Thanks Matthew, It was a long time coming but worth the wait. I have some further thoughts about the guitar having played it some more.
It is still green of course, but my first impressions are still intact. Wonderful balance across the board, tight and articulate bass and very responsive with flesh or plectrum. I really appreciate the trebles being nice and full sounding. I think Per's guitars do, so far, have that signature sound that the other Marklund owners have described. It figures that they would sound good just watching the builds progress.
Some things I really appreciate about the guitar, besides the sound;
The pearl work! The pearl purfling is really well done. The handwork and execution is evident in the details. Mitered corners and butt ends are perfectly cut and fitted, and the two different width solid green abalone strip material is old school stuff. The Flowerpot on the headstock, and fingerboard and bridge snowflake pattern, as well as the headstock purfling are very well done. Only the Martin Authentic D45 has solid pearl strips presently in the Martin Authentic line as far as I know. I thought omitting that old school spec from the new Authentic 000-42 was a shame. Per spent a lot of time and effort on it, and it shows.
The neck carve! Per's neck shape is perfect for me. He took a little off the depth of the 42 neck in the first few frets (where I play mostly), and it fits like a glove before getting progressively more full depth towards the body for a nice full neck/body connection. The guitar vibrates all the way up the neck as I've found my favorite guitars do. It makes it feel alive in your hands. The neck to carved volute transitions very gracefully, as well as the neck heel shape.
The materials. Man, what nice woods. The MRW is perfectly quartered, the moon spruce selected for this guitar is tightly grained and wonderfully silky, and the unstained ebony, black as printers ink. The hog neck is light in weight, but stiff. The CF rod helps keep the total weight down even more, and the guitar despite all the pearl, is pretty light for a MRW dread.
The set up. Both the 42 and the 45 have arrived perfectly set up for me, and the tuning stays true between uses. Pretty stable I'd say. I love Per's bracing, and think that old stock Spruce he aquirred for bracing might be a good reason for some of the sound and stability these guitars have. Of course the shaping of the braces and the precision of the fit might have something to do with it as well.
It even makes my playing tolerable to listen to ( I think
). A better guitarist than I could really make it sing. I almost feel bad for it... but still I persevere.