Congratulations! Nick makes beautiful instruments and I’m looking forward to seeing this one. You’re a lucky man!

Mistaken post...

I spoke with Nick and we decided upon some aesthetic details:

• Nick is going to make a “Style 40” type rosette, with a Paua Abalone ring but using maple/dyed pear purflings instead of Ivoroid.
  
• The guitar will be bound in Sugar Maple instead of Ivoroid and have herringbone top purflings.
  
• It will a simple, thin back stripe to emphasize the bookmatched figure of the Cuban Mahogany.
  
• The Gaboon Ebony fretboard will have Paua Abalone diamonds and squares long pattern inlays. We will use Jescar EVO 43080 fret wire.
  
• A Brazilian Rosewood belly bridge (blanks he got from Thomas Humphrey years ago) and a Brazilian Rosewood head plate veneer.
  
• I opted for a Visesnut Active Series Flight Case - 000/OM, Gray.

Thanks Michael..:up:

I'm so pumped for this build! Love the choice of sugar maple binding and braz bridge and head plate. I can't wait to see the pictures of it.

I'm still getting over the Cuban 'Hog. The flame is so nice, there are times when I feel it looks like koa!

Well, the Cuban Mahogany tree grew in Hawaii. Must be something in the terroir...:)

I am bummed that I’m signed in but I can’t see the pictures. You are in for a treat. I have 2 German Brazilian Franklin OMs. One is 29 years old with a skinny neck 1 23/32” nut with 1.5” spacing and one is 12 years old with a chunky 1 13/16” nut. They are very different. The newer one is a bit deeper bodied and a touch more modern toned. The 29 year old one has made me re-think of my relationships with vintage Martins. I own 2 because I couldn’t pass either one up and I am so happy to have them. I’ve always wanted to try a Mahogany Franklin OM.

Congratulations! You are indeed lucky. I will eagerly be watching the progress of your OMC build. I am only recently the owner of a Franklin: Nick's 12 Fret Dreadnought model, Adirondack over figured mahogany with the most beautiful hand-rubbed sunburst. I didn't order mine new from Nick -- so at first I was a bit jealous that you get to think about, discuss and select every aspect of the guitar; then I realized that there isn't anything about mine that I would have actually done differently! I did buy it "pre-owned" directly from Nick, after a great time emailing and talking with him about his various models. He's incredibly knowledgable as well as incredibly personable. Initially I hadn't actually considered his dreadnought, assuming that it was a square shouldered "Martin style" dreadnought and since I am not a flat-picker, that didn't interest me. It's not, however. Nick was inspired by Gibson’s Roy Smeck Radio Grande model which has an incredible reputation with fingerstyle guitarists. From what Nick was saying about the dread, it seemed like a fantastic fit for my playing. I wanted something with a bigger voice than my current OM (non-Franklin), a bit more bass but focused, not boomy. I've owned a number of 12 fret guitars, and the warmth of their tone has alway appealed to me. I am still amazed by the sound of my guitar every time I play it, and I am hearing more and more every time. I have alway leaned towards the sound of Mahogany, I'll be very curious to hear your impressions of the Cuban. Nick's guitars are really at a whole other level. You are going to love your guitar!

Wasn't that guitar on Luthier's Collection for a while? I remember seeing a gorgeous 12 fret with a burst top that I lusted after for a while.

That was a different one, brazilian rosewood, as I remember. Nick had mine posted on his website under "pre-owned Franklins for sale". I first stumbled across it in a post of El McMeen playing it:

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=423508

I asked El for his thoughts on Nick's Dreads and he raved about that one, "it's as light as a potato chip!" then told me it was back with Nick. He'd owned it for a time, then decided he needed a 14 fret neck because he often capos on the 2nd and 4th frets, so 12 frets didn't have much room left over. El suggested that if I was interested I should contact Nick, so I did.

Plates joined
 

The 1968 German Spruce plates have now been joined. Nick was able to trim the plates some to about 8” each (lower bout is 15-5/8”) so the age associated oxidation is visually less distinct.

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...ssadn6qje.jpeg

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...s1bbw5ltf.jpeg

Oh yeah, much better. Gonna look great!

Steve

Nick trimmed about 3/4” from the length, a 1/2” off the outer edges, 1/4” from the center seam and thickness planed the German Spruce plates before gluing up the set. This definitely helped reduce the appearance of the 50-years of oxidation. That said, the photo of the raw set (top) has naphtha applied to it which brings out the appearance like nitro will and the process set shown (bottom) was phographed in a dry state which tends to diminish the appearance of these aesthetic artifacts.

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...psawvcimyt.png

It looks like the oxidized area in the center of the upper part of the top will be mostly covered by the fingerboard extension or cut out by the sound hole. That leaves some thin dark stripes which I think will be quite attractive!

I agree...:up:

I am honestly not worried about any of the residual oxidative aesthetic artifacts of age that may remain. I chose this set based on its sonic potential and not on aesthetics. Nick has some milk toast perfect Swiss Spruce in his woodlocker (great wood btw), but to his hands and ears it did not have the same sonic potential of this stuff. I believe he only has 3 or 4 sets remaining of this old German. How often does one get the opportunity to have a guitar made in 2018 using wood resawn back in 1968 that was selected by two great luthiers (Nick Kukich & Jeffrey Elliott) that was left to season a half century?