Getting to know Ben just a little has really been a highlight over the last few years. Maybe not as big as the birth of my two kids, but he has possibly been that big of pain every so often LOL! My contribution to this Nautilus thing really evolved from my appreciation of Ben's guitars and his constant desire to improve each one over the last. This desire gets harder and harder when they are all so good. I bought my first one at Woodstock in 2016 I think and it is still one of the very best I own.
I did offer a few ideas in the design of the Nautilus, but Ben is the mastermind here. I think I may have pushed him out of his comfort zone some and I will take credit for that, and I think the end result is everything I think he probably expected and I dreamed about. I have a feeling this Arum will be a leap over any Lion built in the past as well!
A shout out to Nemoman here also. I really wanted the first Nautilus, but Ben wanted to do the prototype first to make sure it would not implode, explode, or self destruct in anyway. Of course he could have used pine and popular, but no, Ziricote and Redwood!!!!! Anyhow, I was then going to have the first production Nautilus which was fine. Along came Nemoman and the Arum. Before the build was started, Kevin wanted Ben to make sure it was OK by me to build this before mine and then Ben checked with me also! These are two stand up guys. In my mind, I will still have the first true Nautilus as this is really a Nautilized Lion or a Lionized Nautilus....whatever, it will be great. But for those guys to worry about my feelings in this matter is amazing to me and speaks to how great they are.
Shameless plug, this is what B.I.G. can do. Kevin did not know Ben until last year's event and now they are embarking on this build as well as their friendship. How cool is that. And if you don't like Ben, he and I both know that is not that unusual, there will be Kinnaird brothers, Sexauer, Kostal, Lamehorse, Rory Dowling from Taran, and Tom Sands there. Maybe one of these will build your dream guitar like Ben is for Kevin.
OK, enough, thanks Kevin and Ben. Even if this guitar was not a special model, that Cocobolo is enough to follow this thread all by itself!
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PS. I love guitars!
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