McKnight McJam - 2022
 

OUR # 15 McJam

WHO: Tim and Mary McKnight, McKnight Guitars, celebrate 30 years in the guitar build world.

WHAT: This is a small private weekend gathering with others guitar enthusiasts who will enjoy hearing your music as you jam together. You will see and have a chance to play a few McKnight guitars that have never yet been displayed, watch Tim at his bench, ask questions, share music, enjoy a bite to eat, relax, get to know other McJammers while they share stories from experiences in the past.

(NO RECREATIONAL DRUGS OR ALCOHOL PERMITTED) No smoking on site.

Covid rule - use common sense.

WHERE: North central Ohio

WHY: Why not? Meet the man who builds McKnight guitars. Have you ever wondered what makes the McKnight luthier build the way he builds? You will have the option to ask questions and see the shop.

Smell the wonderful fragrance of the specialty selected woods.


WHEN:
Friday June 24 - Noon - 11:00 PM
Saturday June 25 - Noon - 11:00 PM


MUST PRE-SIGN UP AND PAY IN ADVANCE FIRST WEEK OF JUNE
(NO REFUNDS)

MUST WEAR MCKNIGHT GUITAR T-SHIRT WHILE ATTENDING UNTIL SUPPLIES RUN OUT (If you have one there is NO need to purchase another. However if you must please pay in advance or borrow your buddy's for free.)

You do not have to be a McKnight Guitar customer to attend. You just need to appreciate quality music. It's a be good, be kind event.

Local motels

Best Western = 740-389-1998
$141.55 plus tax
2 singles and 2 doubles are blocked for McJammers
You can cancel up to 24 hours is advance.
Block of rooms are under McKnight Guitars (Mary McKnight)
First come - first serve

MyPlace = 740-361-6422
$165.00 plus tax for single and/or double per night
3 double and 3 single are blocked for McJammers
Reserve your room any time between February 5 and May 24
Block of rooms are under McKnight Guitars
First come - first serve

Country Inn and Suites - 740-386-5451
$190 plus tax for a single. No rooms blocked.

America's Best value Inn = 740-389-4671
$77- $85 plus $15 pet fee - No rooms blocked

Contact Mary or Tim in a PM for details and we will get back to you ASAP.


NOW SIGNED UP:

Neil Kwak
Steve Kitchen

I'm marking the date. Any dibs on the loft? If not, I'm considering on bringing a tent along with an air mattress. I tolerated the local lodging in years past but sadly that's now out of my comfort zone.

BTW is Tim having any presentations or holding any classes? I have materials! ;)

Steve Kitchen sign me up for both days! Looking forward to it.

Neil!

It is great to hear from you. The loft security now has your name on the top of the list. I will count on you to be here both days to protect the guitars.:D

Early rise on Sunday morning. We can discuss details later.

I'll have a little butter, a box of waffle mix and your choice of syrup if you tell me in advance. The waffle maker turned on Sunday morning.

Alrighty Steve! You are on the list.

I’m all ears Neil. What suggestions do you have for a class? Sorry but build a guitar in <30 minutes has already been asked for, considered and promptly rejected :D

Hey Steve, Looking forward to seeing you and your SSD again.

BTW, 2022 marks our 30th anniversary in business so we are working on some exciting things for this years McJam.

Congrats Tim and Mary on 30 years of being business!

Would greatly enjoy knowing how it all started, first customer build, how the business has changed over the years, etc....

Make this Mary's homework assignment for today. :D

Many thanks to you both for being such good friends and contributors to this community of guitar enthusiasts. Greatly appreciated!

Danno

Kathy and I are looking to reprise our roles as "Event Coordinators." Count us in. Daughter Ashley would love to attend depending on her sons' baseball commitments.

Can't wait! Looking forward to Mary's two hour documentary, "McKnight Guitars: How it All Began."

Thanks a lot, Guys! You boys are such great fans to give me homework. :roll:

I assigned Rodger and his wife, Kathy, a title a few years ago and I created a job for them. Rodger is my Power Point man because it goes with all the other jobs I made up and will continue to make up to give to him.

