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Post by TKennedy on Mar 3, 2015 13:04:23 GMT -5
OK, I am up, and pilled, and yogurted, and coffeed, it's time to play some geetars! The Kennedy is in a Dumb Ol' MARTIN case! WTF??? Glenn did that. He got it cheap when the Podium sold. He should have the original TKL (the Martin is a TKL/Cedar Creek too) . It is a nice case. The strings are new uncoated D'Addario EJ16's. 12-53 Scale length is 25.4. I think Goodalls are 25.5 so close.
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Post by PaulKay on Mar 3, 2015 13:04:33 GMT -5
What I want to know is who on this forum remember what the play on words "Guitar 54 where are you" relates to.
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Post by epaul on Mar 3, 2015 13:13:44 GMT -5
I'm going to guess Bill!
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Post by TKennedy on Mar 3, 2015 13:15:57 GMT -5
Lovely guitar. But my spray-paint-trigger-finger gets itchy. I've loved the couple of Kennedys I've held and played. It would be a thrill to have one. But lately I've been looking for one of these. I have something like that in the works.
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Post by billhammond on Mar 3, 2015 13:20:15 GMT -5
Just ran some JT material -- both guitars sounded great on it. Tamarack mentioned piano, and I think that is a good descriptor of the Kennedy -- super clear, almost percussive, whereas the Goodall is a freaking chamber orchestra, with tons of mid-range and a little nasality. The Kennedy seems to have no tonal bias whatsoever, the basses and mids are just as clear as the trebles, and without the overtone wash that the Goodall has, it's easy and wonderful to, say, put that melody line front and center if you are doing an instrumental.
On to some alt tunings!
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Post by Marshall on Mar 3, 2015 13:28:12 GMT -5
I would imagine the Kennedy would be more Martin-like; more fundamental. Pretty much nothing comapres to a Goodall for overtones. But that's nt what everyone is looking for.
I'm just sayin'
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Post by Marshall on Mar 3, 2015 13:33:08 GMT -5
Is that a carved top, or formed, Terry?
I'm looking for an electric guitar that is acoustic in nature; meaning not sustainie like a solidbody. I want punchie single coil sound. Other than that I'm a short scale guy. And I don't want something where the strap attaches at the 17th fret. That makes the neck top heavy and changes my reach, even if the scale is familiar.
Picky, picky, picky.
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Post by billhammond on Mar 3, 2015 13:44:08 GMT -5
I would imagine the Kennedy would be more Martin-like; more fundamental. Pretty much nothing comapres to a Goodall for overtones. But that's nt what everyone is looking for. I'm just sayin' Of course, and I am not looking for another Goodallish guitar -- I am looking to see if I can replace my non-Goodall hog Martin with a guitar I have long lusted over from afar. In DADGAD, the Kennedy was terrific, almost like the builder is Irish or something. I don't use the Martin for anything Celtic or dropped in tuning other than Drop D, so that is a plus. Of course, the Martin has a pickguard so I use it with a flatpick as well as fingerstyle -- I'd have to add a pickguard to the Kennedy to do that, and I would be loath to put anything on that gorgeous expanse of Sitka.
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Post by Marshall on Mar 3, 2015 13:52:12 GMT -5
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Post by Marshall on Mar 3, 2015 13:55:49 GMT -5
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Post by billhammond on Mar 3, 2015 13:59:02 GMT -5
STOP THAT, naughty Marshall!
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Post by billhammond on Mar 3, 2015 14:22:51 GMT -5
This is what Lonnie had to say about No. 54 when he first encountered it, before Glenn bought it:
Rosewood and sitka... the first chord almost broke my heart, it was so sweet. The neck has the same feel that drew me to Goodalls, the set-up was perfect for me. Beautiful high-low balance, articulate... Amazing dynamic range, a wonderfully expressive instrument. With many guitars you have to dig in a little bit to get the sound to open up, this thing goes from a whisper to a roar with the same beautiful voice at every level. I told Terry, and I meant it, that this guitar rivals anything I have ever played at the Podium... ever... EVER. Our Mr. Kennedy is truly a world-class luthier.
Very well put, indeed. Podium has given me one more day with the thing, so I can now go shovel the plow wall and get ready for work, but it has been a lovely three-way this morning, let me tell ya. Me and the two beauties, don't get no better than that!
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Post by TKennedy on Mar 3, 2015 14:24:25 GMT -5
I feel like I am waiting for the envelope for best supporting actor to be opened. Just took a couple of beta blockers.
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Post by dradtke on Mar 3, 2015 14:37:40 GMT -5
Must be hard to play over the soundhole with that pickguard.
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Post by billhammond on Mar 3, 2015 14:43:30 GMT -5
I feel like I am waiting for the envelope for best supporting actor to be opened. Just took a couple of beta blockers. Well, you know how those awards shows drag on -- seems like days, so get comfortable.
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Post by Marshall on Mar 3, 2015 15:20:51 GMT -5
. . . ,Podium has given me one more day with the thing, so I can now go shovel the plow wall and get ready for work, . . . , Let us know how it performs as a snow shovel.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2015 15:46:45 GMT -5
I've got a matched set, Left & Right, of large pointy floral pickguards if you are interested Marshall.
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Post by billhammond on Mar 4, 2015 12:17:50 GMT -5
Well, I have decided not to buy the Kennedy, not to sell the Martin. It boiled down to this – I don’t deserve the Kennedy and it doesn’t deserve me. Buying it would give me two world-class fingerstyle guitars, one gorgeous piano-like in tone, the other lush and orchestral. Whereas now I have one world-class fingerstyle guitar and one anti-Goodall: a quieter, plaintive-voiced guitar with unique looks, a guitar that I can flail away at with a flatpick if I wish, a guitar I can sit by the campfire with, a 12-fret slothead that shines on certain kinds of material where a quicker decay is desirable. Although Martina was a bit high-maintenance at first, and even now is occasionally temperamental, that just gives Marty a chance to show off his knowledge and skills, and I do think she is settling in now for the long haul. I am gonna keep trying different strings to see if I can address my one nagging complaint – that strings seem like they need changing more often than I would like. Seems like within two weeks the tone and sustain start going away. So I’ll stay with two guitars that really suit me perfectly (and have identical scale and nut width) and are well worn in (the Goodall is 12-plus years old now, Martina is 5). Some lucky S.O.B. will get a world-class fingerstyle guitar that he or she doesn’t already have. And I won’t have to worry about Lonnie’s jealous side making my life miserable.
It's just a damn shame that I was limited financially to selling the Martin to acquire the Kennedy. It's Terry's very finest work, in my view, in a field of work that is superlative indeed. No. 54 is priced at $2.6K, and I could not recommend it more highly. Considering that new Goodalls are now priced at well over $6K, that is a bargain, my friends.
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Post by TKennedy on Mar 4, 2015 13:27:21 GMT -5
I think your mental algorithm makes sense Bill. You made that little guitar very happy for a couple of days.
Thanks for your evaluation! I sincerely hope a player winds up with it. I didn't build it to sit in it's case.
I wish more people viewed guitars as tools to make music and not art objects to be possessed and displayed. When an owner brings their instrument back in a year or two in perfect condition with no nicks or dings it makes me sad.
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Post by Marshall on Mar 4, 2015 13:30:08 GMT -5
I agree, Bill. It's most likely a wonderful guitar and you're probably not worthy.
But then neither am I (more so).
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