Luthier Jonny Kinkead - Tales Of Forgotten Crafts
Jonny Kinkead, is one of the finest Luthier's in England. As a five year old boy, his father, a traditional tool maker, taught him how to work with wood. Ever since then he has developed a passion in building beautiful custom made guitars.
Thanks to:
Jonny Kinkead - www.kinkadeguitars.co.uk
Thanks to:
Jonny Kinkead - www.kinkadeguitars.co.uk
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MusicTranscript
00:00But it all started I suppose when I was about 11 years old and heard the twang of guitars
00:29on the radio and was hooked. My father was an apprentice toolmaker, so he was a skilled
00:36craftsman and he showed us as five-year-old children, myself and my brother, how to sharpen
00:42the chisels to a razor-sharp edge and instructions on how to build model boats and model aeroplanes.
00:59The variety of timbers that we use to build guitars with gives you this sonic palette
01:09that's completely different. It's like a paint box. I'm very concerned with my instruments
01:16that they work aesthetically well. I want the proportions to be just so, you know. I
01:23want all these curves to kind of resolve themselves. I want the headstock to work with
01:30the body shape. We live in this throwaway age, but these instruments, I'm hoping they'll
01:38still be going in a hundred years' time and they'll be passed down the generations. Customers
01:55really do appreciate the fact that it is handmade, that everything is right about it. As an instrument,
02:00it works better for them. After 20, 30 years, people have worn the frets out and they have
02:06to bring them back. It is delightful to see them again and open the case up and go, wow,
02:13did I make that? Quite often, my reaction is they just look so fabulous and then you
02:19play them and you go, oh, I just had 20, 30 years worth of playing.
02:36People ask me, when are you going to stop doing it? I say, well, it'll be when the arthritis kicks in or the
02:43eyesight is too bad to do it. I'll just keep doing it because I like doing it. I'll never
02:50give up. I might cut down a bit as I get older, but I'll never stop doing it until I can't.
02:57I could see myself at 95, oh, I think I'll just make another one.