Kline Owners-Stand and Be Counted
Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn
- Sonny Jenkins
- Posts: 4376
- Joined: 19 Sep 2000 12:01 am
- Location: Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
Steve and Paul,,,,not to worry,,,,I'm getting used to this "refrigerator" white,,,,,all the good qualities easily over shadow the color,,,,not that the color is THAT undesireable,,,,,just not REAL enthusiastic,,,but like I said,,,getting better every day,,,and I'll have the rest of my life to get used to it,,,'cause it's a keeper!
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- Posts: 1467
- Joined: 13 Nov 1999 1:01 am
- Location: California/Thailand
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- Posts: 963
- Joined: 14 Nov 1998 1:01 am
- Location: Verona, Mo. (deceased)
- Dave Zirbel
- Posts: 4170
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Sebastopol, CA USA
- Sonny Jenkins
- Posts: 4376
- Joined: 19 Sep 2000 12:01 am
- Location: Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
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- Posts: 2966
- Joined: 27 Sep 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Pomona, New York, USA
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- Posts: 155
- Joined: 17 Jan 2008 3:19 pm
- Location: Ohio, USA
kline guitar
hi kline guys,
so far as i know i have the last kline joe plans to build, i picked it up at his home last year, red universal, laquer finish. will rogers
olor=red][/color]
so far as i know i have the last kline joe plans to build, i picked it up at his home last year, red universal, laquer finish. will rogers
olor=red][/color]
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- Posts: 155
- Joined: 17 Jan 2008 3:19 pm
- Location: Ohio, USA
kline guitar
hi kline guys,
so far as i know i have the last kline joe plans to build, i picked it up at his home last year, red universal, laquer finish. will rogers
olor=red][/color]
so far as i know i have the last kline joe plans to build, i picked it up at his home last year, red universal, laquer finish. will rogers
olor=red][/color]
- Ryan McMahon
- Posts: 100
- Joined: 12 Feb 2009 3:27 pm
- Location: The Land Of Sky Blue Waters
- Sonny Jenkins
- Posts: 4376
- Joined: 19 Sep 2000 12:01 am
- Location: Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
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- Posts: 158
- Joined: 9 Nov 2001 1:01 am
- Location: Alpena, MI, USA
Kline
James, did you totally strip it when you got it from me? good way to learn the mechanics, I guess. Jack
- Dave Zirbel
- Posts: 4170
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Sebastopol, CA USA
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- Posts: 2966
- Joined: 27 Sep 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Pomona, New York, USA
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- Posts: 765
- Joined: 26 Nov 2001 1:01 am
- Location: Lee, New Hampshire, USA
I bought my Kline S12 in 1978 and it has been my main steel ever since, through hundreds of gigs. It's number 3991, the 38th made. I guess it's probably the only one Joe made from oak. (It was at my request.) I decided on a Kline after hearing Winnie Winston talk about them at a PSGA meeting. I ordered it through Harry Guffee's store in Connecticut. It sounds really good and is a joy to play.
sonny sorry i missed your ?s
currently i have the whitney and anapeg only.
i wish i had never parted with my kline but alas.
pros
the whiteney is the best built guitar i have ever played.
it has zero issues.
no cabinet drop.
no hysterisis.
perfect splits (probably due to the dual changer).
it has 2 custom lo impedance bill lawrence pickups that he made for this particular instrument while i stood there enduring lectures, liverwurst and 2 days worth of trial and error all the while becky silently suffered us both in bethlehem pa.
cons
over engineered.
too heavy.
impossible to change copedant unless you are paul.
pros
the anapeg has remarkable wood and tone.
the knee levers are perfect.
cons
i hear the slightest hysterisis on the 4th string lower/raise.
pros
the kline has tone tone tone.
all joes pickup.
if a kline doesnt have joes original pickup it will still sound good.
just not as fabulous.
best fretboard design with math symbols.
cons
stopping pedals at the endplate feels weird.
zb like yokes are not conducive to copedant changes.
not good with 3 whole step lowers or splits.
currently i have the whitney and anapeg only.
i wish i had never parted with my kline but alas.
pros
the whiteney is the best built guitar i have ever played.
it has zero issues.
no cabinet drop.
no hysterisis.
perfect splits (probably due to the dual changer).
it has 2 custom lo impedance bill lawrence pickups that he made for this particular instrument while i stood there enduring lectures, liverwurst and 2 days worth of trial and error all the while becky silently suffered us both in bethlehem pa.
cons
over engineered.
too heavy.
impossible to change copedant unless you are paul.
pros
the anapeg has remarkable wood and tone.
the knee levers are perfect.
cons
i hear the slightest hysterisis on the 4th string lower/raise.
pros
the kline has tone tone tone.
all joes pickup.
if a kline doesnt have joes original pickup it will still sound good.
just not as fabulous.
best fretboard design with math symbols.
cons
stopping pedals at the endplate feels weird.
zb like yokes are not conducive to copedant changes.
not good with 3 whole step lowers or splits.
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- Posts: 1153
- Joined: 3 Apr 2006 12:01 am
- Location: Illinois, USA
Yes, Ed, it probably is over-engineered!!! Remember, I was still building injection molds back then and used much of what I applied to molds, to the guitar. I tried to use off-the-shelf, commercially-available billet stock for as many components as possible, hence the "beefy" frame. My new S-10 with 4 FP's, 7 KL's, and a SS lock, weighs 31 pounds...its case weighs 18 pounds = 49 pounds.
