Mississippi John Hurt’s Emory Reappears

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                  © 2017  — Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved

Emory Guitar: http://kenlelen.blogspot.com/2015/03/mississippi-john-hurt-and-emory-guitar.html

                        Luthier Darrell Guinn and c. 1910 Emory guitar played by

                        Mississippi John Hurt at Newport Folk Festival, July 1963.

The long-lost Emory acoustic guitar, played by Mississippi John Hurt for two legendary sets at the Newport Folk Festival in July 1963, has been found alive and well in Upcountry South Carolina.

Its whereabouts unknown since 2001, the guitar is now owned by Darrell Guinn, a 62-year-old luthier in Greer SC. In May he found the rosewood-bodied, grand concert-sized instrument among a stash of guitars stored in his shop.

“The guitar is in the same condition that it was when I received it around 17 or 18 years ago from a gentleman in his 70s,” Guinn said. “He was from up north and had moved to North Carolina to retire. When he left it with me he said, ‘See what you can do with it.’

“When I tried to contact him to give him some options on what to do, the [telephone] number didn't work, and he never contacted me since,” Guinn said. “It's been stored in its case in my shop all these years.”

After he inspected the guitar, Guinn began an internet search for info on Emory guitar. That led him to an article, “Mississippi John Hurt and the Emory guitar,” in a March 13, 2015 posting at Vintage Music Concerts 
(http://kenlelen.blogspot.com/2015/03/mississippi-john-hurt-and-emory-guitar.html).

                                                                                                               Photo: © John Byrne Cooke

  Mississippi John Hurt and c. 1910 Emory guitar at  Newport Folk Festival in July 1963.

In the article he found photos of the very same Emory that he discovered in his shop — a black and white photo of Hurt playing the guitar in 1963 as well as a color photo made in the late 1990s of an artist's model with the guitar.

“I noticed the lines and cracks on the top are identical to mine,” Guinn said. “I believe I have the guitar that was loaned to John to play at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963 and thought you would want to know it is still around.”

After Newport, the Emory guitar disappeared

John Hurt borrowed the deep-bodied rosewood and spruce guitar for his 1963 Newport gig from its owner, musicologist Tom Hoskins. For the next 35 years its whereabouts were unknown. In the 1990s Hoskins left it with a friend, Neal Harpe, an artist and guitar dealer in Annapolis MD.

"Hoskins led a life very close to the edge, especially during the last years of his life," Harpe said. "I had it for a couple years in the 1990s, then one day Hoskins came by the house and retrieved it. It was unplayable at the time I had it, but I remember playing it quite a few times back in the mid-sixties. It was a really great sounding guitar."

                                                                                                                                           Photo: Neil Harpe

                                     A late 1990s photo shows an artist's model holding the Emory guitar played by John Hurt in July 1963.

While safeguarding the Emory, Harpe took photos. In one, a model held it so Harpe could paint a portrait of a guitar player. The Emory in this photo (above) has the same top cracks, edge binding and ivory block at the 16th fret as the guitar Guinn found in his shop (below).

                                                                                                                                                    Photo: Darrell Guinn

                             Front body of the Emory guitar luthier Darrell Guinn found in his shop in May 2017. To raise the
                             set up, the original bridge received a second piece of ebony between the pyramids, Guinn said.

After Hoskins died in 2001, the guitar disappeared. Some thought it went to Hoskins' sister in Georgia. Others said it went to Hurt's granddaughter, Mary Frances Hurt Wright, who called her grandfather "Daddy John."

However, according to blues aficionado and author Philip Ratcliffe, the Emory guitar was stolen. "[Hoskins’] Emory guitar was stolen from his trailer in Tallahassee FL after he died there, along with his TV and some other stuff," said Ratcliffe, author of "Mississippi John Hurt: His Life, His Times, His Blues" (2011, Univ. Press of MS).

Today, John Hurt’s Emory guitar has loud, deep sound

While John Hurt’s Emory guitar has seen better days, today it possesses a loud, deep sound, very good tone and projects well, according to Guinn.

“There are moisture cracks everywhere, but they’re not open,” he said. “They all were cleated and repaired a long, long time ago.”

Considering its age, the guitar is structurally sound, he said. The neck was reset some time ago and a shim placed under the fingerboard tongue. The action is low and the neck straight, though it has a pronounced V profile.

“It has its original machines with brass plate and ivory button tuners and its original case with decals,” he said. “It probably has an original bridge, though a piece was added to raise it up.”

Original tuning machines with brass plate and ivory buttons on Hurt's Emory guitar.
Guinn said he found 1166 stamped across the top edge of this guitar's headstock.

The John Hurt Emory owned by Guinn is stamped 1166 on the top edge of the headstock. Also visible are the letters EMORY inlaid in an ivory block across the fingerboard's 16th fret.

The only other Emory guitar known to exist is owned by Belgium artist and craftsman Dick Stallaert. This instrument was fully described in the March 13, 2015 article at Vintage Music Concerts.

Stallaert's Emory guitar is stamped 1210 on the top edge of the headstock and also has an ivory hexagonal block on the fingerboard. However, the letters EMORY are inlaid at the 17th fret of Stallaert’s guitar.

Guinn said years ago he wrote a letter to vintage guitar expert George Gruhn asking for info on the Emory guitar. “He said he never heard of it.”

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John Hurt's Emory Guitar — Measurements & Materials
SOURCE: Darrell Guinn

                 Upper bout                             —      10-3/8 in.

                 Waist Width                            —        8-3/8 in.

                 Lower Bout Width                    —      14-1/2 in.

                 Body length                            —      19-1/2 in.

                 Scale length                            —      25 inches

                 Body depth @ neck heel          —        3-7/8 in.

                 Body depth @ end block          —        4-9/16 in.

                 Sound hole diameter               —        3-1/2 in.

                 Neck Wood              —     mahogany

                 Back and sides         —     rosewood

                 Top wood                —      spruce

                 Top bracing             —      lateral bracing and wide V brace

                                                       that straddles the bridge plate

                                                       and terminates at the end block

                 Fingerboard             —      ebony

                 Frets                       —     refretted with small banjo frets

                 Tuners                     —      3+3 on brass plate and ivory buttons

                 Bridge                     —     two-piece ebony—original + addition

                 Hard shell case         —     original to guitar

                Serial Number          —     1166 on headstock's top edge
                Inlaid ivory block      —     16th fret of ebony fingerboard

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© 2017  — Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved