What Makes Johns' Guitars Unique?

  

John builds one guitar at a time. Each top is thinned to a specific stiffness and then individually voiced in a custom mold designed for this process.

The quarter sawn sitka spruce braces are sculpted for the lowest possible mass consistent with the needed strength. The Jenkins' de-coupled tone bar x-bracing has proved to yield a highly responsive soundboard with an abundance of rich tones.

As added insurance to longevity the main x-brace intersection is capped with an inlay of quartered rosewood.

 

Here is Johns' eighth instrument just prior to fitting the back. Note the side bracing to guard against splitting. The underside of each top is adorned with an original art work painted by his beloved wife Mellinda.
Curly maple is the tone wood of choice on most necks because of its' stiffness and appearance. The neck joint is a bolt on for ease of reset in the future. In addition to a double action truss rod the necks have two graphite composite, reinforcement rods that extend from the nut to the end of the fingerboard which assures a straight and solid neck.

Most nylon string guitars are somewhat top heavy because of the weight of the tuning machines. Having to support the top is very uncomfortable for most players. To overcome this problem John weights the tail blocks in his "Chubby" model with enough lead shot embedded in epoxy to counter-balance the instrument. This attention to detail sets his instruments apart.

John uses only the finest materials. He personally selects his tone woods. Natural materials such as solid paua shell, walrus tusk bridge pins are featured on all of his instruments.

Each of his guitars is unique and no single scheme of materials will ever be exactly repeated. If you choose one of these instruments you can be assured that yours is truly one of kind. If you commission a Timblin yours' will always be unique.