Kiernan Music

Specialties

Your destination on the Big Island to find used, vintage and restored guitars and ukuleles. Other Payment Methods: Trade Ins

History

Established in 2005.

Brian Kiernan began building guitars in 1977, and continued to do so part time in his home shop and on the internet until 2006 when he opened Kiernan Music in Captain Cook, Hawaii. In 2009 he moved the shop to its current location in Old Town Kainaliu (Kealakekua) about 8 miles south of Kailua-​Kona. Brian’s son Derek started working in the home shop in high school, building his first guitar at age 15 as a school project. After working for 3 years at Goodall Guitars in Kona, Derek came back to become Brian’s partner in the shop when Goodall closed in Kona in 2010.

Meet the Business Owner

Brian K.

Business Owner

Brian is an experienced luthier who apprenticed with a New York guitarmaker in the 1970’s, and now specializes in archtop Jazz guitars. As a player, Brian enjoys blues, new-​grass, jazz and gypsy-​jazz styles, and recent collaborations include the Coffee Shack Revue, and Acoustic Goodness, which blended these styles with bluegrass instrumentation, including guitar, bass, mandolin, dobro, and the amazing Katie Burk (featured this year on Prarie Home Companion) on vocals and violin.