Innovative guitar designer, maker

Thomas Humphrey, 59, a guitar maker whose innovative techniques helped increase the volume and projection of the instrument, died of a heart attack April 16 at his home in Gardiner, N.Y., said his wife, Martha Costa Humphrey.

His best-known model, the Millennium, has a sloped face and raised fingerboard that makes it easier for musicians to reach the high notes. The body shape gives the guitar a large tone.

Humphrey had been making conventional guitars for about 15 years when he designed the Millennium in 1985 off a sketch that came to him in a dream, he said on his website. Prominent musicians including Sergio and Odair Assad, Eliot Fisk and Carlos Barbosa-Lima played his guitars.

He also licensed his design to C.F. Martin & Co. for a line of instruments that included one built to the specifications of the pop star Sting.

Born in St. Joseph Township, Minn., Humphrey began making guitars shortly after his arrival in New York City in 1970, the New York Times reported. After serving an apprenticeship with the luthier Michael Gurian, he opened his own shop specializing in classical guitars with nylon strings. He was instantly popular with young musicians. After designing the Millennium, he stopped making guitars in the traditional manner.