2022 Kenny Hill “Signature Legacy 640 CD/SP” CD/IN

This 2022 Kenny Hill "Signature Legacy 640 CD/SP" is a 640 mm-scale double-top classical guitar (cedar outside, spruce inside) with Indian rosewood back and sides, built with ergonomic shaping and True Temperament frets – heard in George Sakellariou's "Nocturno" and with the Grigoryan Brothers in the videos on this page.

The "Signature Legacy": Ergonomics and True Temperament

This model is Kenny's newest version of the Signature, which he calls the "Signature Legacy", with two very interesting additional features: an enhanced ergonomic design and the True Temperament fretting system. The ergonomic design includes a body that is somewhat tapered from treble to bass side (so it settles comfortably against the body), with an armrest and back relief. The armrest is wider than you often see – it does more than relieve the pressure on the forearm: it changes the posture of the right arm, bringing the shoulder back and making it more comfortable, natural and less stressed. The relief on the back makes it gentler at that leaning pressure point.

True Temperament Frets

The True Temperament fret system compensates every note on the fingerboard, taking into account that the six strings each have different tensions and densities – and that the stretching behavior of an individual string changes along the length of the fingerboard. The goal is not some different scale or mode, but greater accuracy in the equal-tempered scale the guitar is designed for. It is not hard to play on; in fact most players adjust instantly. The system was originally developed by Anders Thidell in Sweden, and Kenny Hill has been the primary maker in the classical guitar world to adopt it.

How the Double Top Works

It features a "double top" (pioneered originally by Dammann, Wagner and others): a Nomex core – an ultra-light cell structure – "sandwiched" between two very thin layers of wood, cedar on the outside and spruce on the underside. What you see is a cedar soundboard; what you get is a top that is extremely light, domed for stiffness and stability, and braced with a lightweight, durable but flexible lattice – technology borrowed from ultra-light aircraft. Another lovely touch is the use of spalted maple in the rosette, head strip and tie block.

Further features: dual soundports, a raised fingerboard, a truss rod for easy neck adjustment and a 20th fret for players who need a high C natural.

This instrument truly delivers all that Kenny can do with his decades of experience, not just as a luthier but also as a player.

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.