As my mom always said, "There is a method to my madness." :)

So, on page 14 of the book Doin' Life...As a Luthier's Wife you can learn more about the McKnight Guitar's very beginning. Due to the regulations of the forum I will be careful not to go into details to find I might have crossed a line. Danno, the book need not be purchased because I can send you a picture of page 14. Should anyone want to dig up more insider information this book can be ordered from Blurb.com. I don't plan to make a series, but regretfully, I wish I had made one after each guitar show as we've met many wonderful people and I could have a nice guitar filled library by this time. The book is not just filled with guitars in still form. There are notes, comments from the AGF, silly faces, McJams, the building of the loft area where folks spend on on one time with Tim and me to test the spec guitars. There are memories in the book that sometimes still make me smirk. Fact is I don't even know how much my book sells for. Magazines were contacted as I took pictures of the pages that involved our business that I felt I needed and those magazines were pleased to be included in my book. As I took approved pictures over the years I got permission as I added, "This one is for the book." Kurt (AGF Eire), at first said, "Nooo," when he saw the picture I wanted to use but he is a good AGF brother who took a breath and said, "Okay."

FYI: Danno, Rodger and Kathy have their picture some place in the book. My own copy has a signed picture of Ervin Somgyi and me in a hug. He bought our book and signed mine. He's a true gem.

Before anyone asks the reason this guitar was the one I used on the front cover was because it is the ONLY 12 string Tim has built to this day. The owner was healthy at the time, but passed several years ago. At that time I was still not ready for me to sign the labels.

https://i.imgur.com/3d0saOw.jpg

To be honest, deflection testing still mystifies me. Binding channel cutting also scares the bejesus out of me but I see experienced people just zipping through like it's routine - which I find amazing.

Don't worry about sacrificing too much time or one of your builds. I will bring a victim to experiment upon so that you don't have to sacrifice one of yours! I might even swing by Akron and pick up one of those $250 Stewmac "finished body" kits on the way. ;)

I need to pick up a copy of that book and drop it on my wife's night stand.

BTW, if that guitar doesn't fit the bill anymore are you up for a reissue with a new cover photo. What's the status of "The Diamond?" I've always equated that guitar with your and Tim's "partnership." What about a continuation with Adriane's contributions to the family legacy?

Sorry - I don't mean to make more work for you guys. Talk to my wife about my completion rate; the honey do lists continue to lengthen. I also need to get off the Naughty List.

I spent close to a year assembling past pictures and information for that book. I find bits and pieces I could have added now, but hindsight is always 20/20. I continue to make books about the McKnight history. Most of the newer books have cover of McJam groups. I know the McJam isn't for sitting in our dining room to look at pictures of the past, but the books are there if'n you wanna view them. Hey, Neil, I can take a picture of you holding the page with your picture so your wife can see the before and after. It's been 15 years. We have all aged a bit.

I am assuming you have looked at some of the history in the cradle of the loft. My two favorite magazines are Henry Lowenstein's Newport Miami Guitar show where we displayed and sold the McKnight Spar guitar. Also the Memphis guitar show where we displayed the Memphis guitar which is here to stay.

The McKnight Diamond guitar was my true first solo design to display at a Healdsburg show. I created it to represent our 25 years of marriage. I designed and gave Tim that as a gift. He built the guitar and gave it to me as a gift. There is a special touch in the heel cap I didn't think he would agree to add, but we agreed that was the special touch it needed. The beginning discussions of the Diamond caused a little riff as I wanted some inlay in the back and he wasn't crazy about making a double back. However, he did it and he did it very well. Thus the McKnight double back was made known and was in a magazine article. Several customers have since ordered the double back or double top or both for their own guitars. As a matter of fact, we got an order recently from the Gear guitar now called "Gear Gone Wild" as it is a bit more over the top than my original. I didn't think it could happen but the wife and I had a gay ole time in the wood room picking and choosing. I wasn't going to let some of the wood go, but why? I don't know what I could have been saving it for other than the Gear Gone Wild. Mine has a fan fret. Theirs does not. Theirs has a double top. Mine does not.https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=630258

As for Adrianne building more guitars, well, she is now a busier young lady than she was back then. She said she will return but let's not count on that. She still has her "Mahogany Tree" to sell. Before the Covid mess she purchased a 100 plus year old church to make into a home. The man next door was her best friend who helped work on it. We saw an admiration between then. We got a call one day that he needed to talk to us. He approached us personally and asked if he could propose to her. Months later they were married in their own living room/church auditorium. He makes her happy. So do her 5 kids, three grand kids and now their own baby girl.

That stings, Mary! ;)

My copy of "Doing Life..." has a cherished spot on my bookshelf! Kathy and I read it cover to cover. Honored to be included!

Really looking forward to reprising our Event Coordinator roles.

As far as Power Point man... I think folks enjoyed the Chouse presentation last year.