Beautiful guitar, the purfling and the back strip! very cool :cool:

All I can say is that John has created a total masterpiece. It is really starting to open up, and sound is really sweet. I couldn't be more impressed by John's work. It's tough when you get a new guitar and it sounds a bit tight, but that's to be expected, particularly with a guitar that has an Adirondack spruce top. John told me to give it some time and to play it a lot - which I did. Wow, what a difference in just 15-20 hours of playing. Wonderful bloom on the notes. Just a touch of compression to knock out really tight strings. Gorgeous, clear tone. Bravo, John!

And to deliver it with absolute dead level frets and perfect setup (nut slot height, action, relief, intonation). I'm in heaven. Not to mention the gorgeous looks and flawless workmanship. What a wonderful commission experience!

I am not the most gifted guitar player, and my recording kung fu is basic. This is the Zoom H4n aimed right at the 12 fret. It sounds mostly true to the sound of the OM. One of these days, I'll learn how to clean up my sloppy mistakes and make decent recordings. In the meantime, here's what I got . . .

This is a recording of one of my favorite Dorian Michael songs, "When Arizona Meets the Ocean." Dorian was kind enough to share the sheet music with me, and it's been one of my favorite songs to learn.

http://jus-tone.com/misc/recordings/...cean_Circa.mp3

Here's another favorite of mine. Bert Jansch's version of Angie.

http://jus-tone.com/misc/recordings/...ngie_Circa.mp3

And finally John Fahey's "Yellow Princess."

http://jus-tone.com/misc/recordings/...ss%20Circa.mp3

Duuude....! Glorious.... Major sweetness my man....! Love it....:up:

Juston-

Those are really nice! Kudos on the guitar and the playing.

-Brett

Great playing. Thank you for sharing. Glad to hear the guitar continues to get better for you. Enjoy!

Thanks guys. I'm really enjoying it. As Diamonddave mentioned, it does seem to be getting sweeter and sweeter. This guitar is built with a relatively newish bracing system that John is using that features taller X braces. The result is more projection, volume, and headroom. It's getting more balanced over time, and overtone content is increasing slightly. It's hard to describe it in any other way than, "it's getting sweeter."

Dude! Nice playing! Thanks for taking the time to put together sound clips for us. It sounds absolutely fabulous! I can only imagine how much better it'll sound down the road...

I have reactivated my Circa commission after reading this thread. I've been on John's list since last year but am totally looking forward to this!

Thank you guys for the nice comments about my playing. It's not perfect, so I'm self conscious about posting recordings.

I'm posting comments in real time here to remind myself the next time I receive a new guitar just how much it can open up in the first few weeks. The Circa continues to evolve. The level of the bass is now coming up, and the tightness keeps falling off the mids and trebles. They just keep getting sweeter. Amazing.

The recordings sound pretty darn good, way cleaner than what I could do. Kudos!

Well, I keep putting hours on it and, as advertised by diamondave, it just keeps getting better. In fact, if it never changed from its present sound, I would say without equivocation that this is the best Martin OM style guitar I've ever played. When John and I first started talking about a guitar way back in 2009, I sent him a page long description of what I was looking for, tonally. I kind of laugh at those days because my approach to commissioning guitars has changed pretty radically. With the exception of picking the top and back woods, I don't really tell luthiers how I want the guitar to sound. I gather enough experience with their work that I have enough confidence to tell them simply to "do their thing."

In this case, John's thing is obviously vintage Martins, and I didn't want to constrain him in any way with regard to how he wanted to voice the guitar. I told him simply that I play heavy handed and with fingerpicks. He produced a guitar that melds so ridiculously well with my style and tastes, that it's really hard to imagine a luthier producing a more satisfying end product for a commission. I have played many, many, many luthier-built guitars based on vintage Martin OMs, and I've played a few at Schoenberg. I have played none better.

Such is my satisfaction with the guitar, that I have commissioned another Circa. My signature reads 000-12 maple, though I anticipate when things are nearer to start that I'll be more likely to switch to a mahogany OM. We shall see. For those of you looking for a vintage OM-styled guitar, look no further than John.

I'm trying to see if the style 30/34 binding will work with an OM 18, but might go with hog/spruce and style 21 binding. :)

I want you to know that I'm here for you in these trying times.

I know, right? Can someone call Sally Jesse Raphael? :)

Everything in that guitar looks and pretty much is, exceptional. Congrats!!!!!!