When is a replica not a replica? Gary Cooper gets sophisticated with the Kinkade Montpelier.

'When is a replica not a replica?' might make for a snappy headline, but you could equally well ask of the Kinkade Montpelier, 'When is a Jazz guitar a lot more besides?'. After living with this latest creation of the Kinkead brothers (and yes, the marque is spelled differently from their name!) I'm not sure I know the answer to that - except that this superlative new instrument plays more different roles than an actor in a repertory theatre!

Lovers of vintage Gibsons will, of course, immediately recognise the Kinkade as a replica of the double pickup ES-175 - a deliberate move on Simon and Jonny Kinkead's part, but not one which classes them among the Far Eastern copyists; the Montpelier being, perhaps, more a tribute than a rip-off.

For the sake of historical accuracy, perhaps a word about the Montpelier's inspiration might not go amiss. The Gibson ES-175 is possibly one of that maker's most successful designs, beloved of such varied players as Joe Pass, Steve Howe and Pat Metheny. Launched in 1949 as a relatively 'budget priced' model, the distinctive Florentine cutaway helped draw attention to this 24 3/4" scale, 19 fret acoustic/electric. Originally made of laminated maple with a one piece mahogany neck, the ES-175 first appeared with one single coil P90 pickup. By the early 1950s a twin P90 equipped model appeared (the ES-175D) and in 1957 this immortal joined other Gibsons in the switch to twin coil humbuckers.

British produced 'Jazz' guitars (although that compartmentalising tag is doing the Kinkade a gross injustice) aren't particularly common from our major luthiers, most of whom seem to concentrate on either solid bodied electrics, or acoustics. Obviously this reflects public demand, but - especially given the high price of American-made guitars of this kind and the inadequacy of all but a very few Japanese examples - there's definitely a market out there, and the Kinkead brothers are particularly well qualified to cater for it. Their reputation was founded on fine quality acoustics (see our review in IT No. 2), and their much admired 'Frank Evans' provided a good basis from which to develop the Montpelier, which is, I gather, destined to be (albeit in their entirely handmade terms) a standard model - i.e., one that you'll soon be able to buy in the shops, as opposed to having specially made.

Getting down to facts, the Montpelier isn't quite as close an imitation of an ES-175 as it might at first seem. The body dimensions are identical, as is the overall shape including the Gibson-style glued neck, which joins the body at the 14th fret. Where the ES-175 has a laminated maple top, however, the Kinkade's carved (pressed?) top is of solid spruce. The sample I borrowed, moreover, had a flame maple neck, as opposed to the Gibson's mahogany - although I understand that maple will be an optional extra (costing £30 more) and that mahogany will be offered as standard. The beautifully figured back, however, sticks to the original's pattern, being laminated maple - although, again, flame maple in this instance.

The standard of workmanship in this guitar is superb. Back when ITs Katy 88 reviewed their Kingsdown acoustic, her enthusiasm for the Kinkeads' manufacturing standard was boundless, and I have to agree with her, judging from the Montpelier. Finished in natural cellulose (still a better bet from an acoustic and ageing point of view than any amount of poly whatnots) the rich sunburst finished Montpelier glowed and shone with a beautiful lustre. Offsetting this perfectly is the 'aged' looking plastic binding which runs round the body to mate with the neck binding, the combination giving the Kinkade a satisfyingly vintage appearance.

Staying with woodwork and decorations, the Montpelier has a quality rosewood fingerboard inlaid with the original parallelogram mother of pearl position markers. The headstock looked a bit strangely spartan to me, especially on such an otherwise luxurious-looking instrument, but Jonny Kinkead tells me that he and Simon have recently devised a more attractive Kinkade logo and this will be used on later models.

On the hardware side, tradition is, as far as possible, maintained. A trapeze-type tailpiece is used, although whether this sticks exactly to the original pattern I can't say, as (judging from photos) this fitment varied from time to time. The bridge, however, is Schaller's version of the Gibson individual intonation adjustable Tune-o-Matic (which apparently replaced the original all-wood type in the mid-1970s). It rides, again as per the ES-175's, on a rosewood bridgeplate. The two tone, two volume control system uses Gibson-like knobs, with a three way selector in the appropriate place - the top bout. The pickups themselves are a pair of Schaller's 'Golden 50s' humbuckers, fitted in this instance without covers. The hardware details are rounded off by the use of Schaller machines with imitation pearl buttons. The nut, by the way, is bone, not plastic.

