About Hymn

A Hymn is a song of praise for something, or someone, great. It is not necessarily a religious link, but a link to music and for me, to the guitar. The guitar has become such an anchor in my life that I feel it certainly earns to be praised. Hymn is also an anagram of my name, Michiel Nykamp. Ending on my initials felt like a nice touch.

I started my professional career as an aeronautical engineer and to this present day, still active in the aerospace industry as an industrialization manager for aircraft components. As a guitar nerd, I build a scaled version of a LP-style guitar for my (then) 7 year old son. I enjoyed the design and building so much, that I felt a hunger for more.

When one of my favorite guitar brands left the European market, I thought about building my own. I saw an opportunity, but wanted to start a clean sheet design and combine features of models that I liked. After hundreds of hours drawing on paper with a pencil, then in 3D in CAD-software, I build a couple of prototypes and Hymn Guitars was born.

I always loved offset designs. This clean sheet design is a nudge to vintage designs from the 50’and 60’s, but with a modern take. Offset guitars offer an unprecedented feel of comfort and, let’s be honest, look cool and fast. The platform is fully customizable within a fixed set of parameters. You can personalize your guitar by choosing you own colors, pickguard materials, bridges, pickups, frets, tuners and neck sizes. 

Hymn Guitars are fully build in Dedemsvaart, The Netherlands. We do our own CAD/CAM-work and use raw woods from our suppliers to build everything in-house. It is still a one-man operation, but the goal is to grow and scale. Soon I hope to build together with a small team of good fun people, who enjoy building and create, as much as I do. I already share expertise with the luthiers of The Fellowship of Acoustics and make use of their PLEK-machine and paint booth that I am highly thankful for!

We strive to build guitars that are fun to play and meet your expectations as you have come to expect from high end guitars. Top of the market components, high quality woods that ring like a bell and ensure great playability. Not having that piano gloss finish is meant to encourage you to play and not worry about marks and scratches. Hymn Guitars will quickly age and make it your guitar, your favorite, the one that just wants you to go at it. 

So, go ahead and Play Your Own Song!  

Thank you for interest,

Michiel Nijkamp