Kevins' guitar

[berkeleyite]

I am wondering if anyone has heard if Kevin will get himself a new and nicer guitar such as a Martin, as some have mentioned in this forum. I did email Martins' requesting they might consider donating one of their great guitars to Kevin, but I doubt they would respond to me directly. I sent my “glowing” email to Martins reminding them how great the advertising would be for their company even further when people find out he had their product. OK, so here’s my idea-and just wonder what people think--- we know Kevin can now probably afford to get a better guitar himself-but this will show how I personally feel about the subject. Who knows? Maybe Kevin has lot more other things he would rather spend his money on-he seems to not ask much for himself-very thoughtful and giving person. I would personally donate what i could , anonymously, if the Martins company would set up a fund for Kevins’ new guitar, so all donations would be made directly to their company, and no one can touch that fund, except Martins, and only when the goal is reached, -whatever that might be----$2000 ??-- $5000? More??? for a great personalized guitar for Kevin, then Martins’ would proceed to make it special for him and maybe even donate it to him during a show in Vegas? As said I would donate anonymously-I don’t need the “recognition”. (I know, saying it here gets me some “recognition” I guess, but lets not make a big deal out of it. ) I just want to see Kevin having a superior instrument. I also realize this may be unrealistic-but just wanted to put it out there.

[motherjj]

Hi, I can't give much but count me in for whatever I can find. I think it would be a FANTASTIC thing to do; however, it's to bad you could not get the word out beyond this forum to allow other fans to contribute.

Jean

[berkeleyite]

There’s actually a lot of details that would have to be worked out. Since there are so many styles of guitars, sizes, woods, etc, --someone would have to find out which style/size Kevin really likes. Isn’t Lily or someone here up on this? We could either set up a fund with Martins and buy the guitar, OR get the donations to Martins and notify Kevin-somehow-to choose the guitar he would like within our donations; he could also choose to add to the funds itself. My guess is between $2500-$5000. Lot of $$$ that gathering only from this forum might be not do-able. I think the details would have to be worked out before we even contacted Martins. We definitely would need to know a lot of people would donate something and at least get up to $3000 in my opinion . We could maybe get someone -maybe Lily?? Hehe. --to receive donation promises by private messaging to her so we can get an idea of just how much we realistically might be able to raise. If we can’t get enough, well, it was a thought. If anyone has any more thoughts please let us know-my first thought is that this really may not work without a lot of people chipping in. I also wonder if the “chipping in” could be using a credit card-not just cash. For instance I could “promise” ( just an example-don’t hold me to this-haha ) to use my “plastic card” to say donate maybe $50-$100-towards the purchase.?? I’d have to check our budget. I’m sure Martins takes plastic. Might be Martins might have to take 1000 plastic cards combined for the purchase--haha .-assuming we can even get 1000 people to donate $3 or $5 each--, If we could get say 50 people to donate $50 or more each that might work. The more I talk about this the more far fetched it seems. Damn, wish I could shell it all out. I would also mention that if anyone wishes to put their name on a “card” for Kevin for the gift, It would be nice. Me, as I mentioned, I’d be anonymous, but nothing wrong with getting some recognition either. I would also hope anyone that does promise wouldn’t back out. I'd also like to see Kevins' face when he recieved our gift! I know he'd truly appreciate it.

[jondee123]

I think that's a neat idea. Very thoughtful of you, Berkeleyite. But a decent Martin guitar may cost as much as $15000. Count me in for the donation. I will do the best I can.

[nickiannn]

I think Kevin would only want your good wishes and support, and not a guitar. A guitar or any musical instrument is a very personal treasure. If he decides to move on from his Tacoma, I'm sure he'll have plenty of opportunities to do so, whether to purchase new or used. They say a wood instrument "ages" as it is played, the sound improving, and I think his Tacoma has a lot of good miles on it. Don't judge it's sound from youtube, I think it's a good quality instrument.

Fender now owns the Tacoma line and its been out of production for several years. I found rumors they were going to restart production in a Fender plant back east. Maybe Kevin will incite a bidding war between Martin and Fender for his blessings.

But, Willie Nelson has made do with "Trigger" for 40+ years (a 1969 Martin D-20) - with a "makeover" Kevin's Tacoma could stay around quite a few years more. I'd buy a remake of it!

http://www.roughstock.com/blog/a-man-an ... nd-trigger

http://www.harmony-central.com/Events/S ... -20WN.html

Plus, I'm a little ticked off at Martin for opening a factory in Mexico for one line of its low end guitars, yet they still have the Martin label and Martin still advertises as made in USA.

Maybe Taylor Guitars needs to get in line to have Kevin endorse their product.

http://www.taylorguitars.com/

But whatever happens, I don't think it would be a good idea to pursue donating a guitar to Kevin - he likes to pave his own way. Give the bucks to St. Judes instead.

