Jim Kirkham

 

Jim Kirkham started his musical career at the early age of 9 playing his first gig at a local dance hall  as a piano player. That was in 1952 and he made $2.00 for his efforts. That was a fairly good wage in those days for a young boy. When Jim went to join a group called the (Rhythmaires) at 11 years old, a guitar player in the band inspired him to learn how to play guitar. Jim says "He used to let me take his 1952 Gibson Les Paul and his big Premiere amp home to play and practice on as he was away all week working for a construction company. Many hours were spent mostly self teaching himself new chords and little tunes."

 Jim bought his own first guitar while working for the railroad, a 2 pickup hollow body Silvertone archtop which he purchased in a pawn shop in Toronto. As Jim's talent progressed he opted for better instruments consisting from everything from telecasters to Chet Atkins Gretsch's.

Then Jim heard about my guitars. In 2002 Jim visited with me and we discussed building a Gibson Wes Montgomery L5 type of jazz guitar. In june of 2003 Jim played his new custom built to his specs Laplante built L5. Jim was astounded by the workmanship and fine detailing of his instrument and is one happy camper to say the least. He plays his jazzer daily and has told me that the instrument is going to be a family heirloom when he is retired from music.

(Jim's JPL-5 can be seen in my Archtop gallery)

Audio Clips

  Hear Jim Kirkham having fun in an impromptu recording session...

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