The National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) The NCTA is the nation’s oldest multicultural arts presenting organization. For over eight decades, through festivals, tours, symposia, exhibits, and media productions, the NCTA has showcased the very best of the myriad grassroots folk, tribal and ethnic cultures that comprise our diverse nation.
JUST ANNOUNCED – Silent Auction for a rare Wayne C. Henderson guitar
On June 7, those attending the Masters of the Steel String Guitar concert at The Hamilton will have the unprecedented opportunity to bid on a Wayne C. Henderson 00-18 acoustic guitar with the entire proceeds of the silent auction to benefit the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA).
Wayne C. Henderson of Rugby, Virginia (population 7, where the citizens celebrate democracy by taking turns being the Mayor, the preacher, and the town drunk) has been called The World’s Greatest Guitar Builder.
His master craftsmanship was documented in the award winning book, Clapton’s Guitar: Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument by Allen St. John. One of the guitars whose construction was documented in the book was auctioned by Christie’s where it commanded a world record price for a flattop acoustic guitar by a living American luthier.
Henderson builds each of his guitars by hand, so only a handful of guitars leave his shop every year. His legendary waiting list is a decade long.
The particular instrument up for auction is rare and special even by Henderson standards. Sharing its basic dimensions with the classical guitars of Hauser and Ramirez, Martin’s steel-string 00s are considered by many guitar aficionados to be, tonally, the best instruments the company has ever produced. A “double ought” features surprising power and volume coupled with a balanced and responsive tone that’s perfect for both flatpicking and fingerpicking.
This Henderson 00-18 —serial number 681– is a master’s interpretation of one of the guitar world’s hidden gems. It features Honduran Mahogany back and sides, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard and bridge, precision-voiced scalloped top bracing, and a red spruce soundboard sourced from southern Virginia’s Whitetop Mountain, just down the road from Wayne’s shop in Rugby.
The unique shaded top finish completes this heirloom guitar. It is one of only five 14-fret 00 guitars ever built by Henderson, making it not only an exceptional instrument, but a sound investment from one of the world’s most celebrated luthiers.
Read about Wayne: download PDF
