Jonah
Introduction: Jonah emailed me a couple of weeks ago (August 2009) having found this site, which enabled him to identify his guitar, which is ...
The guitar: A KS-12-XL in black. Nice guitar Jonah!
The story: In Jonah's own words ...
I've spent ages groping about on the internet, trying to find out what my guitar was, and you've told me - a KS-12-XL in black. I bought it in Grimwade's - a second hand shop on Cowbridge Road, Cardiff sometime in the early 1980s. Recently I found that a couple of frets weren't holding their own and when I asked a local luthier about the cost of fixing it, he told me it wasn't worth the guitar. So I looked around for a replacement. The only solid electric that I'd ever liked before the Kawai was a 1970's Antoria copy of an SG. I tried various guitars in and around Cardiff and found that I didn't like the action on any of them, including some PRSs and Washburns - expensive clobber but not for me. Even the Gibson SG didn't feel quite right any more - I've got so used to the Kawai. She's faster and produces more variety of tone than anything else I've ever played. Being retired and crotchetty now, I've decided to have the Kawai refretted by a luthier in Pembrokeshire. I hope she and I will continue to grow disgracefully old together.
So the local luthier thought that your Kawai wasn't worth the cost of re-fretting it ??? I'm glad that you found someone who appreciated its true value!
The photos:
