Principles

Darren R. Hippner builds his guitars himself in his one man shop.  There are no associates, apprentices, students, or employees.  Every Hippner guitar is handcrafted by Darren alone using primarily hand tools and satisfying Darren’s four core principles:

Design

The Blueprint

Craftsmanship

The Skills

Materials

The Wood

Finishing

The Final Touch

What does hand-made mean to Hippner?

Darren handcrafts all of his instruments himself, using basic wood shop machinery and hand tools. By working alone, he has total control over every phase of building and can produce more consistently fine musical instruments. He maximizes the potential of each piece of wood by voicing the wood and shaping the thickness graduations individually using touch, feel & tap-tones, the same way old master Italian violin luthiers and master Spanish guitar luthiers worked.

A guitar is not simply another commodity for sale, it is a means to reach the soul.”

– DARREN HIPPNER

How he started

Darren comes from a family of carpenters & cabinet makers and is a 4th generation carpenter/cabinet maker.  His great grandfather emigrated to America from Germany working as a carpenter & cabinet maker.  Both his grandfather and father were home-builders & cabinet makers so it was natural for Darren to learn the fundamentals of woodworking.

Having an interest in music he was attracted to the classical guitar and one day had an idea to build one for himself.  As fortune would have it, he discovered a luthier nearby who was originally trained as a violin maker in Europe and then emigrated to America.  Being a master luthier, he had successfully transitioned to guitar making.  Darren was in his workshop admiring his fine guitars, asking questions how to make them and listening attentively as this master generously shared his knowledge & techniques.

He went home and replicated this luthier’s guitar on his own for his first guitar.  After returning to show the master his new guitar Darren was encouraged to continue building.  The master explained that, rather than copying other luthiers’ guitars, it’s better to create your own original ideas.  Darren made the decision to become a guitar maker and began his long journey on the path of becoming a master luthier himself.  Being self-taught, he gained valuable knowledge over the years by collecting, playing and studying fine Spanish and flamenco guitars. In this way the old masters served as his teachers. After perfecting classical & flamenco guitars, he began building acoustic steel strings.

What he’s become

Darren has been a professional luthier building guitars full time since 1994. As of 2012 his total production is over 700 guitars.

His custom guitars include a wide variety such as Torres, Hauser, Ramirez & Fleta models, 8-String guitars, double top and lattice braced classical’s, acoustic dreadnaught’s, parlour & 12-Strings.  He uses a wide variety of premium tonewoods.  His excellent knowledge and collection of premium domestic & exotic tonewoods helps set his guitars apart from the crowd.

Darren’s guitars are owned worldwide.   A prolific builder with a very strong work ethic, he continues to learn and perfect his techniques always striving to make better instruments.  He lives in Point Roberts, Washington.  A very small island peninsula off the North West coast of Washington State and bordering Canada.  It’s a very quiet and isolated location which affords him the opportunity to focus entirely on his craft of building guitars.

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