Kinnaird Student Build Figured Mahogany and Sitka OM (Final pics & Video)
 

I am a guitar builder who has completed 15 builds as a hobby. A little over a year ago, I met Steve and Ryan of Kinnaird Guitars at the BIG III show in Texas. I was admiring their amazing guitars when I learned that they provide a one week guitar build class, so I signed up and my turn came around last week.

I love the way they build their guitar necks from multiple laminations, and the beautiful asthetics of their guitar necks. I wanted to learn how they do that. Having built several guitars before, I wanted to do some extra things with my student build that normally are not done in the class due to time constraints.

I immediately began begging, bribing and whining to Ryan in order to find ways to do a few extra things for my student build. He finally succumbed to my relentless pressure and we agreed, if I did a few things ahead of the class, then that would free up time for me to bind the headstock, and put pau abalone purfling around the top of the guitar.

Prior to coming to the class, I prepared the rosette out of fiddleback mahogany and abalone, I prepared the fretboard with style 42 abalone inlays, and I bound the fretboard. As a surprise, I also created a custom Kinnaird label out of fiddleback mahogany to match the rosette. I was hoping Steve and Ryan would like it and let me use it on the guitar. I also brought some zip flex abalone to use for purfling to save a step in the binding process.

While I was at the BIG IV show this summer, I bought a beautiful set of Plum Pudding figured mahogany from John Long. John is a fellow AGF member. So here are the specs for my student build:

Model - Deep bodied OM
Scale - 25.4 inch
Top - Beautiful extra silky Sitka
Back and Sides - Plum Pudding figured Mahogany
Fretboard and Bridge - Ebony with style 42 Abalone inlays
Top Purfling - Pau abalone
Binding - Monterillo Rosewood
Neck - Three piece laminated mahogany with walnut center
Headstock laminate - Plum Pudding mahogany and Fiddleback Mahogany with Monterillo Rosewood binding.
Headstock back plate - Figured Walnut Burl
Heel cap and end graft - Fiddleback Mahogany
1.75 inch nut and 2.25 inch bridge spacing

Disclaimer: Several things I talked them into allowing me to do on this student build are not part of the regular student build. They only succumbed to my constant begging because I had built several guitars before and prepared several items ahead of time to allow time for other parts of the build.

This thread will have to be a trip back in time to last week. Steve and Ryan had me working way to hard on this build to have any energy left to learn how to do my first AGF thread. I'll post each of the five days I spent in the class over the next five days.

I can't adequately explain in words just how awesome this class was. Steve and Ryan are incredible professional luthiers and they put a lot of energy and work into teaching me their methods for building a guitar. The class exceeded my expectations in every way. I drove them crazy with a million questions on everything they do and they are probably incredibly relieved that they can finally have a few moments of rest now that I'm gone.

The guitar we produced turned out incredible. I can't believe we produced such a beautiful instrument in just five days. I hope you will agree when you see the finished guitar in the white at the end of this thread. Beyond the guitar, the things I learned from Steve and Ryan that they so graciously shared with me, will no doubt raise the quality of my future guitar builds immensely. I would gladly have paid to attend the class just for what I learned. Oh wait, they will probably read this thread. Steve and Ryan, don't get any ideas of keeping my beautiful guitar. I will be patiently waiting for it to come back finished from Tony and on its way out to me in California. :)

Some items I brought for the build
 

The surprise label

https://i.postimg.cc/xCphYCFn/Kinnai...ss-2-of-25.jpg

The Rosette

https://i.postimg.cc/fTzt1bQJ/Kinnai...ss-1-of-25.jpg

Day 1 of the student build
 

Routing for the rosette

https://i.postimg.cc/8cDH2VTN/Kinnai...ss-6-of-25.jpg

Gluing up the back

https://i.postimg.cc/13WjD4s6/Kinnai...ss-4-of-25.jpg

Bending sides

https://i.postimg.cc/T1CrBLkJ/Kinnai...ss-8-of-25.jpg

Sides and end blocks in the mold (just a few clamps!)

https://i.postimg.cc/pTvzTY4B/Kinnai...s-12-of-25.jpg

Cutting out the back, just a hint of shellac to see what it will look like

https://i.postimg.cc/DfHfPyf9/Kinnai...s-13-of-25.jpg

The sides out of the mold. I chose American flag style side ribbon in honor of Veterans day, which was the week of the build. Thank you to my dad and my Son in Law who both served in the Army.

https://i.postimg.cc/ZR4RdTmG/Kinnai...s-16-of-25.jpg

Day 1 continued
 

Pinning the head plate in place for gluing

https://i.postimg.cc/wvRnkNkZ/Kinnai...s-18-of-25.jpg

Working on the center strip with my favorite new tool, an Ibex plane

https://i.postimg.cc/jqzFdt3H/Kinnai...s-20-of-25.jpg

Steve let me put the label in the guitar :)

https://i.postimg.cc/L6QBmWSk/Kinnai...s-21-of-25.jpg

Back braces glued on

https://i.postimg.cc/pTBz4GkF/Kinnai...s-23-of-25.jpg

Rosette installed, sound hole cut, and cutting out the top

https://i.postimg.cc/HkQx6J6J/Kinnai...s-24-of-25.jpg

Congratulations!!!
 

