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arthur hansel guitars of Toronto Canada

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Posted by john bonfield on February 06, 2009 at 16:12:47:

I still have my 1953 Hansel classic guitar, the hand written label reads "special made Mar 1953" He was recommended to me by an elderly
guitarist in Toronto named Bertram Atkins who owned a Hansel. I went to see Mr Hansel who lived in a house on Seaton St in Toronto south of Dundas. Arthur made most of his guitars for the Eaton Co in Toronto & many of his sturdily made instruments went north to mining & forestry towns. He made me a mandoline to match my custom built guitar. Mahogany back & ribs on both. All done in a workshop at his address. Mr Hansel appeared to be fairly old & stored in his garage was a chrysler "Airflyght" sedan which hadn't been driven for some years. His neighbour, a large Ukranian man, worked at Canada Packers & used to bring home unwanted animal bones which Arthur used for nuts & bridge inserts. Mrs Hansel was part of the welcoming committee & was missing a finger on a hand. When my guitar was finished & I went to pick it up a little party ensued. Arthur played German folk tunes on his button accordian whilst singing & I played 3-chord accompanyment on my new guitar. The big neighbour was present & had one beer too many & fell over when he got up from the chesterfield!
The pine top had a sprayed on finish which eventually developed a network of cracks. So I paid another German luthier to remove the bridge, clean off the synthetic finish & plane off some of the pine.
(I couldn't bring myself to ask Mr Hansel to do it} This improved the tone & sustain. The machine head eventually failed & I replaced it with an equivalent quality & this one is now starting to fail. A feature of the Hansel classical is that the bridge end of the
sound box has enough flat that the guitar will stand up vertically on a level surface without need of a 'guitar stand'. My daughter learned to play on the Hansel & now my grandaughter is trying. The only criticism I have is that the 1st string is a shade too close to the edge of the fingerboard so that when attempting slurred notes the string sometimes slips off the edge & muffles the note. This well made guitar will outlast me & give pleasure to players for years to come.

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: I still have my 1953 Hansel classic guitar, the hand written label reads "special made Mar 1953" He was recommended to me by an elderly : guitarist in Toronto named Bertram Atkins who owned a Hansel. I went to see Mr Hansel who lived in a house on Seaton St in Toronto south of Dundas. Arthur made most of his guitars for the Eaton Co in Toronto & many of his sturdily made instruments went north to mining & forestry towns. He made me a mandoline to match my custom built guitar. Mahogany back & ribs on both. All done in a workshop at his address. Mr Hansel appeared to be fairly old & stored in his garage was a chrysler "Airflyght" sedan which hadn't been driven for some years. His neighbour, a large Ukranian man, worked at Canada Packers & used to bring home unwanted animal bones which Arthur used for nuts & bridge inserts. Mrs Hansel was part of the welcoming committee & was missing a finger on a hand. When my guitar was finished & I went to pick it up a little party ensued. Arthur played German folk tunes on his button accordian whilst singing & I played 3-chord accompanyment on my new guitar. The big neighbour was present & had one beer too many & fell over when he got up from the chesterfield! : The pine top had a sprayed on finish which eventually developed a network of cracks. So I paid another German luthier to remove the bridge, clean off the synthetic finish & plane off some of the pine. : (I couldn't bring myself to ask Mr Hansel to do it} This improved the tone & sustain. The machine head eventually failed & I replaced it with an equivalent quality & this one is now starting to fail. A feature of the Hansel classical is that the bridge end of the : sound box has enough flat that the guitar will stand up vertically on a level surface without need of a 'guitar stand'. My daughter learned to play on the Hansel & now my grandaughter is trying. The only criticism I have is that the 1st string is a shade too close to the edge of the fingerboard so that when attempting slurred notes the string sometimes slips off the edge & muffles the note. This well made guitar will outlast me & give pleasure to players for years to come.

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