Tool Box | brian-kinney

This is my main mandolin. It is a 2006 Breedlove Oregon. It took a bit of time to find the sweetness in this instrument but we are now buddies.

This is a Gibson 1907 mandocello. It a beautiful, noble instrument to play and listen to. The notation is in pitch all the way down the neck. Orville was building them right from the gitgo. The strings are double coursed like on a mandolin and all are wound strings with mighty .074 gauge on the bottom.

This guitar ended the search for the Holy Grail for me. Several years ago I went to the Montreal Guitar builders festival and found this. It was built by Sheldon Schwartz and is the Oracle model. Sheldon's clientele are usually finger pickers until I came along, a flat picking bluegrass player. So instead of a 26 inch scale, it has the normal 25.5 inch scale.

The Holy Grail search could've should've ended here. This is a 1980 Manzer. It's very sweet and has a beautiful tone.

This is my oldest personal guitar. It's a 1977 Daion. It has scalloped bracing like the pre-war Martin's and has a cedar top. I have a sound hole LR Baggs M-1 pick up installed.

This is the first musical instrument I ever knew, it was Dad's. It is 18 inches across the lower bout and when I was a toddler it towered above me. Dad played slide and when the neck started to come away he didn't care. He drilled a hole through the neck heel and put a steel rod through the body and out through the strap pin hole. The action was still 3/4 inch at the 12th fret when I got it. So had a guy fix it up and got it so I could play. He told me to tell Dad he took the "drive shaft" out of it. He installed a 1962 Hagstrom single coil pick up and a Bigsby tailpiece. It will rock with any billy you can find.

My Dad played slide so slide is deep in my pysche. This is a National Steel reissue of a 1930's model called the Triolian. Where many Nationals are 12th fret where the neck meets the body, this one is 14 which helps reach those hard to get places.

This is an interesting guitar. It's difficult to find stuff out about it. Maybe somebody reading this can help me. Hansel I understand was a wooden toy maker. He lived in Ontario Canada. It is a parlor size guitar and I think the top is made out of pine. Hansel did use pine on occasion for his tops. The EADG strings sound pretty good but the trebles are a little thin to me. However, sounds really good and is an interesting piece of Canadiana.

II love archtops because my Dad played one, besides I think they look so cool. This is a Supertone and I think it's a 1937. Supertone was a budget line like Harmony for instance that could be bought at Sears.

This is the only solid body guitar that I have. It's a reissue of a 1962 Strat that I got in 1992. It is also fitted with a hex pickup for a Roland GR-1 synth that I use once in a while.

I am almost reluctant to talk about this. Let me tell you why. I bought this tortoise shell pick in the '70's at the Music Emporium in Cambridge Massachusetts for $2.50. A couple of years ago I bought another from the Emporium for $60.00 and promptly lost it. So I am afraid to talk about or draw attention to it in fear I may jinx it and lose it. Such is the little anxieties of life. I have not found anything to replace tortoise shell and I have tried many picks. At least that's my preference for picks.

This is a Taylor 610. It has really nice flamed maple back and sides. It is also outfitted with a LR Baggs

M-1 sound hole pick up.

This little guy is a 1951 Epiphone archtop. I found it in a collectibles store and paid $250.00 for it YAHOO!! Tobacco burst big soap bar pick up, very cool machine. Sounds beautiful unplugged. Great for jazz.