NGD! Kronbauer TDK

[Methos1979]

So, I just picked up this guitar in a straight trade from a fellow AGF member. The deal was smooth with the exception that my guitar heading across the country never showed up on the USPS tracking. That was scary but both guitars arrived on the same day.

I had my Huss & Dalton 00-Custom up for sale or trade. It was a little too close to my 00-28VS and I prefer wider nut widths. Ideally I was looking for something similar - small body, 12-fret, 1 7/8" nut. Not much ever surfaced along those lines but plenty of interesting trades.

Then someone hit up for a trade for his 2014 Kronbauer TDK. I didn't know anything about this guitar or builder but after a few searches I found a plethora of info and everything I read was good for the most part. The guitar in question was pretty much everything I was not looking for in a guitar - long scale, narrow nut, larger body, 14-fret... but the guitar was BEAUTIFUL!.

So I figured, what the heck? Worst case if I don't warm up to it I can just trade it off or sell it, right? Got the guitar this past Wednesday and I'm really digging it. Besides the obvious great looks, it's an extremely well-made guitar. Trevor Kronbauer has hit his stride and is making one sweet guitar right now.

Speaking of Trevor, he's VERY approachable. I email three times in one day with questions and he responded almost immediately. I would not hesitate to call and ask this guy to build me a guitar.

The things that drew me to this guitar were the highly figured Ziricote back and sides, the beveled arm rest (awesome, btw), flamed maple binding on the front and back, mahogany binding and edge strips on the ebony fretboard, single abalone inlay on the 12th fret (a neat Orca design), spalted maple rosette. It's gorgeous! But where it really shines is the tone. Balanced, sweet, and pretty loud. It came with a K&K Pure Mini installed (my pickup of choice, so bonus). I removed the clear pickguard and installed a brass front strap button.

The long scale does not bother me like I thought it would. The nut width is 1 3/4 and also the string spacing is a little narrower than most at 2 1/4 which makes it even more noticeable. But so far I'm still liking it. The neck profile is on the thin side, very Taylor-ish. I generally prefer thicker but again I'm still enjoying playing it.

So I'm going to keep playing and see how it goes. I keep going back and forth between the two main guitars and the TDK grows on me a little more each time I play. I don't know whether I will keep it forever. I'd love to keep it long enough to hear the Engelmenn spruce top open up since it's so new. But we'll see.

Update: For those that find this thread through a search, this guitar won me over so much that it became my primary guitar! And Kronbauer build quality won me over so much that when one of his other models showed up a few months later, I sold the Martin and bought my second Kronbauer which is every bit as beautiful, well-built and wonderful sounding as this first one. I've since done a NGD post on that one which you can view but clicking on the link down in my sig line.

Here's a recent video clip (two, actually) of the two Kronbauers being played acoustically and amplified:

Kronbauer TDK & SMB review/demo/compare - Second video and photos added!

Here's the official specs on the guitar:

2014 Kronbauer - TDK
Engelman Spruce top/ziricote back & sides
Maple bevel
Custom abalone inlay (orca) on fingerboard
Custom headstock

Ziricote back and sides
Bevelled Armrest
Engelmann spruce top
7 piece neck
510 gold tuners
Customized 12th fret inlay
Ebony fingerboard and bridge
Mahogany fretboard binding inlay in to edge with an ebony reveal strip between the binding and the neck
Fine line mahogany inlay on either side of the fingerboard
Spalted Maple Rosette
Bone nut and saddle
1 3/4" nut width
25 1/2" scale length
K & K pickup

Body Length: 20 1/8 in.
Upper Bout: 11 7/8 in.
Lower Bout: 16 1/8 in.
Body Depth @Neck Heel: 3 3/4 in.
Body Depth @Tail Block: 4 3/8 in.
Waist: 9 3/4 in.
Frets to body: 14
String spacing: 2 1/4 in.

And here's what you really came for:

[billgennaro]

I assume the other guy is just as happy with the trade. Always great when these things work out, which I guess probably don't in many cases?

Congratulations! You sound very content.

[ljguitar]

Looks like a beauty!

[MBE]

Gorgeous. I've always wanted to try a Kronbauer.

[B Chas]

Welcome to the club. I have one of Trevor's small body guitars, wonderful voice, well built, plays easy and looks nice. Your Kroni is really nice, lots of really nice features, congratulations.

[The Growler]

Wow. That back is gorgeous. Congratulations!

[StevenL]

Astonishingly beautiful! Happy picking.

[fishstick_kitty]

Awesome looking guitar!!!! Congrats!!

[Kip Carter]

GAS!!!!! yeah ... Big GAS ... Grats

[NewPicker]

Glad you're enjoying it Methos! I'm also a happy camper with the H&D!

This is why I love AGF! Great people, equally afflicted by GAS!

[jcarlos]

Wow! Now that is a stunning guitar! What does something like that run?

[Methos1979]

NewPicker - I couldn't agree more! AGF rocks in so many ways for sure, the ability to bring fellow enthusiasts together to trade killer axes's is certainly one of the very best!

jcarlos - the Kronbauer's are surprisingly affordable new given their top-notch quality. Trevor's base price before options is $2,600, I believe, which is not bad give this level of attention to detail. Of course once you start adding all the really cool things like I have on this guitar it goes up. I would have to go look at his website but this guitar new was probably close to $4k. I got it for free! (Sort of!!)

[s2y]

Very stunning.

[Dirty Bill]

Very nice.I like the "eyes" in the grain on the side.

[Wildgift]

Stunning. Congratulations.