A Review Of My New MJ Franks 00-12 Fret

[Swiftbruiser]

The day before Christmas Eve I took delivery of my new 00-12 fret short scale built by Mike Franks of MJ Franks Guitars. What a great Christmas present! I wanted to share a couple of photos and a quick “out-of-the-box” review of the guitar. This is my second Franks guitar, having received the first a year ago. The first, a Heritage Grand, is modeled after the Martin “M” size but with a deeper body. I got it to serve as my main multi-functional guitar. I use it for worship, finger style, and even some live jazz. For my second acoustic, I wanted a smaller body, different woods…something for playing on the couch and with a very different sound from the first, which is Cuban mahogany/Adi guitar. Something a little more personal, primarily for finger style, which is my first love.

Mike and I discussed it and we settled on Carpathian spruce for the top and master grade East Indian Rosewood for the back and sides. Breaking from tradition a bit, I went with a standard headstock for ease of use. It has a 1-13/16” nut width and a modified-V neck profile. It has a wide 2-5/16” string spacing at the pyramid bridge and a bone nut and bone saddle. The binding is ivoroid and it has a vintage flowerpot inlay on the headstock and abalone inlay around the top and soundhole. Mike double-bound the headstock and fretboard. The complete package looks really good without being garish (in my opinion).

As far as the tone goes, I am surprised and very happy and the sound this little thing puts out. The tone is traditional, with good clarity and sustain for a small body guitar. Bass is good, better than I thought it would be. Mike braces his smaller guitars for optimum tone. By that I mean that his bracing and top thickness is tuned for each body size and what the customer is looking for. I expected the guitar to sound less “boxy” than, say, a higher volume production model, but I am really quite surprised at how it sounds. No boxiness at all, just a more up-front tone that, with regards to volume, competes with guitars that are larger. I know its true voice still hasn’t developed, but this one sounds great as a new guitar – one of the best I’ve heard out of the box. Most new guitars sound “tight” and require time to come into their own. I’d be happy if it stayed just as it is, so I’m excited to hear how it develops.

Build quality is excellent, but I expected this after having worked with him before. So far I haven’t found anything, not one thing, to pick on. The setup was exactly as I requested. The finish, by Joe White (GETGO here on the forum) looks great.

For the second time, I highly recommend Mike and his work. With all the options out there, I honestly never expected to have two acoustics by the same builder. Since I don’t intend on owning a lot of guitars (just a larger body and a small body for now) my intent was to go with a different builder for each one. After a surprisingly bad experience on my first real custom build a couple of years ago, I contacted Mike. The success of that first build with Mike factored heavily into my decision on who to work with on the 00. This one came out fantastic. Feel free to ask any questions.

[SuperB23]

Great looking guitar and thanks for sharing, great review also, Congrats!!!!

[Taylorplayer]

Thanks very much for taking the time to post your review. It's most impressive to hear that you like the tone right out of the box! All the best with your new guitar ~

Peace,
Bill

[fitness1]

very cool.....I'd like to stop by his shop sometime.....not too far away here in MI. I took the liberty of photoshopping one of your closeups for a little better clarity.....nice guitar!!

[ChuckS]

Very nice looking 00. I remember when you posted your first Franks guitar. Both very impressive; Hope you enjoy them.

[Swiftbruiser]

Todd - thanks for the photo help! Sorry for the poor photo quality - things look a lot different on my laptop than on a good monitor. Lesson learned.........

Thanks for the nice comments!

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by Swiftbruiser

Todd - thanks for the photo help! Sorry for the poor photo quality - things look a lot different on my laptop than on a good monitor. Lesson learned.........

Thanks for the nice comments!

no problem...just sent you a PM....

[marty bradbury]

Beautiful guitar!! Congrats...........

[Fliss]

What a little beauty, congratulations! I'm a fan of small bodied guitars, and have solid rather than slotted headstocks on my 00 and parlours - regardless of tradition, I like the solid headstock better, and I love your headstock overlay too! Yours is very much my kind of guitar, it just looks like it's begging to be picked up and played while relaxing on the sofa.

Fliss

[Simon Fay]

These little guitars are just so much fun to play - and they ooze mojo. I like the traditional appointments on the guitar and the workmanship looks impeccable. I also really love the look of that neck -- really beautiful grain pattern and figure!!!