[Montesdad]

Originally Posted by AndyC

Well, this has been a year of highs and lows like none I have ever experienced....

At the start of this year, after many many years of patient communications and discussions with Wayne, I finally found myself in a position where my dream guitar would be built. As I indicated at the start of this thread, my plans were to attend the festival in June and collect my guitar whilst there.

In April this year - and out of the blue - I had to have major surgery on my back following a serious issue that resulted in deblitating neurological damage down my left leg, leaving me virtually unable to walk. I am still undergoing regular follow ups and physical therapy to hopefully improve the situation, and I also have to deploy an orthotic brace to help with walking. Clearly, after such surgery, a trip to Wayne's festival was impossible, hence the reason that I only finally received my guitar a few weeks ago.

I haven't been able to work since the surgery took place, and the likelihood of being able to return to work any time soon is looking very slim. My financial situation has come under extreme pressure, and following discussions with my mortgage providers and bank (not to mention credit card companies) I find myself in circumstances that require drastic action to remedy.

The bottom line is that I have no choice but to offer my beloved Henderson for sale, and believe me when I say that I truly never expected to part with this guitar whilst there was still a breath in my body. I am hoping that by explaining the circumstances and life changing issues behind this decision that people will understand the painful and unfortunate processes that have forced me down this road.

Guess I don't understand Andy - Wasn't it just on 11/15/2016, less than two weeks ago, you posted this, thread #47, with no mention of any other issues? - - -

Originally Posted by AndyC

Well, I'm back safely in the UK folllowing my flying visit to collect my guitar at the weekend - it was a gruelling trip, but boy was it worth it!! Probably one of the most intense and exciting weekends of my life. I spent several hours with Wayne at his shop, which was an experience in itself, and met some lovely people that had called by the shop to say hello because Wayne had told them that this English guy was calling by to pick up his new guitar!! Also, many thanks to another up and coming luthier (Jonathan Parker) who was there on Sunday, had seen my guitar in its' construction days, and taken some photos of the build - so an unexpected bonus for me is that I also have some "work in progress" pictures of my guitar being created. I'll post those at some stage in the future.

So, here are some iphone pics of my guitar. Ideally I would have taken these pics outdoors on a sunny day, but with the English winter kicking in that would mean waiting until next May, so please excuse the less than perfect pictures that you see below. I sincerely hope that the beauty of this guitar still shows through....

To confirm, this is a deep bodied OM42 with premium Madagascar Rosewood back and sides, and an absolutely stunning Adirondack top from John Griffins private reserve stock at Old Standard Wood. It sounds unbelievable, the extra depth of the body would fool you into thinking this is a dreadnought in some ways, but the balance and clarity across all of the frequencies is just incredible. And that's before the guitar has opened up, so I can only imagine how this is going to develop over the coming years. It is beyond my wildest expectations, and let me tell you that my expectations were high to start with!!

As soon as I have access to some decent recording gear, I'll upload some sound files.