This entry will conclude the build week and there will be a break for a couple of months while the guitar is off visiting the beautiful state of MI before returning with that glow that only Tony can impart.
On Day 6 we started the day by sleeping-in an hour and meeting at Dolli's Diner on the square in old downtown Nacogdoches. I've been in triathlon training mode for the last 18ish months and don't get many pancakes, but decided early in the week that this would be as good a time as any to indulge a little and have a good breakfast. The food was great and the conversation even better (I picked their brains about the Kinnaird vs Kinnaird friendly rivalry and we compared notes on their Scottish vacation vs my Iceland one). After significantly more tasty carbohydrates than I'm accustomed to we headed back to the shop to do some final prep and masking on the guitar and take some pics before sending it off for finish.
Dolli's -
We (mostly them) went through the relatively lengthy process of fitting the neck to the body making sure our scale length was dead on and that the center of the nut lined up with the center of the bridge. Speaking of nut, Steve puts the nut on the headstock so we notched out the veneer and sanded the angle to the bottom so that it was a perfect fit.
We went with the traditional Martin-esque OM headstock rather than the Kinnaird headstock to help differentiate the student build and I softened the edges a bit to make it similar to the '31 OM-28A I sold a few months ago.
My (our) Creation -
"Cheese" Shots -
My family came up for the weekend and my youngest managed to get in the picture, make it significantly better, and not break anything in the shop (that I know of).
AND, last but not least, a pic with the masters...
Oh, and you probably saw the koa peeking out from behind my rather large figure...after breakfast we spent some time shellac'ing some sets and....wow...just wow...
If you made it this far, thank you for following along! I'll be back in 8-10 weeks for final setup and to post some good "finished" pics.
Thank you Steve, Ryan, and Billie for letting me into your home/business this week, treating me like family, and selflessly sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience with me throughout this build. You have a very special thing going in that small East Texas town and I sincerely hope many others have the opportunity to meet you guys, share the laughs and stories, and maybe even build a guitar. I get the impression you guys are well-loved in this community and have earned some very deserved respect, but I can say with confidence that whatever accolades you have received it isn't enough to be close to proportional to the time, care, experience, artistry, and master-level craftsmanship that you put into everything that you do. Your guitars are not only beautiful, but they inspire in a way that few others can; I can't get the sound of that mahogany OM out of my head 
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