All this description of detail is essential, of course, but it cannot convey just how striking this guitar is (which is why we decided to put a colour pic. of it on this month's cover). Specifications, moreover, can't tell you what a surprise you're in for if you pick up this guitar expecting a cumbersome instrument suited only to playing when you're seated on a bar stool. Far from it, in fact! The Montpelier is light and the body beautifully balanced (although my sample could have done with some strap buttons!) and, perhaps more to the point, the body dimensions actually feel smaller than they look. It's the sort of guitar that any player with a taste for quality guitars won't be able to resist picking up and, once they have, isn't going to find easy to put down again.

Having found the Montpelier handling so well, your next shock comes when you try the neck. The action on my sample was low and the neck's profile was fine; maybe a little chunky for a Stratophile, but familiar to guitarists more used to Gibsons. I measured the Montpelier at around 1 3/4" at the nut and fractionally over 2" at the 12th fret, which is very typical of a 'Brand G'. The neck was also anything but a handful in its depth, fitting nicely into my left hand and feeling perfectly natural for a player whose usual weapon is an SG. Complementing the fine neck shaping is a typical Gibson radius camber to the fretboard and accurately polished fat frets. The Montpelier may look unlike a Rock guitar, but it has a neck that any Gibson player will recognise and feel immediately at home with.

By this point in the review process, the Kinkade had appealed to me as a beautifully made guitar with a fine neck, one that was much more suitable for my typical Rock player's inclinations than I'd anticipated. There still lurked a personal prejudice, though, that when I plugged it in, the sound would be that typical Jazz tone, which (while I can well understand why it has appealed to so many Jazz players) would fail to make me want to do more than appreciate it for what it was - certainly not make the instrument unputdownable. Not for the first time in my life, I found my prejudices wholly and utterly wrong! From the bridge pickup, the Kinkade's notes have a sharp, cut-glass treble penetration - not a screech but a clear, ringing definition and a tonal purity which is astonishing. Unexpectedly, the Schaller pickups have a high output and I found myself having to take some care when using the guitar through a valve amp with high gain. On the other hand - should you actually want overload... well, more of that later!

As you'd expect, the neck pickup does its job equally well and delivers a smooth warmth, but still with that clarity of reproduction which marks the guitar out as exceptionally made and designed. What really surprised me, though, was the way in which the Montpelier lent itself so well to playing Blues, giving a fantastic chugging rhythm sound with a snappy attack at the top end which made lift-offs, in particular, sound really punchy. Wind the guitar up and (given the right amp) it'll sing too. Even without any internal wooden 'sustain blocks' the resulting sound is unexpectedly suitable for Rock soloing - now I understand why Steve Howe likes ES-175s so much!

Tempted by what seemed to be an unexpected versatility, I began to explore the guitar's hidden depths more thoroughly. Yes, as a jazz guitar it really is a fine one, with those qualities of musicality and note purity which the Jazz player demands. Equally, it responds well to fingerstyle playing, the definition of individual notes in chords being specially pleasing. As I say, what I didn't expect from this guitar was the versatility hidden within a design which makes it look like 'just' a Jazz guitar.

As to whether or not the Kinkade Montpelier sounds exactly like a Gibson ES-175 I have to admit that I don't know. I've never played a 175 personally, although I've heard a lot of them. I have a suspicion that the Kinkade may be toppier (and Jonny Kinkead tells me that he feels similarly), but it's not a quality that I think a lot of guitarists will object to, simply because it's so useful to have that treble response.

So, who will this latest Kinkade suit - the Jazz guitarist, the Rock player, the Blues aficionado? Quite honestly, I think it could well suit players working in all these fields, and would make a fine guitar for all sorts of recording purposes, even if your main onstage instrument was a conventional solid bodied type. Above all, I think it's best suited to the thoughtful player, the guitarist who knows the difference between an outstandingly good guitar and one merely acceptable, and can make use of that difference.

If you come across a Kinkade Montpelier in a music store, try it - I guarantee you a rewarding experience, and one that could very well have you calculating how fast you can save your pennies. With a recommended retail price of just over £700, that's a lot of pennies to save, but a comparable quality imported instrument could cost nearer £1,000. And that sounds like value to me!

RRP £710.22 Inc VAT

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