I think every build thread looks forward to this day... the day when the ideation, imagining, collaborating, building, and waiting come to the fruition of completion. The journey to this end has been very good. I've enjoyed my collaboration with Joel and I have been blessed over the months of this endeavor to get to know him better and count him as a life-long friend. I have found a number of things we share in common, making the formation of the friendship easy and communication a breeze.
When I first approached Joel about this build project, it was mostly with the idea of adding a very special Maple back into my collection. I have owned several spectacular Maple guitars in the past, but have sold them off as I made room and collected funding for other custom build projects. As I have labored over the years to assemble my favorite collection of guitars, I longed for the tone and beauty of a Maple to find its way back into my collection.
As I described my desire to Joel and gave a very rough sketch for a build theme, he seemed to catch my fever almost immediately. His excitement and passion to engage the project convinced me it was the time and he was the luthier to make this idea a reality, and thus, our friendship and collaborative build began.
Last week, I was the recipient of some final glamour shots of the completed guitar. It is still not in my hands, but I anticipate this beautiful little bird will take flight this coming week and find its way to roost with its new forever-family. A follow-up final review will follow, but I wanted to share the glamour shots as a tease while I wait to get this beauty into my hands.
I am so excited! A few months ago, Joel featured a couple guitars at the B.I.G. show (Tom Bowersox hosted). The reviews of his builds, both quality of craftsmanship and tone, were highly regarded. Early reviews of this guitar's playability and tone have also been very, very favorable with Joel calling it his "best yet." I can't wait...
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