Pete Huttinger |
Pete with CB Guitars model J |
Pete with VAD battery pack |
His sister’s husband was a big influence on his music and style. This man played old time music with his friends,and Huttinger grew up listening those antiquated and delightful songs.When Pete was a teenager his mom bought him a banjo from a Sears catalog. He says that finger picking the banjo just seemed to come naturally to him which was very helpful when he eventually gravitated to guitar. He applied this same banjo "finger style" method to the guitar.
During his late teens he played electric rock and roll guitar. Upon finishing high school Huttinger attended the Berklee College of Music, earning a bachelor degree.
Playing banjo with John Denver |
In the year 2000 he won the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship due to his ability to work out solo guitar arrangement for songs most players deem impossible to play.
Since then Huttinger went on to play on stage at Carnegie Hall in both 2007 and 2008. He was scheduled back in 2010.
At 2010 Crossroads festival |
He also created the theme song for a national TV series on fly-fishing (this was his hobby).
With LeAnn Rimes |
After his 2011 hospitalization he went on public speaking engagements to let others know his philosophy, which was Don’t Just Live; Live Well
In 2013 Huttinger released, what is considered his finest work, McGuire’s Landing. This was a LP of original songs which was accompanied by a 52 page story that he wrote.
His last album was done with Mollie Weaver and was called Parnassus. This came out in 2015.
Pete's final show on January 9th, 2016 was in Atlanta. Two days later he was back in the hospital with bleeding on his brain. He went from talking and laughing to being unresponsive.
For the past five years he had worn the Venticular Assist Device. This was essentially a pump for his heart. It came with a battery pack that was in a bag that he wore over his right shoulder. There were wires coming out of his belly that were attached to the batteries.
He would make fun of this in his concerts by telling the audience it was “set to stun. He even gave it a name.
Erin Morris Huttinger |
Teaching at Fur Peace Ranch |
Although he played other acoustic guitars, Huttinger’s favored guitar was built for him in 2012 by renowned luthier Bill Collings. This guitar was a modifed model OM1 that had a limited run of 50 instruments. The guitar listed at $4725 and Collings gave $1000 for each instrument to a fund for medical bills that Huttinger had incurred. The street price was $4000. USD.
The Huttinger model guitar’s top was made of Sitka or Adirondack spruce with a Venetian cutaway. The back and sides are solid mahogany, as was the guitars neck. The back and sides were trimmed with tortoise shell style binding and the back had a strip of walnut separating the sides. The neck was a bolt-on model with a heel and has a modified V shape. The fretboard is ebony with dot position markers and Huttinger's name in script on the 12th fret.
The body had standard scalloped X bracing. The nut at the neck was slightly larger than the standard model and is 1 3/4” and tapers to 2 3/16’s at the saddle. The Waverly tuners were made of nickel.
Huttinger can be seen in a John Denver TV specials playing a banjo and mandolin. Huttinger was a spokesperson for Elixir strings said that he he was fond of slightly heavy strings. He used a 013 for high E and .017 for B.
AER Compact 60 |
He also uses a Fishman Aura Spectrum DI.
For some songs he states that he used modified tunings, such as D-A-D-F#-A-D.
Pete with his classical guitar |
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