Don't forget that your S-12 also has 8 FP's and I forget how many KL's...each of those adds to the weight. On this new one, I was able to get rid of almost one pound by making aluminum legs instead of Atlas mike stand jobs. All KL's moving left require a 2nd shaft to reverse crank motion...that adds to the weight. I haven't put my S-12 prototype on the scale yet, but given that it has 8 FP's, 7 KL's, 3 locks, and an accelerator on the 3rd string to allow it at will to drop from G# to F#, it ain't a fly-weight!!!
Had I been able to have extrusions made for the Whitney frames at the time, I'm confident that I could have lobbed off several pounds from the get-go.
My new one exhibits zero hysteresis, zero drop using the splits (a 5-string pull - 3 G#'s to A, 2 - B's to C#) checking #4, and 1/2 to one cent on the F change/1st pedal combo. If the extra "heft" contributed to that phenomenon, then I'll take it.
Since building Ed's guitar two decades ago, I gave up on making those cutesy spring clips to hold the rods to the cranks. They were novel then, but "E-clips" are so much smaller, take up no room, and fit nicely into the tiny grooves in the "hook" of each pullrod.
I don't intend to build any more of this "welded-frame" design in the future. They are, as ebb mentioned, over-engineered by today's standards. I designed and built them as a "machine" to perform a given task. Somewhere along the way I succeeded in doing that very accurately. If I helped raise the bar a notch along the way, for that I'm grateful. There are many fine builders out there today striving for the very accuracy that I sought in 1984. I wish them the finest on their efforts and hope they never stop "re-inventing the wheel". That's just what makes this steel guitar thing so exciting.
Hats off to Joe Kline for his daring introduction of a mass-produced keyless guitar at a time when keyless was thought of only as a gimmick, or a gadget. Kline guitars will forever outlast their owners and just keep on ticking!!! I will forever hold him in highest personal regards. It'll take a long time to top his act for sure!!!
PRR
Don't forget that your S-12 also has 8 FP's and I forget how many KL's...each of those adds to the weight. On this new one, I was able to get rid of almost one pound by making aluminum legs instead of Atlas mike stand jobs. All KL's moving left require a 2nd shaft to reverse crank motion...that adds to the weight. I haven't put my S-12 prototype on the scale yet, but given that it has 8 FP's, 7 KL's, 3 locks, and an accelerator on the 3rd string to allow it at will to drop from G# to F#, it ain't a fly-weight!!!
Had I been able to have extrusions made for the Whitney frames at the time, I'm confident that I could have lobbed off several pounds from the get-go.
My new one exhibits zero hysteresis, zero drop using the splits (a 5-string pull - 3 G#'s to A, 2 - B's to C#) checking #4, and 1/2 to one cent on the F change/1st pedal combo. If the extra "heft" contributed to that phenomenon, then I'll take it.
Since building Ed's guitar two decades ago, I gave up on making those cutesy spring clips to hold the rods to the cranks. They were novel then, but "E-clips" are so much smaller, take up no room, and fit nicely into the tiny grooves in the "hook" of each pullrod.
I don't intend to build any more of this "welded-frame" design in the future. They are, as ebb mentioned, over-engineered by today's standards. I designed and built them as a "machine" to perform a given task. Somewhere along the way I succeeded in doing that very accurately. If I helped raise the bar a notch along the way, for that I'm grateful. There are many fine builders out there today striving for the very accuracy that I sought in 1984. I wish them the finest on their efforts and hope they never stop "re-inventing the wheel". That's just what makes this steel guitar thing so exciting.
Hats off to Joe Kline for his daring introduction of a mass-produced keyless guitar at a time when keyless was thought of only as a gimmick, or a gadget. Kline guitars will forever outlast their owners and just keep on ticking!!! I will forever hold him in highest personal regards. It'll take a long time to top his act for sure!!!
PRR
- Mike Meese
- Posts: 250
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Dover, Ohio, U S A GO BUCKEYES! (deceased)
- Contact:
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- Posts: 2241
- Joined: 14 Aug 2007 1:06 pm
Last edited by Tamara James on 17 May 2009 12:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- steve takacs
- Posts: 5499
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: beijing, china via pittsburgh (deceased)
Mike, formica or lacquer???
Geez Mike is that blue Kline a lacquer model? Very other-worldy and fantastic looking. Reminds me of the background of some of those color 1950s sci-fi movies...... steve t
- steve takacs
- Posts: 5499
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: beijing, china via pittsburgh (deceased)
Greg Simmons, how about a photo of your present guitar? The green D-10 that Greg displayed in this thread is now in the USA while the black U-12 that had the Paul Remond magic put to it, is with me in Beijing. Sorry, but I can't say anything about string spacing differences since the Pacific Ocean separates them. Who ended up with that blond one, Greg? That's also a stunner! Of course, Jonny Jenkins has my original Kline, the white one. I guess Kline owners like to "share the wealth" steve t
- Sonny Jenkins
- Posts: 4376
- Joined: 19 Sep 2000 12:01 am
- Location: Texas Masonic Retirement Center,,,Arlington Tx
- Mike Meese
- Posts: 250
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Dover, Ohio, U S A GO BUCKEYES! (deceased)
- Contact:
Re: Mike, formica or lacquer???
Hey Steve, Yes it's a lacquer model. It used to be brown but Dave Decker did a splendid job stripping it down and staining it blue for me.steve takacs wrote:Geez Mike is that blue Kline a lacquer model? Very other-worldy and fantastic looking. Reminds me of the background of some of those color 1950s sci-fi movies...... steve t