John S. Kinnard Slope Shoulder Dreadnought

This is a slope shouldered dreadnought made by John S. Kinnard in 2009. The scale length is 24 ⅞” and the nut width is 1 ¾.” The top is tight grained sitka with some bearclaw figuring. The back and sides are Indian rosewood. The neck is mahogany with an ebony fingerboard. It has 21 frets and side dot markers at the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth and seventeenth frets. The headplate is Indian rosewood with the builder’s name delicately inlaid in mother of pearl. A rosewood truss rod cover and open back Waverly tuners in a chrome finish and white plastic buttons also adorn the headstock. 

The binding is white celluloid and the top purfling is herringbone. The center strip, joining the back plates, is herringbone as is the rosette; itself flanked by black-white-black concentric rings. The bridge is ebony with pearl dotted ebony bridge pins. The top is lightly taper-braced. 

The neck carve deserves special mention. The depth of the neck at the first fret is 13/16” and ⅞” at the eleventh fret. It is a “D” contour throughout with a delicately carved heel, offering plenty of reach to the upper frets; it is inspired by heel carves on the earliest Gibson dreadnought examples from the mid 1930’s. 

There is an area of light buckle rash on the back, none of it through the finish, with no other notable blemishes, just the slightest signs of use and handling even on the top which, unusually, was not equipped with a pickguard. The sound is very full, as you would expect from a slope “D,” but it is also well balanced with a good midrange and excellent treble response.