S.Kinnaird 00 Indonesian Rosewood/CO BlueSpruce
 

As promised, I've got a thread to start (while I am waiting with bad breath for CigarFan's to come out of the oven), regarding a Steve Kinnaird and Ryan Middlebrook '00' - and yes, for you SKinnaird followers, this is a new 'model' which I hope makes it into a standard offering.

Sides and Back - Indonesian Rosewood (in celebration of my spending a good deal of time working on geothermal projects in Indonesia) and

Top - Colorado Blue Spruce, as we have one just outside our front door here in Evergreen, CO

I'll try and give you some background on my love affair with a Martin '00', Steve's adoption of that love and now, decades later, it's a build!

For those who might be peeking in, who have never chartered a custom instrument from an exceptional luthier, a peek into some of our discussions along the way. Steve and Ryan are very flexible, but most often right in their judgment and encouragement.

I built a guitar from some 125 year buried in the water Hard Maple, Black Walnut for Neck, Bridge and Fingerboard with a Blue spruce top. All of the wood came from Michigan. It was my tribute to Michigan woods guitar. It turn out nice and it sold rather fast. I'll be interested in what you think of the Blue Spruce for tone wood. Good luck with your build.

Collaboration
 

This is the first good example of the collaboration i enjoy with Steve and Ryan. The Colorado Blue Spruce was Steve's idea, knowing me well and I hadn't begun the project with any notion of top wood. It IS, of course, the most important piece of wood on an instrument, so having the luthier make the [final] choice is paramount.

In terms of wood selection, i have some opinion: for sides and back, i have a rule of thumb (i seem to be settling in on) in terms of sound outcome... the smaller the body, the harder the wood i prefer for sides and back. For a very large guitar (read dread or S&R's SJ) i think i prefer mahogany or kauri. In this case, a relatively small body, I chose the Indonesian Rosewood over a nice piece of claro walnut i had originally squirreled away for the project, based on the Indo's superior density. (I will share pics of both, so you can compare visually.)

Steve made a major contribution..and anyone who has followed him at all, knows his eye for incredible woods. The original sides did not seem to be a good match, in color, for the stunning back. So Steve spray painted the sides to better match...cool huh?

This will be fun.
 

Sounds lovely.

And I am sure you meant to write BAITED BREATH...

Auto fill strikes again!

Cheers


Paul

Bait Breath
 

No, it was an attempt at humor. Sorry. I will stick with my day job.

Congrats Bob, I usually say waiting with bait on my breath, but that's neither here nor there or there nor here....

Another great guitar and the first Kinnaird OO. You have the pull, of course I know that the first suggestion was made what, 10 plus years ago????

The cool thing about having multiple guitars from the same builder is you can put most of the worry about sound off to the side because you know it will be stellar and then just concentrate on the design elements and wood selections and have fun with that.

Of course I will be tagging along for the ride here.

Tom

Sooner or later, as you come to know Bob, you'll learn that purple is his favorite color. This set of Indonesian rosewood has a few streaks of purple here and there. It seemed like a perfect place to use Purpleheart for bindings. Also, as the thread rolls along, you'll see some custom purflings using purple veneers. And why not, with some Blue spruce?It's gonna be a colorful little thing, that's for sure.

Steve

Sounds much better than bait-like breath! See the choice things you can learn here?

I guess 'nearly the first' 00, as they are doing one (something they like to think of as a prototype I guess) to get the bugs out before doing it for a 'real customer' - i guess i have now been UPGRADED to a 'real customer.' Mine WAS the prototype back on the FS. Not sure that Steve would call it 'pull' - I think 'badgering' might be more like it...or whining and whimpering!

I'll have to check w/ Steve on what i am allowed to say and what i can't, but yeah i think it's safe to say it's been at least a decade. You might get tired of badgering after a decade or three as well! Seems only reasonable.

But as i hope will come out and Steve has confessed to some of it already, we both fell in love with this little Martin '00' way back when. It was even in my will to go to him, before i found out he was plotting something........

Gorgeous and great idea. Would love to hear a sound sample using a flatpick whenever you get it done. Have been intrigued with OO models for flatpicking and not just fingerstyle. You are lucky!

And I'm sure you meant to write BATED BREATH.

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/with_bated_breath

(Same root as "unaBATED"). No fishing bait.

;)

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Tom. Hopefully this will be a fun and rewarding ride. I know Ryan and I are having fun already!

Steve

Recordings...
 

EricWall I will do my best to remember to honor that request, but remind me if/when i fail.

I think i still owe some recordings back to the RenOvation project. Must do that some year.

SKinnaird 00 Indonesian Rosewood/CO BlueSpruce
 

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cfc2c61f69.jpg

To understand my love for the ‘00’ a brief guitar genealogy might help. From my first guitar (a Greco dread), I went to a Martin D-18 rather rapidly and then onto a D-35. I will never forget opening the case of the new D-35 and being disappointed by the sound (when remembering the sweet sound of my D-18 I had sold to be able to afford the D-35). This was the beginning of my realizing I prefer mahogany for larger guitars.

Not long after I purchased a D12-20 (ah…another large body mahogany), I realized I had found my preferred neck-width and wanted that same 1-7/8ths in a six string…so I was thinking D-35S (which Paul Simon and Don McLean were both playing about then) or a D-18S which a friend’s dad owned – such a sweet-sounding instrument…

But along came Mary. Or in my case Terri…my bride-to-be.

I don’t know if any others have had this experience, but I thought…I’ll teach my future wife to play guitar. Yeah, like that was gonna happen. But at 21 and ever-the-optimist, I decided to buy the smaller-bodied 00-21 (that Don McLean was also playing) with the idea that maybe Terri would learn…

The result: Ms Marty (the 00-21) came to live at our house. [I still own both the D12-20 and the 00-21 and they are listed first below for a reason.] Next episode: Steve meets Ms Marty!

Well I have always waited with minty breath myself. Steve, please don't let Bob breathe on my guitar when it comes back. I don't want him to spoil the aroma therapy. ;)

Congrats on starting your project. Sounds like fun to me!