELM D50J humbuckers.
PCP-R
The double-cutaway, chambered-body PCP-R
has a body core and set neck constructed of
mahogany, with New Zealand rimu serving as
the topwood and Madagascar rosewood for
the fretboard. The 24.75"-scale PCP is the first
guitar design/style De Luca conceived and built
from scratch. This particular version is outfitted
with Gotoh keystone tuners, a Gotoh aluminum
stop tailpiece, and a set of De Luca’s DELM
D50B humbuckers.
NC-11A
Highly figured, flame maple finished in Atlantis-blend
tops the chambered, mahogany body of
this 24.75"-scale double-cutaway. It’s outfitted
with a solid-walnut set neck that’s crowned with
a headstock dressed in blackwood, and the
fretboard is carved from Madagascar rosewood
and has a bone nut. The gold hardware appointments
include a Bigsby B50 and Gotoh keystone
tuners, and to deliver its sound, the NC-11A is
loaded with a pair of DELM D90 single-coils that
are topped with curly maple covers.
DD-89
The DD-89 is De Luca’s take on a Les Paul-style
axe, with its body, top, and set neck all
fashioned from mahogany. Going with rosewood
for the fretboard, this classic-looking guitar’s
chrome hardware appointments include a
Schaller bridge and tailpiece, and Gotoh keystone
tuners. And for pickups, the DD-89 rocks a
pair of De Luca’s D50B humbuckers.
NC11-TD
This solidbody finished in rapid yellow would
look fast even without the pinstripes. The
25.5"-scale NC11-TD has a 3-piece, laminated-maple
set neck that’s topped with an ebony
fretboard and black-horn nut, and the mahogany,
double-cutaway body houses a trio of De Luca’s
DELM 100S single-coils. Other appointments
for this Strat-style include the Gotoh traditional
tremolo, Gotoh mini tuning machines, and pearloid
pickguard.
Pricing and Availability
DELM is currently a one-man operation
that builds approximately 10 guitars per
year; however, De Luca says demand is
increasing so he may expand his workshop.
The wait time for standard models
is approximately three months, while the
wait for a custom build falls between four
and six months. De Luca’s guitars range
from $3,300 to $8,100 (U.S.), depending
on model, custom design, materials, and
inlay work. De Luca accepts direct orders
for both custom and standard models,
but encourages players outside Australia
and New Zealand to make initial contact
through his dealer, destroyallguitars.
com. Players in Australia or New Zealand
can place orders through his dealer in
Melbourne at ghmusic.com.au.
Time Is Riet
Huber’s family has been involved in cabinet
making and master woodworking for over
100 years. Though his father was a pilot,
he taught Nik the family trade at a young
age, crafting toys and other projects in their
substantial home woodshop. Nik also developed
a love for guitar early on, aspiring to
be a professional musician until well into
his 20s. In the early ’90s, Huber attended
lutherie school in Spain and discovered his
true calling.
Early on, Huber forged a vitally important friendship with Paul Reed Smith, who provided guidance and insight. And while there are subtle aspects of Huber’s designs that nod to Smith’s influence—scraped bindings, hybrid hardware, and carved top contours, for example—the designs are uniquely his own. He currently produces about 120 guitars a year across 11 models, including the Rietbergen.
The Rietbergen exudes understated elegance with its classic appointments and thin semi-gloss polyurethane finish. Double-stained in tobacco sunburst, the single-cutaway body is carved from solid tone woods—a flamed, book-matched European maple top and one-piece mahogany back. The latter has been carved out to create hollow chambers on the top and bottom with a solid core down the middle of the guitar. The top features a pair of f-holes, and the muted glow of the finish has just enough yellow and dark caramel accents to look like it has been around for decades. The sunburst finish is accented by a scraped top with pleasing flame grain that accents the top’s warm hues.
