Kent classical guitar
Kent classical guitar
Monday, September 3, 2012
I first started playing guitar in earnest when I was 15, after taking a frustrating try at it five years earlier. My first serious guitar, a Fender Musicmaster II electric, was traded to my friend Greg for his unbranded hollowbody electric. I soon started picking up and playing whatever guitars I could lay my hands on, including my aunt Vicki’s old acoustic when I was visiting her and my grandma Betty. As high school graduation approached, Vicki told me she figured the best gift she could give me was her guitar. By her account, I’d been playing it a lot more than she ever did. And I was just getting started.
The Buegeleisen & Jacobson company, whose brands included Kay, National and Serenader, introduced the Kent brand in 1960. Kent guitars were manufactured in Japan and sold in the USA as a budget-line brand for students and beginners. The Kent line included acoustic, classical, electric and bass guitars, including a violin-shaped electric guitar and bass reminiscent of Paul McCartney’s Hofner bass. The line became very successful in the early-to-mid 60s as British rock became more and more popular in the States. The Kent name was purchased in 1965 by the Swedish guitar company Hagström as a way for them to enter the US market. Once the Hagström name became more established in the States, the Kent line was dropped in the early 1970s.
My Kent classical has no model number or serial number on its label, which has made it very difficult to get any history on the instrument. Vicki tells me that she and Grandma Betty got it at the Hy-Vee Green Stamp redemption store in Chariton, Iowa, as Vicki approached high school graduation in 1973. That would mean this guitar is among the last Kents ever built, under Hagström’s ownership. It’s held up remarkably well over nearly 40 years.
I learned early on the differences between a steel string (dreadnought) guitar and a nylon-string (classical) guitar. The neck of a dreadnought typically meets the body at the 14th fret, where a classical neck meets the body at the 12th fret. A classical fretboard is generally flatter and wider than that of a dreadnought, and the dreadnought typically has a truss rod in the neck, where a classical generally does not.
A typical rookie mistake is to put steel strings on a classical guitar, which can be very harmful to the body because it wasn’t built for that kind of tension. I had put steel strings on the Kent and was having difficulty keeping it in tune, and had brought it to our local guitar guru DeVere Adamson for a look. He explained the difference between the classical and dreadnought styles and switched me back to nylon strings. Fortunately I hadn’t done any serious damage to the guitar.
I used the Kent as my primary composition instrument from 1987 to about 1993, when I purchased my Fender El Rio. I’ve used it in recordings with Sound System, the audubon society, Smith & Straughn, and in solo projects. I’ve played it at Simpson College’s biennial madrigal dinner, in full Renaissance costume. I’ve played it in solo and duo performances for years, even going so far as to add a passive electric pickup (which seemed like a far better idea in theory than it turned out to be in practice).
This guitar has a great feel with its flat fretboard and wide-spaced strings, and a nice even tone, with a good balance of bass, mids and treble. Barre chords are much easier to play on the nylon strings than on a steel-string acoustic or an electric guitar. Strummed with the thumb or plucked with fingers, it sounds beautiful in a folk or classical arrangement. When played with a pick, it has a surprisingly pleasant rock and blues tone.
Of all the gifts I received for high school graduation, this guitar is probably the one I’ve gotten the most use from. I’m still playing it regularly 25 years later. Thank you, Aunt Vicki, for thinking of me.
NOTE: This 25th post marks the second anniversary of my Featured Instruments blog. Thanks to everybody who’s taken the time to read my entries. I still have plenty of instruments to show you, so don’t forget to keep checking back.
Photo by Donna Jo Wallace