Instruments in need of more than just TLC are brought back to life by Montco luthier
NewsWorks Tonight’s Dave Heller visited the workshop of restorative luthier, Tim Huenke, who owns and operates Superior Guitar Works in Flourtown, Pa.
Listen 7:01-
Tuning pegs of a disassembled guitar at Superior Guitar Works in Flourtown.(Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
-
Guitars and a mandolin await the attention of restorative luthier Tim Huenke at Superior Guitar Works in Flourtown. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
-
Tim Huenke, restorative luthier and owner of Superior Guitar Works, recently restored a 100-year-old Princess Banjo. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
-
Electric guitar bodies at Superior Guitar Works in Flourtown. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
-
A room filled with customers’ instruments is a testament to Tim Huenke’s craftsmanship at Superior Guitar Works in Flourtown. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
-
Guitars await the attention of restorative luthier Tim Huenke at Superior Guitar Works in Flourtown. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
-
A guitar that Tim Huenke built with a biology teacher was pictured on the cover of the 12th edition of "Blue Book of Electric Guitars." (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
-
Tim Huenke is a restorative luthier and owner of Superior Guitar Works in Flourtown. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
For many musicians, their instrument is as vital as any part of their body, and when it’s a guitar or similar fretted instrument in need of some TLC, they turn to a luthier to restore what was lost.
NewsWorks Tonight’s Dave Heller visited the workshop of restorative luthier, Tim Huenke, who owns and operates Superior Guitar Works in Flourtown, Pa.
In the music world, star power is revered and Huenke has restored plenty of guitars for celebrities over the decades at his Montgomery County shop. But he doesn’t like to namecheck. Instead, he likes to discuss the difficult projects — antique treasures brought to him in shambles — and the responsibility of working on instruments that hold generations of precious family memories.
“They hand it over to you and say, ‘Make it whole again … Make it right,’ ” Huenke said. “There’s no margin for error. None.”
Each restoration requires a fine balance: make the instrument play like new while authentically maintaining its vintage look and feel. Despite the pressure, his work remains a passion. For Huenke, breathing new life into these instruments is giving them another chance to help humans understand one another.
“In the right hands, there’s not an emotion in the world, not a thought, not a feeling, that can’t be expressed with music,” he said. “I often feel that if anything could bring this world together, it would be music.”
To hear to the full conversation, as well as music played by Tim Huenke and WHYY’s Kimberly Paynter, by clicking the play button above.
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.