A Slight Detour...

Earlier this year, I commissioned a guitar with Tim and Mary McKnight of McKnight Guitars. We've recently settled upon the final design (well... final except for the last minute changes that are bound to come as I fret over some of the finer details) and Tim has actually begun building the guitar.

I took advantage of Tim's offer to recieve the guitar early if I allowed him to show it at one of the large guitar shows *and* I agreed to pick it up in person - an offer that he extends to all of his customers, as long as there's an open "build slot" for one of the shows.  The Newport Guitar Festival in Miami is not at all far from me... so that's where my guitar will make its first public appearance!

Unfortunately, the Newport show isn't going to be for at least another 7 months, which means 7 months of torture as Mary feeds me the occasional photos of my guitar being built while Tim also works on several other guitars for other shows and other customers. I'll just have to suffer through it, I suppose... 

Below are the final (::cough::) specs for the guitar. Note that I didn't go with a sound port on this build. I'm just too uncertain about them. The soundports do give a nice effect to the player, but to my ears, they sometimes emphasize a different set of frequencies than the soundhole on the front of the guitar. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does sometimes bother me.

Specs

• Body Style: McKnight MiniMac
• Back/Sides Wood: Madagascar Rosewood
• Top Wood: Cedar/Engelmann Double-top
• Neck Wood: Mahogany
• Headplate: Madagascar Rosewood
• Fretboard & Bridge: Enody
• Fretboard Binding: Ebony w/ Anigre Line
• Fret Markers: Brass Tubes (Side Marker)
• Frets to Body: 14
• Cutaway: Florentine!!
• Body Binding: Ebony w/ Rope Purfling
• Rosette: Madagascar w/inner Rope Ring
• Tuners: Gotoh 510 Delta (21:1 ratio)
• Upper Bout: 11-1/4"
• Waist: 9-1/4"
• Lower Bout: 15-1/4"
• Body Depth @ Tail Block: 4-3/4"
• Scale Length: 25.6"
• Nut Width: 1-13/16"
• Bridge Spacing: 2-1/4"

I'll keep this article updated with photos as I get them. Click any of the thumbnails below to see the full-size photos.