Pick up the Hanson Celtic, and the first thing you notice is how it disappears into your hands. At 14 ¾" wide at the lower bout and 19" long, this small-bodied guitar is built for comfort without asking you to sacrifice an ounce of voice. The sound is far from small, thanks in part to placement of the sound hole up in the top bass corner, which results in a deeper air resonance. A great guitar for fingerpicking.

As with all Hanson guitars, this instrument started as raw material and was shaped entirely by hand. The top is ultralight sitka spruce, carved and braced to a 54" radius cylindrical arch, and the wenge back carries its own 36" radius arch. That accentuated curvature is what allows the plates to be built light but strong, giving you vibrating surfaces that are highly responsive to the player's touch. Subtleties in attack and dynamics really come through, and the same curvature contributes to a genuinely ergonomic design that sits naturally against the body. The wenge sides were bent and fitted by hand as well, adding a dense, articulate low end along with a good deal of visual character.

The neck is hand-carved sapele, joined to the body at the 14th fret, with a truss rod adjustable at the peghead. The bloodwood fingerboard was shaped to a 10" radius by hand for a comfortable, modern feel under the fingers. Scale length runs 25.34", with the nut and saddle both hand-compensated in bone, the nut cut to 1.81" with a 2.15” string spacing, all tuned up with Grover open gear tuners.

Hanson #54 also includes two details that reflect the same hands-on philosophy: an adjustable neck break angle, allowing a player to fine-tune string action without a trip back to the shop, and an access door at the tail for reaching directly inside the body. From raw billet to finished instrument, nothing about this guitar passed through a factory. It was built one piece at a time, by hand, from start to finish.