Stijn Kenens Luthier

12/06/2026

One reason to go roadtrippin through the UK was the delivery of 1915 Gibson harpguitar after an intense repair/restoration process.
It was in desperate need of a refret and fretboard level. Almost none of the glued cracks were cleated on the inside, there were still a lot of unglued cracks in the top, and the lower bout was missing almost 15 cm of lining, which made that area very weak and totally non responsive to the plucked strings ...

Now it's all good and sturdy again. Looking nice next to mine, can you notice the 110 year difference?

Stijn Kenens

11/06/2026

Slowly starting up the workshop again, after the holidays.
First task: Gibson LG refret.

Stijn Kenens

31/05/2026

Some snippets from .
Had a great talk with some of the attendees.
Took a few pictures of guitars i really liked.






And of course a picture of two of my favorite luthiers, having a chat about a very nice manouche inspired build.
and .

Had a lot of fun.

30/05/2026

Mixing work and pleasure.
Roadtrippin' through the UK, taking the ferry to Harwich, delivering harpguitar in Clacton-on-Sea. Now up to Harrogate to visit guitar festival.

19/05/2026

New, extra wide (2"/ 5cm nut width) neck for this modified Fender Bass VI.
Customer suggested the Teisco headstock, which is a favorite of mine, turned out great.
Finally a Bass VI you can use !

16/05/2026

I wish it was this easy ...
Big overhaul of a real 110 year old Gibson Harpguitar.

04/05/2026

The archtop designed by has a bridge without a foot.
But the marvelous Walter Broes is completely lost on a guitar without a Paul Bigsby tremolo. So, I popped out the neck, ready for a proper neck angle with a decent bridge, and low and behold, there's even a Hagstrom bigsby tremolo on it's way to match this beautiful blonde.

28/04/2026

Tuner fix.
This lefty tele came in for a refret.
When dismantling the tuners i found out the locating pins of the high e tuner were gone. It looks like it had an encounter with something harder ...
Here is the sequence of pictures. It doesn't show, but i glued the new pins with ca glue. They're only there to prevent the tuner from rotating under string tension.

Thus was a fun little project.

25/04/2026

It took me a while to find the first pic.
sent it to me when I e-mailed him by accident, still don't know how that happened ...
It took a few turns around the sun before that guitar finally arrived in my guitarshop, and (i think I speak for everybody, if the customer says: 'no pressure', a project like this can take years 🫣)

Enter: , he asked if i could finish it for Mauro's birthday, so i did.

All other pictures: final result: body glued together, stronger than ever (but still, be a little more careful, Mauro, it's not made of steel ...) new pickguard, rewound pickup, fixed the tuners, refret, new bridge (intonation AND height screws were rusted in place) new elektro, but i used the old k***s, and probably 1000 other little things ...

Rock on, and a happy birthday !!!





(for a few years)

23/04/2026

Who wants to play the "Stadsgitaar" ?

Gezocht: een bevlogen gitarist. Iemand die onze Stadsgitaar, een instrument dat letterlijk van Antwerpen is gemaakt, tot leven wil brengen. Ze werd gebouwd met hout van Antwerpse bomen en draagt de inscriptie van Wannes Van de Velde: "De klank van de stad maakt mijn ziel amoereus."

Ken jij iemand met een sterk, inspirerend plan? Deel dan dit bericht. Of ben jij het zelf? Dan is dit jouw moment. Twee jaar lang word jij onze Klankmeester: je speelt, creëert, inspireert en verbindt.

Wat mag je verwachten?
👉 Een samenwerking met het museum en topmuzikanten
👉 Een vergoeding
👉 Tal van speelkansen, met het Muziekjaar 2028 in zicht

Hoe stel je je kandidaat?
Een professionele jury selecteert de Klankmeester op basis van jouw voorstel en artistieke visie.

📅 Indienen kan tot 15 juni 2026
📅 Bekendmaking in oktober 2026

👉 Alle info op www.muziekmuseumvleeshuis.be

Foto: Victoriano Moreno