A Visit to Kinnard Ukes

CTurner

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During our recent trip to California to visit our son and daughter-in-law, we scheduled a visit with luthier John Kinnard and his marketing partner, Kevin Beddoe (http://www.kinnardukes.com).

We spent a wonderful hour or so in the workshop—chatting, listening to plans for the new year in John’s offerings, and playing a few wonderful Kinnard ukes. Being the owner of a Kinnard all-walnut tenor, I figured I was pretty familiar with his style and craftsmanship. But the ukes I played (two tenors and a baritone) were fabulous. They seemed even lighter in weight and with even better construction and finishing—hard to believe! I noodled on each one in turn and my hands couldn’t stop their fingering and exploration. Super playing feel, like “buttah” some would say. And all with the kind of balance in the voicing that makes these ukes stand out.

They talked a lot about future directions and models, which is their information to share, but I'll be keeping an eye on the Kinnard website. I'd love to have a second Kinnard uke someday.
Yes, some pics:
P1050023.jpgP1050045.jpgP1050036.jpgP1050050.jpg

Thanks again to John and Kevin for taking the time to share uke playing and uke talk!

Craig and Ginny Turner
 
Wow thank you Ginny and Craig for sharing your experience with us....I would love to meet John and Kevin one day... :) Happy Strummings to the both of you :)
 
I've met Kevin several times at festivals in the area. He was also at Jay's Jam by the Bay last April, and he brought what was then a prototype Kinnard baritone with him. Did you see the tenor guitar John is building. (Not a secret; its on both the website and the FB page.) Kevin is really cool and the Kinnard instruments he's let me play are superb. It looks like your visit to the workshop was lots of fun!
 
Kinnard's are amazing ukes. I got one close to year ago and the playability is unmatched. It is so much easier to play than my other tenors.... just unreal. Kevin took a great deal of time helping pick woods and the end result is spectacular.

It has the Mojo.
 
Thanks for the photos and update. What a great idea to visit John and Kevin while you were close by.
 
I've not yet met John but have met with Kevin a few times. I'm a huge fan of John's work and have been lucky enough to see/play about 8 or more of his finely crafted 'Ukes. In fact, one of his tenors I got to try remains the best sounding tenor I have personally sampled to date. I now have a soprano on order and am really looking forward to joining the Kinnard Klub. ;-)
 
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