After a year + of waiting, my build slot with Portland, Oregon luthier Nick Kukich (Franklin Guitar Company,
http://www.franklinguitarcompany.com/) has finally arrived. Given when he is starting, this looks like a February 2019 delivery.
The Guitar...
Nick will be building me one of his “The OMC” models with a Venetian cutaway. Nick’s OMC is larger than its Nazareth namesake and his OM model. It has a 15-5/8” in width at the lower bout (vs. 15”-15-1/8” for an OM), a 19-13/16” body length (vs. 19-1/8” for an OM) and is 1/8” deeper in its end depth at 4-1/4” (vs. 4-1/8 for an OM). The larger size is to increase the body volume to compensate for the volume lossed from the cutaway and create an aesthetically pleasing plantilla. I believe that he has been making his most recent embodiment of the OMC for about the last 10-15-years. Nick’s guitar designs have evolved from strict Nazareth traditional design over the years which will become evident as you watch this build. I haven’t seen a Franklin Guitar Co. build thread of his work here on AGF for about 8-years now. I will try to share some these distinctive build features in this thread.
Some Preliminary Specs...
We have worked out some basic specifications for the guitar:
- For the top, Nick has chosen some >50-year old, seasoned, German Spruce that I believe that he purchased decades ago together with is friend and fellow luthier Jeffrey Elliott.
- For the back and sides, he will be using some very dense, figured, quartersawn Cuban Mahogany that he purchased from Bart Potter in Hawaii (It was introduced from the Caribbean as a foreign tree into Hawaii in the early 1900s);
- We have selected a Gaboon Ebony fretboard, a 25.4” scale length with Abalone diamonds & squares long pattern inlays;
- 1-3/4” nut width with 2-5/16” string spacing;
- Jescar EVO 43080 frets;
- Brazilian Rosewood bridge;
- Curly hard maple binding with a Style 40 - Paua Abalone top purflings;
- Paua Abalone rosette.
We have a number of aesthetic decisions still to make, but we’ll make those as we move through the process. I will update this thread if and when and if I receive updates from Nick.
Here are some photos below of the German Spruce top with naphtha spread on it. This wood is stamped January 17, 1968 from its supplier so it was harvested, prepared and seasoned >50-years ago. The subtle darkened discoloration seen near the center seam and edges of the two plates is oxidation. Nick had some newer wood sets that were aesthetically superior, but this type of aesthetic defect does not bother me enough to overrule the luthier’s sense of which set has the greatest sonic potential. Nick felt that this wood was sonically the best that he had.
Here are two photos of the Cuban Mahogany set that Nick is using for the guitar with naphtha applied to better see its figure. Nick explained that it is extremely dense set for a Mahogany, overlapping some Rosewoods in its density. It also has a distinct ring to its tap. I am more used to seeing a ribbon figure in the Florida and Caribbean sourced Cuban Mahogany. This Hawaiian sourced Cuban Mahogany seems to have developed a fiddleback figure much like some Honduran Mahogany presents when quartersawn.
About Nick as a Luthier...
For those of you who have not heard of Nick, I believe that his career in lutherie started as many others did in guitar repair where he was afforded the educational opportunity to work on vintage instruments (about 47 years ago in Detroit, MI). Nick started the “Franklin Guitar Company” in 1974 in Franklin, Michigan (hence the “name”). Over the decades, his shop has moved around the country a number of times from Michigan to Idaho, to Washington, to Oregon, to Missouri before returning again last year to Oregon last year. Over the four plus decades, Nick has now made more than 600 guitars. Nick is building instruments as a solo custom luthier and produces about a dozen guitars a year, one at a time.
More when I get it...