Minnesota luthier Terence Kennedy has been building exquisite flattop acoustics since 1998, and we’re very pleased to be able to offer some of his amazing instruments.
The materials and workmanship are absolutely world-class and stand up to close inspection, easily rivaling the big names in custom flattops. And of course, the tone is breathtaking – amazing clarity and dynamics, and projection and bass response that belie its small size. A tremendous guitar and we’re proud to be representing it for Terry.
Willies American Guitars
St Paul MN
The voices are stunning, rich, three dimensional and comparable in tonal quality to the best of the vintage instruments with workmanship equal to or exceeding most any new, handmade instrument out there.
Kennedys have a lifetime warranty and are best value of any hand made guitar that we carry.
The Podium
Premium Guitars and Sheet Music
Minneapolis Minneapolis MN
Terry Kennedy is building some of the finest guitars around. The OM style Kennedy guitars showing on our site have captivated, yes CAPTIVATED, some of the finest players who grace our shop with their attentions. It is quite a treat to have a "name" drop in, poke around the guitars for a while, then sit and play for an hour on one instrument. We get to hear super fine playing, live, and we are not at all surprised when these top-shelf players gravitate toward one or the other of the Kennedy guitars we currently have.
Jim Tordoff
The Podium
“We had the good fortune of performing for the good folks of the Alexandria Area Arts Association in Alexandria, MN. I was lucky enough to play a guitar that local luthier Terry Kennedy made. It was a gorgeous instrument with tasteful appointments and beautiful fingerstyle tone. Keep an eye out for him all you Minnesota pickers.”
“Thank you for a beautiful instrument. It will provide years of musical satisfaction and I couldn’t have asked for better tone. Keep up the great work.”
Nate Brown
Professional musician and principal guitarist for “Mary Poppins” on Broadway
As a guitarist, my whole career has been spent trying to find the best way to present music to an audience. A big part of that endeavor is the choice of the instrument used to communicate with that audience.
My guitar says and does all I want it to when I want it to and that’s what counts. I trust Terry with my instruments' care and creation and hope you get the chance to do the same.
Dan Mahar
Professional musician and former touring Nashville lead guitarist
http://www.myspace.com/danmahar
http://www.youtube.com/user/danmaharofficial
Bill Hammond, a long time fixture on the Minneapolis acoustic scene had this to say on the SoundHole forum.
Just had a lovely dalliance with Mr. Kennedy's latest creation, a GORGEOUS size 2 guitar with Brazilian back and sides and lutz spruce top, and the thing is AMAZING.
It barks, it whispers, it sings, it yodels, it is a feast for the ears and the
eyes.
Lonnie Knight played it too, and the expression on his face told it all. Sheer bliss.
Some photos were taken -- with any luck, you'll get to see them later today.
A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to build an OM for Charlie Broten a wonderful musician and songwriter.. He has a great new album out.
(http://www.charliebroten.com/fr_home.cfm)
He had this to say about his guitar.
"When I asked Terry Kennedy to make me a guitar, he said my Indian Rosewood OM with an aged Sitka top would have a 'complex' tone. Besides that you can bang on it an it stays in tune and you can get different tones from up and down the neck depending on touch. I played the OM on almost every song, mostly with my fingers and for me it was the perfect recording guitar. .. Listen to "The Ghost of Manzanar" (which is tuned in an open D minor) and "Oh Sweet Life" to get the sounds of the guitars. Check out his great website at <www.kennedyguitars.com>
Twin Cities guitar icon the late Lonnie Knight had this to say about two OM’s on the wall at The Podium .
Marty called this morning, he and Terry were headed to Guitar Rodeo/Podium with Terry's newest instruments. I got to play them both and... oh, my.
Marty wisely handed me the Hog first:
Without question one of the finest mahogany guitars I have ever played... sweet, rich, full (tennis shoe not included). I'm not going to include any builder details, I'll leave that to Terry (except to say that these both have Brazilian rosewood fingerboards and bridges). So I just played this thing for about 5 minutes and absolutely fell in love... until…
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.
Andrew Persons of Minneapolis had this to say about his 17” archtop.
You build a damn nice guitar. I love it, it fits my own hands better than anything I've ever played. I'm really torn right now between playing it and humidifying it in the case.
It's like my three favorite and most played old, dead and broken guitars had some kind of threesome baby and dropped it on my doorstep. The 25" scale and sweet pickup(s) of my orange gretsch; the wide-nut/flat-neck-feel of my very smashed nylon string; and the unparadoxical easy fretting vs. solid pick resistance of that heritage super kb I had to ebay for a tour ticket.