2006 Kenny Hill "Fleta" CD/IN

This 2006 Kenny Hill "Fleta" is a classical guitar with a cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides, modeled on the guitars of Ignacio Fleta, and in near-mint condition.

A Master Series Fleta

Built in the style of Ignacio Fleta, this model reproduces many structural elements unique to his designs. Most notable is the dovetail joint between neck and body, in the tradition of the violin family. The top is braced with nine fans and double harmonic bars, both above and below the soundhole.

Built to Be Pushed

The body has a heftier, sturdier build, and the player with a strong right hand will find this a guitar that can really be pushed hard, with exceptional power and a deep, rich sustain for a full-voiced concert sound.

Condition

This instrument came to us in near-mint condition.

Kenny Hill: Guitarist and Guitar Maker

Kenny Hill was born in San Jose, California, and is a performing guitarist and composer as well as a guitar maker. Largely self-taught, he began building guitars professionally in the 1970s in Santa Barbara. In the 1980s he set guitar making aside to raise his four children – though he never stopped performing – and in 1989 he returned to the workbench with copies of historic instruments by Torres, Fleta, Hauser, Rodríguez and Panormo: the beginning of his "Master Series".

From Soledad and Paracho to the Santa Cruz Mountains

In 1993 a grant allowed Kenny to set up a guitar-building shop at Soledad State Prison in California. Two years later he traveled to Paracho, Mexico, as a writer for Acoustic Guitar magazine, to cover a master class led by José Luis Romanillos, and in 1996 he established a workshop there, spending five years building a market for Paracho's guitars. Out of this work grew workshops in California, Mexico and China: his "New World" guitars are made in Guangzhou, China, in a factory of which he is a founding shareholder, and he is designer emeritus and a long-time consultant for Cordoba Guitars.

Kenny's own Signature and Performance models – with double tops, lattice bracing and sound ports – are built by hand in his workshop in Ben Lomond, in the mountains near Santa Cruz, California, by a team of about six craftsmen that includes his son and son-in-law. In 2015 the Guitar Foundation of America honored him with its Industry Leadership Award.

Kenny Hill Guitars at GSI

Many Kenny Hill guitars have passed through our doors, from his Master Series replicas of the great historical makers to his modern Signature and Performance models.