The border on either side of the pearl diamonds, that you see in the previous photos, is black/white marquetry that Nick constructed by laying up strips of maple and ebony, sanding it into a thin band and then cutting off strips.

Nick does indeed build fabulous guitars. He's a really great guy as well, very interesting to talk to.

Bending the sides. When Nick built Woody Mann's guitar, he made a new bending mold, which he now uses for jumbos.

I've REALLY been impressed with Franklin guitars, a couple of them at the absolute top of my list, very exciting, congrats....

Thank you! I am quite excited about this guitar. I've wanted a Franklin Jumbo for quite some time. I've been haunting guitar store websites, Reverb, the guitars for sale here on AGF, and then it occurred to me: I could commission one!

Nick has glued up the African Blackwood back. It is beautiful quarter sawn, straight grained wood. I'm not sure how visible the grain will be once it has been sanded and finished. The color will certainly be even darker.

When we first spoke about wood options and Nick suggested African Blackwood, he sent me photos of an African Blackwood OM he had just put the finish on to give me an idea of how it looks. He appears understandably happy with the result!

Nick is such a Master Builder. I’m fortunate to have multiple guitars from Nick. Sadly, I just sold one of my 3 but replaced it with a Sexauer 000-28c. I kept my 2 oldest ones as I was more connected with them and they have that mojo that vintage guitars give you. Mine are 40 and 31 years old! I love that you went with the old fancy rosette. Here’s one of mine.
Attachment 41001Attachment 41002
It’s my one and only blingy guitar and is still the best guitar I’ve ever played.

Jim, It may have even been a photo of your guitar from an older post here on AGF that I sent to Nick, saying let's go with that! Possibly the photo of his old brochure.

Kerfed ceder linings, Mahogany neck and heel block. It's definitely looking like a guitar now!

Beautiful work! You are going to be really pleased with your Franklin! ;)

Thanks, I think so too! I'm just impatient to get ahold of it!

What will be the body depth of this Franklin?

The current body depth on the Franklin Jumbo is essentially the same as an OM, around 3.5" at the heel and 4" at the tail. I'll have to check with Nick to see exactly where this one will fall. I see that you have a Franklin Prarie State. What is the depth of yours -- when was it built?

My guitar was built in 1992. It measures 3 1/2'' at the neck and 3 7/8' at the tail block. I purchased it some years back from Bat McGrath, and he referred to it as a Prairie State. I cant say What Nick called it.