Kragenbrink Guitars Model E2
Information
In July of 2008, Lance Kragenbrink was planning on sending this guitar to a fellow AGF member for a test drive. Prior to sending it out, Lance decided to see if anyone else on the forums would be interested in checking out the guitar. He was originally hoping to have around 10 participants on the list, but so many people wanted to try the guitar that the list kept growing and growing - now there are 20+ people on the list!
Visit the Kragenbrink Guitars to learn more about this model as well as the other custom hand-made acoustic guitars that Lance builds.
The guitar is now with Dianna Dennis in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida - 09/13/2008
Road Trip Map
Review Excerpts & Recordings
Click any song title below to listen to that song being played on the Roadtrip guitar. Click the little houses  to visit the homepage of each artist. Click any of the thumbnails in the Photo Gallery to view the full-size image.
Burton Wang - Baltimore, Maryland
The Adi top he chose had beautiful straight graining with some brown streaks that I thought are quite tasteful. The Malaysian blackwood had unique and distinct graining that added tremendously to the overall look ... I love it! The headstock is well designed, the koa rosette matched very well with the rest of the guitar, pickguard well chosen, and the use of the red purfling was excellent ... I found this guitar to be very easy to play. There was no buzzing and the guitar handled well finger-picking, flat-picking, and aggressive strumming .... This is probably the best sounding guitar I have ever played ... The adi top gave the guitar great projection, power, sustain, and headroom. I played a simple D chord and it kept ringing for about 22 seconds ... It had fantastic note-to-note separation and the complex overtones that were produced were very musical. It had the familiar boomy bass that the SJ body lends itself to, but it did not sacrifice any of the mids or high.
Jeff Picker - Chevy Chase, Maryland
This guitar was understated elegance! To me it was just gorgeous ... I loved the beautiful woods, the glossy shine, and the subtle trimwork. Liked the look of the neck and the heel too ... Really comfortable to hold and play. Low action was just how I like it and the fretboard felt good to me. And this is one light guitar ... This guitar just sang out and it sang out forever. It wasn't just new strings or the fact that it was tuned down a half step, either. I agree with Calvin [Burton Wang] that it had phenominal balance. I was particularly interested in hearing it played with a flatpick, since that is what I am learning. Loved the sound ... This guitar can be added to the list of guitars out there that should be considered a keeper.
Chris Ruble - Staunton, Virginia
I think the guitar is beautiful to look at...the Koa body binding and rosette are very nice. The back wood was particularly appealing ... I play almost entirely in drop tunings and went through DADGAD, Open D, Low C, Orkney, CGCGCD and CGCGAD and it sounds great in each tuning. I did like the neck and the spacing and felt it was a very easy guitar to play. I thought it did an especially nice on Don Ross' "Brooke's Waltz" and the harmonics just jumped out of the guitar ... One thing that was strange to me was how comfortable this guitar was to play. It is a full sized SJ but in the lap it feels smaller. I even took a few pictures of it between some of my guitars to make sure I wasn't crazy ... This experience makes me really want to finagle a way to try one of Lance's Redwood topped OM-FS models...I really like Redwood topped guitars.
Humberto Reboredo - New York, New York 
First, in terms of appearance, the guitar is beautiful. The pictures really do this guitar justice since up close it looks just as good. Workmanship is clearly first class. In terms of sound I really appreciated the balance that the guitar had. Had a nice low end without overpowering or booming and the string to string separation was very nice. In terms of style I really enjoyed strumming and putting in some alternate tunings. Generally, I really agree with what the guys in front of me have said.
5450 ♫ Amazing Grace ♫ Beach Street Highlights
Rodger Nuesse (and Family) - Excelsior, Minnesota
This guitar is very special. You build a lovely guitar Lance. First off, the koa rosette is grand as well as the rest of the guitar. Fit and finish of all the bits and pieces...A++ All of us found the guitar to be very light and easy to hold and play. We really liked the way this guitar felt...a lot ... the tone is warm and the sustain is amazing, esp on the higher strings ... I wish I had better words to describe how we feel, and it's hard to not echo what has already been said. All I know is we all had alot of fun playing her ... I would not hesitate to have Lance build me a guitar if I knew what I wanted. Perhaps this will happen someday ... To be honest it was sad packing it up to send it off to the next guy. In fact my son Logan who is home from Iraq and owns a Taylor 614ce said: "Are you shipping it today?" when he saw me start to get it ready for shipping. So I'm not the only one who is sad.
Brent Hutto - Columbia, South Carolina
The neck and fingerboard are the Real Deal as far as I'm concerned. I like neck profiles on the fat side and this one is a pretty good step in that direction. I know some people like them thinner although honestly this one isn't that thick. Just fits my hand perfectly ... I've never played a guitar with those real piano-like bass tones. This one has it and in Drop-D or lower tunings the bottom string has it in spades. And the overall balance of the guitar is very warm, not earth-shaking bass but rather the bass, low-mids and even upper-mids are very present and full of overtones with no particular range sticking out as too boomy ... it has not a hint of the muddiness or even lack of definition in the midrange that very overtone-y guitars tend to exhibit to my ear ... I get the most striking sensation from this Kragenbrink E2 that the sound is originating deep inside the body of the guitar ... It's almost like the feeling you get playing a big church organ where you hit the keys and the sound comes from over your head where the pipes are ...
Rich Ellis - Brandon, Florida
This guitar is top notch ... The woods are superiorly matched and the finish is about perfect. Lance is definitely a perfectionist ... I am used to a smaller guitar with my Fay and also I am used to larger rounded bindings so it is not as comfortable as my Fay, but it isn't bad at all. I played comfortably for an hour without any problems or fatigue with my right arm. The neck is a little big, but I had no problem adjusting to it and it is comfortable ... Tone is very subjective and really the best thing I can say is that I really like the tone of this guitar. It is much different from my Fay, which is very bright and brilliant. The tone on the Kragenbrink is well balanced, not too much of anything and I like that a lot. The guitar size aids the balanced tone and is one of my favorites. It is perfect for fingerstyle. ...
Scott Smith - Lutz, Florida
The figuring in the Blackwood is really nice and it's that hint of "banding" on the back that reminds me of Madagascar - I love that! ... I *really* like the shape, though the small flat at the tail seems a little out of place to me - I'd prefer to see the "roundness" of the lower bout continued all the way around ... Lance is very obviously a perfectionist - this guitar is put together just about as well as any that I've seen ... The guitar plays very easily. It's a large guitar, but the narrow waist drops it down to a comfortable level in the lap ... I tend to prefer darker, more mellow sounding guitars (cedar...) and I've read a lot of descriptions of Adirondack that lead me to believe that this was going to be a very bright sounding guitar. While the guitar *is* a little bit brighter than what I prefer, I certainly wouldn't describe it as being overly bright. It has a very pleasant voice with brilliant, shimmering overtones and lots of sustain. There's a crispness to the bass notes that I *really* like ... This is a *very* sweet guitar!
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Road Trips 
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