The neck is made from a single piece of nicely figured mahogany that joins the body with a sculpted set-neck joint design that improves upper fret access. The neck is capped with a figured East Indian rosewood fretboard and features an ebony headstock veneer with a mother-of-pearl and abalone dolphin inlay and matching ebony truss rod cover. The dolphin inlay ties in nicely with the abalone dot fretboard markers. Our review guitar also features a hardware upgrade package that include a milled brass AVR-II TonePros bridge, aluminum tailpiece with brass studs, aged nickel pickup covers with brushed crème surrounds, gold bell-style brushed knobs, 3-way switch with crème plastic tip, Schaller tuners with ebony wood buttons, and an aged Schaller strap locking system.
In addition to the aesthetic appointments, Huber incorporated some design elements that might make the Rietbergen a little more playable than traditional archtop designs. It features a 25 1/2" scale and a reduced headstock angle that give the guitar a wonderful balance of comfortable string tension and note articulation.
The instrument also has an 11" to 14" compound radius fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets made from a hardened alloy that has the tone of traditional fretwire but a hardness approximating stainless steel. It’s worth noting that the fret slots do not span the entire fingerboard, which negates the possibility of protruding fret ends and lends the feel of a bound fretboard. The bone nut is a little wider than other Huber guitars, measuring 43.5 mm (1.712") and the string spacing is very comfortable. So is the neck profile, which is best described as a rounded C carve with a little less shoulder. For a relatively thick neck, it feels fast, thanks in part to the semi-gloss finish. Huber called on the seasoned German pickup maker Harry Häussel to outfit the Rietbergen with a pair of PAF-style humbuckers—a 1959 model bridge humbucker and a 1959 custom model in the neck position.
Semi-hollow, Super Tones
Plugged into a Tomaszewicz amplifier, the
Rietbergen is capable of producing an impressive
array of tones for a multitude of musical
genres. The natural assumption is that any
archtop leans toward the blues or jazz vein.
But rock and country cats are every bit as
likely to find interesting—even ideal—tones
in the Rietbergen. Predictably, it has a thick,
bold primary voice, but with sweet highs that
can be very easily shaped and accented just
by varying your pick attack. The guitar still
exhibits all the traditional benefits of a semi-hollow
design—Nigel Tufnel-approved sustain
and expansive frequency response. But there’s
none of the soft or dull note bloom that you
hear in some semi-hollow electrics. Instead,
notes seem to leap off the Rietbergen’s fretboard
with great immediacy and clarity.
Ratings
Pros:
Flawless construction. Spectacular range of tones. Superb playability that makes heavy strings feel light.
Cons:
Expensive.
Tones:
Playability:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$7,325
Company
nikhuber-guitars.com
Pulling up on the tone knob splits the Häussel humbuckers, unveiling another pleasing palette of single-coil tones that, not surprisingly, is a great match for the 25 1/2" scale. The split humbuckers exhibit some of the volume drop you’d expect, but interestingly, they tend to highlight more of the Rietbergen’s acoustic qualities—a range of tones that jazz players in particular are bound to appreciate.
In both split and true humbucking mode, the Häussel pickups are a perfect match for the Rietbergen—capturing and highlighting both the massive natural sustain of the guitar and the excellent string-to-string articulation. It’s hard not be impressed with how both fretted notes and open strings rang out so distinctly and clearly when played in unison. I also appreciated how comfortable the .011–.049 strings felt with the long scale. I executed full-step bends with ease, and needless to say, the heavier strings brought out the bold, yet nuanced voice of the instrument.
The Verdict
Nik Huber named this archtop model
to honor his wife Ingrid’s family name,
because she is one of three daughters and the
Rietbergen name would not continue past
the current generation. Fortunately, the guitar
that bears the same name is likely to not only
survive, but also enjoy considerable renown
for generations to come. The quality and
design execution are top-shelf. And the range
of tones you can summon form the split-coil/humbucking Häussel and the long-scale,
semi-hollow construction is bound to dazzle
or surprise, depending on the extent of your
experience with semi-hollow archtops.
It’s no secret that Nik Huber’s instruments are hard to top in terms of heirloom-level craftsmanship. But what the Rietbergen can deliver in musical terms reflects an equally impressive sense for what makes a guitar sound not just great, but extraordinary.