My congratulations to you!!

This will be fun to see come together.

I am sure you will enjoy it immensely.

Cheers

Paul

Wow, that sounds like an intense yet fun way to spend a week +.
Look forward to seeing the completed guitar. Perhaps an audio recording or vid can be solicited :)

I’m curious, what did they do differently than you were doing on your prior builds.
And out of that list, what made the biggest sonic impact

Congrats on a successful week. It is a very fulfilling experience for sure and a very busy week. I am sure you will love yours as much as I love mine. I think you saw mine at B.I.G. IV and may have played it.

Ryan and Steve are the best.

To all you guys that have gone through the student builds with Kinnaird, I take my hat off to all concerned. I can only imagine the great experience and what you must have learned. I think these threads are my favorites on AGF.
Congratulations,
Nate

Great stuff! Love your rosette - On my list to do one day!!

Looks like you had a great time. That’s a lot to squeeze into one week!

Thanks Paul, I definitely enjoyed this class

I'll ask Steve Kinnaird to do a video of him playing it before he ships it to me.

I think what is so different in this build compared to mine is that they have so much knowledge from over 200 guitars built. They have refined their bracing pattern for each model from many years of experience. Their bracing is made extremely light and they have refined where each peak, scallop, and brace end is and exactly how high they want them. They also take every brace end down to zero at the rim of the guitar in the lower bought. They add a brace between the upper tone bar and the x brace just below the bridge plate. Ryan said they believe this brace helps their guitar have a very balanced response across all six strings. Like many luthiers they thin the top of the guitar along the rim of the lower bought. All of this really allows the top the freedom to vibrate and respond. I think this makes the biggest sonic impact.

The model I am building is a deep body OM. It is a half inch deeper than a standard OM. This adds air volume to the chamber and they feel it provides a better bass response.

I love the way they build their laminated necks and their methods for fitting the neck are very good to allow for accurate neck alignment as well as ease of repair if it is ever needed in the future. This was one of the main things I was exited about learning in the class.

Hi Tom! I did see your student build guitar at BIG IV and although I didn't get to play it I did hear it played by someone else. It looked and sounded awesome! Seeing your guitar is one of the reasons I chose to build a deep bodied OM like yours. Yes, Steve and Ryan are the best. They are excellent teachers and I am very grateful they were willing to share their knowledge on building guitars.

Thanks for following along Nate!

You should definitely do it. Besides the great experience you come away with a wonderful guitar!

Hi Joe, yes it is a lot of work to do in one week. Ryan has a list of everything we have to get done each day. That list is pretty intimidating, but somehow we get it done each day. I've been following your threads. I love your Vendovi OM model. Very nice design!

Kinnaird student build day 2
 

Ryan, has a long to do list for me for day two. It is hard to believe we'll get it all done but here we go. On this day we will bend and glue in all the kerfing, we'll glue on all the top braces, we'll carve the back braces, we'll sand the radius onto the rims for the back, we will glue laminates onto the front and back of the headstock, we'll trim the headstock and drill the tuner holes, and finally we will rout pockets for the back braces into the kerfing and finish by gluing on the back. Whew! i'm tired just thinking about it!

Bending and gluing in the kerfed linings

https://i.postimg.cc/YScpZJ4R/Kinnai...ss-1-of-22.jpg

Just a "few" clamps needed to glue them all in!

https://i.postimg.cc/x1LrJqCG/Kinnai...ss-2-of-22.jpg

Cutting the joints for the X brace

https://i.postimg.cc/Kvgww4nX/Kinnai...ss-3-of-22.jpg

Gluing on the top braces at the go bar deck

https://i.postimg.cc/DwkHTFgS/Kinnai...ss-4-of-22.jpg

Using the belt sander to refine the bridge plate shape

https://i.postimg.cc/VsSzsfjg/Kinnai...ss-5-of-22.jpg

Today's workout is sanding a radius onto the sides to accept the back. Am I really paying to do this part? What was I thinking. Right then I was thinking I'm getting old!

https://i.postimg.cc/4dDqxgg2/Kinnai...ss-7-of-22.jpg