Had a visit to the shops of a couple of outstanding Minneapolis Luthiers recently. Jed Germond (http://www.jedgermond.com) is a great repairperson and builder in Minneapolis.
He has a beast of a bandsaw and re-sawed some spruce for the 15” arch top I am building.
He also plays fiddle for the very popular Cactus Blossoms
I have been looking into CNC and have been wanting to visit luthier Tim Reed’s shop for a long time. I have admired his guitars for quite a while. We had a great time talking builder stuff and I was really impressed with his shop and setup. I picked up a lot of ideas. He is making absolutely beautiful acoustic and electric instruments including archtop guitars and ukes.
Tim was featured in the book “Meeting The Makers Minnesota’s Finest Guitar Builders” (http://www.meetingthemakers.com)
I now have a guitar living in Germany by way of the Netherlands! First time to my knowledge that a Kennedy has left the USA and found an owner abroad. A very nice gentleman named Michael sent me this picture from Berlin. It appears he knows his way around the neck of a guitar.
Starting a couple of new projects. A 15” archtop with a Florentine cutaway and a top made from spruce from the old Bellanca aircraft factory wing works in Alexandria. Old stuff and well seasoned!
A double side Mahogany/Sitka OM is in the works. 35 year old Spruce from Walter Lipton at Euphonon.
Archtop is in finish. It will be getting an ES175 type burst.
Mahogany size 2 should be back from finish soon.
Did spring cleaning of the shop a couple of weeks ago. It was terrible. Really nice for about ten minutes.
There is still a nice archtop down at The Podium. If that’s your thing give it a look. It’s got a great Kent Armstrong pickup.
http://www.guitarrodeo.com/guitars/kennedy/kennedy-17-inch-archtop.html (Sold)