My new used guitar

[Old 97]

Santa Cruz Baritone Cocobolo / Carpathian (USED, 2005)

The Cocobolo,Carpathian, Cutaway, and Headstock inlay are a $3,200 add on in today’s prices.

New, this guitar would be at least 10k.

I believe it was a custom order.

The label reads DKK. KK can only mean Kevin Kastning.

[Dannymeeg]

Beautiful!! Enjoy!

[indexless]

Too cool…what a score…cutaway….oh my

[Hank]

Beautiful Matt, Enjoy….An Audio post maybe ???

[tadol]

28.5” scale!  I am jealous!  You know who to call if its just too big!  😉

[bert]

That’s a fine looking instrument, congratulations.   bert

[Anonymous]

Great. May I ask what music a person plays on an instrument like this?

[Old 97]

I will try my DADGAD repertoire down low. I’m in a trio where I play backup on guitar, Mandolin, and Weissenborn.

I am going over which tunes could use the lower registers.

[Daniel]

Cool!

Would you try the DADGAD repertoire in B or drop it to C?

I bought my Paul Lestock Arrow G5 from those guys.  They were excellent to deal with.

Daniel

[Old 97]

GDGCDG to start

TME recommends that G is the magic key.

[Old 97]

It arrives tomorrow. I called SCGC. They looked it up. Then I called Dan Roberts who was at SCGC when the guitar was built. The owner, Kevin Kastning, had called Dan a few days ago.

The top is regular thickness. Scalloped braces may be a bit beefier than others.

Dan remembered it quite well and was pleased I might get it. He had fine the first neck reset and refret on my Dread Cutaway.

I texted Eric Skype. He recommended I warm up before playing due to the hefty strings and long scale: 28.5 with strings from .70 to .20. The low G is equal to the G on a standard bass.

 

[indexless]

Too cool Matt….can’t wait to hear this beast

[Anonymous]

Wow! Just wow!

[bert]

I’m intrigued by the possibilities of the wood combo. I’ve owned several Euro spruce guitars from Martin and Collings over the years but… my luthier built (Allen Williams) Carpathian spruce/sinker mahog small jumbo is tops.  It has great punch, balanced bass and a sweet tone. The cocobolo should give it a good dose of overtone?  Not me, but diff friends have owned not so great baritone guitars over the years, they all sounded throaty to me… don’t see that happening with your new baby.

We’re all excited for you Matt. best regards, bert

[Old 97]

I sent it back after 15 minutes of playing time. The low strings were tonally a huge disappointment. The neck width and string tension were a carpal tunnel nightmare.

It looked absolutely gorgeous. Light as a feather and showroom new, it was a major letdown.

[indexless]

Matt,

Good choice, I went through Carpo tunnel surgery in April, it’s been way way better since, I can actually play now without pain, you don’t want to go there.  Good thing to realize it. After this last podcast with Tim Connell, I want an octave mando so bad but know I could make the reach on the chords.

[haasome]

Great find! It’s a beauty, enjoy.

---

– Paul –

[Matt Hayden]

That’s excellent.  I just went in the other direction and found a non-SCGC 14-fret 00 cutaway (which model I’m still hoping and waiting for SCGC to make), about which more later.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by Matt Hayden.

[Hank]

Sorry Old 97 that the baritone didn’t work out.

Had you listened to any audio of the guitar before you purchased ?

[Old 97]

There wasn’t any I could find.

Kevin Kastning made so many recordings with strange instruments it was impossible to discover the Bari.

Tad may spring for it.

 

[Daniel]

Sorry it didn’t work out.

Better luck next time!

Daniel

 

[Author]

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