[nickiannn]

Can't resist sharing these with you!
United Breaks (Taylor) guitars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg

[Bcon]

Hello all,
I have to agree that I think his guitar would be a personal choice and if we were to purchase one, as much as he would appreciate the gesture of kindness, that this is something very personal to he and his style and probably sentimental as well?
I have a good friend who performs and is a songwriter too and "his" guitars are definitely personal to him so I didn't want to pour water on the gift idea but wanted to throw in my two cents.

I was thinking of something too for a gift from this group and wondered if we might somehow get him a shirt with all of our signatures on it or something like that. I noticed that he performed with some nice western style shirts and the one that looks like his has wings on the front is quite nice. I don't know about the technology for getting the signature images on it but probablyl not much different than the photographed images. I imagine AGT might dictate something too but he wouldn't have to wear it on stage but use it "down the road" after Vegas...

Those closest to him like Jen, might steer us in the right direction...maybe even get him a gun of the make he likes, and have the stock engraved mykevinskinner.com! He eventually will have time to get back into the country. I could certainly find out more about this idea as I deal with the hunting fishing crowd and those that have collections. Perhaps something with a history behind the gun might be nice as well... "just" an idea... Anyone else? (Bonnie)

[lily]

the problem with ordering a martin - with the exception of totally hand-built models like the d-28 authentic, for 40,000 - is that they are partly or mostly, depending on the model, machine built, and are inconsistent in tone quality across a model number. so the way around this is to play the actual guitar itself, then a-b it against another one you like.... and so on.....

a better pickup might help the tacoma..... might not, have to experiment to find out.

a taylor? or a santa cruz? i've heard these a lot - my sweetie deals high end guitars, plays and owned instruments from both these luthiers - in a-b sound comparisons, i find myself drawn to martin and its boomy bass, provided you make the effort to play enough martins to get one with truly great sound, and sometimes to a gibson. both of those would work for kevins' voice, but it is an intensely personal choice, an instrument, like the choice of a mate, so there is no guarantee he would feel the same way.

if he likes martins, the best thing for him to do is to call the 4th generation owner, cris martin, and ask to come in. cris would reserve a room for him to use (to avoid being pestered for autographs) and pull out any guitar he thinks might work. (a family member is aware of this possibility....)

i would also think that at this point, he can get a loan for purchasing an instrument. i can't imagine that nbc expects those agt contestants and the winner to give up their day jobs for 3 months and not pay an adequate or even generous per diem for their daily living expenses.

he can pull it off now when he decides to, should be able to get a loan if nothing else. but boy do i understand the impulse of my fellow berkeleyite!

curious???? go to http://www.dreamguitars.com then to "pre-owned instruments"

then pick a guitar, click on it. at the top of the page on the right will be a link to an mp3 of that guitar being played.
that's how i learned to tell the differences in sound between say, a brazilian rosewood body, and a koa body.

rock on.

[berkeleyite]

I actually called Martins and had an interesting chat. Of course one can spend many 1000s of dollars for a fancy, "mother-of-pearl inlaid", with gold trim etc, but she suggested for $5000 you can get a really nice guitar, just not ”glitzy” or with fancy electronics, for Kevin. I also agree it would be a real personal choice for Kevin. I do doubt this will work as I stated at the beginning. The lady at Martins suggested if we went through with it, it probably would be better to have someone from Martins contact Kevin and let him ( Kevin) look at their selections first hand, and try them out for what he feels would most be comfortable for him and represent who he is. Also, I imagine Kevin really should have more than one style guitar for different needs. In any event, I also agree, again, any guitar would, and should, be a highly individual choice for Kevin, it should not be something someone picked out for him, although I’m sure he would be gracious about it. I mentioned also that if the “Martins funds” reached our goal-whatever that would have been, that Kevin could then go in and pick out his guitar himself, using that fund. Thus said, well, it was a thought.

--------- As "nickiannn" mentioned-donations to to St. Lukes in Kevins' name? Im sure Kevin would appreciate that. Any more thoughts we could all get involved in ??
---I think we all just admire Kevin a lot and doing/giving something very personal for him that he could see and touch would be very cool.

[Sylamore]

I do agree that a gesture for Kevin on our part would be a great way to give back to him since he has given all of us such a wonderful example of what a person SHOULD BE! A guitar is a good idea and to have him be able to choose exactly what he wants is the only way to go, whether it be a Martin, or any other brand. Would there be any harm in us (all of us, our Kevin family, anyone who wants to participate) setting up a guitar fund on this site and building it to a point that affords Kevin his choice of guitars? That way each time he plays that unique instrument he might in some small way think of us as his ultimate fans.......(which we all KNOW we are). I can set up a separate paypal fund strictly for that purpose and make it payable ONLY to Kevin Skinner once it reaches a certain goal, and what would our goal be? This is really not so far-fetched that it cannot be done, it's actually quite simple. I need feedback on this so I will know if I should proceed with it or not. You all get to make the decision on this idea so let the ideas begin.......................

Feel free to pm me if you do not want your thoughts posted publicly.