Post by robmc on Jun 12, 2017 15:38:58 GMT
Took a trip to London last Wednesday to see Eddie Vedder and Glen Hansard at the Hammersmith Apollo, I don't get out of Norfolk too much so I thought I would make a day of it and had been saving my pennies... I went with the intention of trying to find a new guitar.
I wanted something different to my Kinkade, which is spruce mahogany and based on a Martin OM, and maybe a bit newer (my Kingsdown being an 84 vintage).
First stop was Denmark Street and the shops that all feel pretty similar, tried a nice Breedlove and a Yairi, but most of the guitars I would have wanted were too pricey so I shuffled on... my main intention was to go to Ivor Mairants to try some Brooks but before that, I went up to Hobgoblin and tried a couple of Blueridge guitars and a little Hathway (I think) parlour, the most pronounced v-profile neck I've ever felt. Nothing moved, friendly place though.
So my final stop was Ivor Mairants and it was the main purpose of the day, I like the shop layout, ground floor has a sales desk and other acoustic instruments, mandolins and so on, upstairs is where they have their electrics, I went downstairs to their acoustic emporium, wow they have quite a selection of draw droppingly beautiful guitars. Lots of American makes, Huss and Dalton, Collings, Santa Cruz... I didn't try any of them though. I had come to try the Brooks and played a couple of Torridges, a European spuce / figured mahogany and an Engelmann / Bubinga, really liked them both... the guys who worked there were the perfect balance of being helpful but giving you plenty of space to try the guitars in peace too. I really liked the Brooks but didn't feel compelled to own either of these two, maybe because my Kinkade is (relatively) similar.
I had also seen a second hand Kronbauer on their website that I liked the look of and gave that a try.... instant good feeling, felt very comfortable and the sound appealed right from the off.
It's a dreadnought body shape but, although I didn't realise it at the time, is really quite shallow in depth, it tapers from 80mm at the top of the upper bout to 110mm at the bottom of the body, quite a taper when compared to my Kinkade, (90-105mm). Anyway, it makes it very comfortable to sit and play.
Sound wise I think it is pretty warm and has more bass than my Kinkade, although due to the body depth I don't find the bass is overly pronounced, the back and sides are gorgeous rosewood so it is tonally quite different, it is clear and well balanced although definitely has a more lush and 'overtoney' sound to the Kingsdown. The neck profile is a fairly meaty with a subtle hint of a V, nut and string spacing are very similar to my Kinkade being more or less 45mm and 58mm respectively.
So I bought the wild card Kronbauer, the fact that it was a good bit less than either of the Brooks helped too (if anyone is looking, the custom Bubinga Torridge seems like a good price and was very nice), the guys at Ivor Mairants were happy to consider a reasonable offer too.
Enough blathering here are some pics and a group shot of the enlarged herd...