Hello and a question.

Buco

I agree with you a 100% regarding the three requirements, that's exactly how I'd rank them.

One thing you mentioned that I think is way overused is blah blah blah sounds the same on any guitar. I disagree. What we hear is their music not the guitars. I have an example of that, give me a few...

Buco

Same master player, same musical language, stamp, expression... whatever it may be called but distinctly different sounding instruments:

Playlist

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHavnWLEIx5E3ywKG2JEJpE6D7DMbPAuT

Individual videos

https://youtu.be/09pk4lFjPnc

https://youtu.be/Rn29ZFgMJp4

https://youtu.be/pZL-qqgfQzM

But do understand, this isn't to dispute what you said, it's simply to differentiate the particular guitar's sound from that player's unique sound, it's two different things to me.

BillDaCostaWilliams

I have just acquired a 50s/60s Henri Miller via eBay and I’m wondering if anyone can help with some info. The guitar is easy to play and I like the sound though being a laminated spruce top (maple back and sides) it’s is not as resonant as my modern Mateos or Altamira guitars both of which have solid tops. I’ve read about H Miller guitars in threads here and on the Benoit de Bretagne forum. Not a high-end instrument but quite similar to a model in the Mirecourt museum (see the Miller name at bottom of the page).

I’m wondering about the year: the label is different to all the other Miller guitars I’ve seen online as it has an extra phrase “successeur Georges Miller”. Never seen any reference to this Georges – his father perhaps. So could that imply that this label was when HM was starting out on his luthier career? 

ChrisMartin

An interesting guitar for sure. As far as I have seen Henri Miller made similar guitars from the 1950s until the end of the 1960s, possibly just into 1970. I have not seen one of that type with a solid peghead though. There were listed luthiers in the Mirecourt region named Henri Joseph Miller and a Georges Henri Miller so whether the 'successor' refers to Georges being the father of Henri, or possibly there was a son Georges who took over the Henri Miller brand? The reason I suggest that is that style of peghead and also as it has a truss rod cover, although of course the neck could have been altered later, or had a rod added.

There were other Millers active in the area too, see this link;

https://www.luthiers-mirecourt.com/luthiers_de_mirecourt.htm

This list of archives in the area also lists both, and it offers copies of documents available on written request if someone is serious about further research:

http://www.archives-recherche.vosges.fr/Portals/8/xNews/uploads/2017/3/27/Fonds%20documentaire%20sur%20la%20lutherie%20(1894-1986).pdf

Other sources list Georges Henri Miller as a luthier who lived from 1936 to 2006 so possibly he was a son of Henri?

Anyone know any more?

BillDaCostaWilliams

Really helpful, thanks Chris.

I hadn't anticipated getting such a detailed response.

BillDaCostaWilliams

@Chris Martin looks like you are right.

The Miller logo on the headstock of my guitar is different to the signature on the label inside.

I just found a psaltery on French Ebay made by Georges Miller which has the same logo as my headstock and the label inside says he was indeed the successor of Henri Miller. I maybe hadn't come across Georges previously as I had guitar in my search; perhaps he was a luthier who specialized in other instruments.

wim

Get some clothes on that piano, this is a family-friendly forum!

BillDaCostaWilliams

Don't want to bore everyone by going down too much of a rabbit-hole here but I did discover more on the Millers after signing up to the French luthier site www.forum-lutherie.org.

Translation of what a member wrote in 2004:

"I met the son of Henri Miller near Mirecourt (in Poussay precisely) a few years ago. I think his first name is Georges, but I don't know if he's still alive. He had taken over from his father, but in the sixties, following the arrival of Japanese guitars, the factory closed. I visited the factory, he was selling black wood, not always good quality for the rest. In this factory all kinds of quality came out instrument, good and less good. I saw one (which I dismantled) which should not be the top of the range given the quality of the assembly. I think that the quality had dropped with the son, Henri's guitars must have been better."