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  #1  
Old 03-17-2018, 05:38 PM
tkoehler1 tkoehler1 is offline
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Default NOGD - 1968 Kohno

I've joined the Kohno fan club!

City and country: Dayton, OH USA
Model: #7
Date of production: 1968
Date of acquisition: 2018
Price of acquisition: $3,500 USD
Top: Spruce
Back: Indian Rosewood
Side: Ditto
Neck: unknown
Fingerboard: ebony
Strings: D'Addario EJ45
Remarks: I finally got one. Very sweet sounding, nicely balanced and a pleasure to listen to.


20180317_132532 by Tristan Koehler, on Flickr


Guitar Salon International had this vintage Kohno for sale. I took one look at the listing and bought it on Friday. They overnighted it and 18 hours later in was in my hands.

The guitar is in marvelous shape, very good condition for any guitar let alone one that is 50 years old. It's got a much thicker neck with smaller frets than I am accustomed to yet I found it easy to adjust to and easy to play. For some reason the top, while spruce, is a charming orange color. Was Kohno trying to make it look like cedar?

The guitar has a very refined sound, with the notes evenly balanced up and down and across the fret board. The basses are full, and the trebles are very pure and have a delightful delicate quality to them. The sound is not as crisp as you might think with the spruce top, the notes swell into existence rather than cut their way in. It is easy to generate sound with this guitar it's almost eager to play. Compared to my modern lattice instrument it is quieter, though easily loud enough that you don't feel deprived.

I'm thrilled with this guitar and look forward to getting to know it.

Here's the GSI page with much better pics https://www.guitarsalon.com/store/p5...quot-spin.html

TK
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Old 03-17-2018, 06:52 PM
Carey Carey is offline
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Congratulations! That looks like a very nice Kohno. I hope to get a short-scale
Spruce one some day.
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  #3  
Old 03-17-2018, 06:59 PM
tkoehler1 tkoehler1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Carey View Post
Congratulations! That looks like a very nice Kohno. I hope to get a short-scale
Spruce one some day.
Thanks! There's another Kohno with a 646mm scale here at Vintage Kohno's - http://www.vintagekohnoguitars.com/1...hno_no618.html

It's got the cool original label and it looks and sounds fantastic. Downside may be the 48mm nut, and she's a bit expensive.

TK
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Old 03-17-2018, 08:38 PM
Ceabeceabe Ceabeceabe is offline
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Nice find!
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Old 03-17-2018, 09:21 PM
Carey Carey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tkoehler1 View Post
Thanks! There's another Kohno with a 646mm scale here at Vintage Kohno's - http://www.vintagekohnoguitars.com/1...hno_no618.html

It's got the cool original label and it looks and sounds fantastic. Downside may be the 48mm nut, and she's a bit expensive.

TK
That site new to me, and a nice resource! Thanks for the link, and enjoy your
new/old guitar.
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Old 03-18-2018, 04:40 AM
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Bluewyatt Bluewyatt is offline
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Sweet! Enjoy your new guitar!
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Old 03-18-2018, 07:11 AM
smwink smwink is offline
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Congrats! I used to own that guitar, and it is a wonderful instrument. Feel free to PM if you're interested in learning more about its history, at least the part of it that I know.
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Old 03-18-2018, 02:04 PM
tkoehler1 tkoehler1 is offline
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Got some great information from the previous owner. My hat is off to him! The guitar has a couple of stable cleated cracks, two on the sound board and one on the back. They are so expertly repaired that I missed them completely (as did GSI). I'm not too worried about these cracks as the guitar sounds great.

Here's a link to when Dream Guitars sold this guitar in the past - it's got a great sound sample - https://www.dreamguitars.com/shop/ko...al-guitar.html
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Old 03-18-2018, 09:05 PM
LadysSolo LadysSolo is offline
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Beautiful to look at, and fine sounding to boot! Great find!
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Old 03-19-2018, 06:20 AM
dkstott dkstott is offline
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Congratulations on your new Guitar.
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  #11  
Old 03-28-2018, 06:30 PM
Matallana Matallana is offline
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Congrats! I have a 68 cedar and it has a very charming sound. Does yours have a spanish heel or is it a mortise joint?
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Old 03-29-2018, 03:44 AM
mondoslug mondoslug is offline
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Suhweet...congrats!
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Old 03-29-2018, 07:45 AM
tkoehler1 tkoehler1 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Matallana View Post
Congrats! I have a 68 cedar and it has a very charming sound. Does yours have a spanish heel or is it a mortise joint?
It does not have a Spanish heel, that I can see. Sorry I'm not sure how to tell that it has a mortise joint (unless that's the only other method he used). It looks to have the standard block of wood under the fret board just like a steel string.

That's curious I just assumed all decent classicals had the Spanish heel. I figured those without were more like factory made higher volume lower priced guitars. I was waaay wrong!
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Old 03-30-2018, 08:28 AM
smwink smwink is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tkoehler1 View Post
It does not have a Spanish heel, that I can see. Sorry I'm not sure how to tell that it has a mortise joint (unless that's the only other method he used). It looks to have the standard block of wood under the fret board just like a steel string.

That's curious I just assumed all decent classicals had the Spanish heel. I figured those without were more like factory made higher volume lower priced guitars. I was waaay wrong!
Kohno was known for using a dovetail neck joint, as did Fleta and others. Although the Spanish heel is probably still the most common traditional way to do this joint, there are many other methods used by some of the world's finest luthiers.
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Old 04-01-2018, 07:08 PM
Carmel Cedar Carmel Cedar is offline
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Thumbs up

Tristan: Congratulations to you - looks like an awesome Kohno! And also to me - I just bought Alan's 1989 Kohno Pro-J. Loving it so far.

Glad to join you in the Kohno Fan Club!
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