Masaru Kohno Model 4 1966 Spruce Indian Rosewood

Masaru Kohno is probably the most celebrated luthier in the history of guitar building in Japan.  He began his guitar building career in 1949 and developed his craft by sitting in the Madrid workshop of Arcangel Fernandez and noting his methods.  After six months of observation in 1959/60, he returned to Tokyo to his workshop.  He continued to develop his craft and the fact that one of his guitars was judged superior to that by Friederich and 31 other entrants in the 1967 Liege Concours National de Guitares with one of the judges, Ignacio Fleta saying that Kohno's guitar was very similar to his own, testifies to Kohno being a world class luthier.  The workshop is now being run by So Kimishima, the grandson of Masaru Kohno. The workshop traditions are Kokoro (Heart), Waza (Craftsmanship) and Hibiki (Sound).

Built in 1966 the guitar comes from what has been described as Kohno's golden period, where he had perfected his art but not moved into the higher production levels which followed his winning the gold medal and involved other workers.  For its age the guitar is in supremely good condition with very few signs of having been played over its lifetime on either the Spruce top nor the Indian rosewood back and sides.  There are only a few minor marks on the soundboard and the state of the label would indicate time in storage or in a collection rather than being in regular use.  The scale length is 650mm and the nut width 51mm.   String clearances for the high and low E strings at the 12th fret are 3.4mm and 3.8mm respectively.  Internally the bracing system follows that of Arcangel Fernandez, comprising a five fan array.  The sound is very rounded and mature with strong basses and bright trebles.  This is a fine example of Kohno's early work and very unusual to find a guitar in such remarkably good condition.   

Price £2,750