This is our first guitar from one of the most in-demand up-and-coming luthiers currently on the scene. Currently with a 5+ year wait-list, Canadian luthier Evan Kingma went to Granada, Spain to learn his craft under the guidance of luthier Stephen Hill. While apprenticing in the birthplace of modern Spanish guitar-making, he refined his skills in traditional Spanish techniques, and for several years built Hill's 2a models and even became his first apprentice to assist in crafting his Master Model guitars. Now working independently in Canada, Evan brings his own artistic vision to his instruments. His first guitar for GSI, which we present here, was made with a high-grade, quarter-sawn spruce top paired with stunning ziricote back and sides. Evan draws significant inspiration from Japanese culture and philosophy, which has shaped his approach as a luthier. His first five guitars, built under his own name, were inspired by The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, with each instrument reflecting one of the five themes: Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Emptiness or Void. The concept of “Emptiness”, symbolizing human knowledge and wisdom, represents the culmination of Evan's early experiences as a luthier and "Emptiness" featured a 6-fan asymmetrical bracing system that Evan himself developed. Over time, with small tweaks, this bracing has become his standard design which we can also see in our new instrument. One fun detail worth mentioning - every guitar Evan producess have a one-off, unique rosette. You'll never see the same rosette twice in a Kingma guitar and it must be said that it was pretty exciting getting updates from him while he was developing the rosette for this guitar! As a result he also names each guitar also to emphasize its uniqueness and this guitar is named “Blossom”. Lastly, the guitar is fitted with Rodgers machine heads with Evan's custom artwork, which matches the artwork on the label inside the guitar, and the ends of the plates are the same as his head shape. Very classy!
To us, the sound of the guitar is clearly along the lines of the traditional Torres/Hauser tradition, but Evan tells us this about his sound: "While I learned in Spain and generally build within the Spanish tradition and style, I have never really described my guitars as having a ’Torres’ or similar sound. When I first developed my bracing plan, I just wanted to make something that was new new to me at the time anyway. When the first guitar I built like that turned out well, I decided to keep using it for all my classical guitars. In the nearly 10 years since then, I have been fine tuning the bracing and other parts of the guitar to try and achieve what I imagine the ‘perfect guitar’ might sound like. I’ll probably never reach that goal, but I hope to inch closer to it with every guitar I make. So all that is to say that I don’t really describe my guitars as having a Torres, or Simplicio, or Fleta, or whoever sound/style, I just build Kingma guitars and this is what they sound like." Given this, we still feel this captures the great elements of the Hauser style - focused density in each note, clarity, controlled overtones... and yet also has the spirit of the traditional Spanish guitars - a warm and lyrical tone with great color.
Overall this is a beautifully made guitar and although new, sounds incredible straight of the case, which will only improve with continued playing. We are very happy to be working with this fine maker and look forward to many more!
Photos of this guitar taken during and after construction.
