Build Thread: Circa OM-18/21 Adirondack Spruce and Mahogany

[jt1]

My favorite woods, one of my favorite designs (if only it were a Nick Lucas!), by one of my favorite builders. Beyond lust worthy.

Change the sheets in the guest room. I'll be arriving shortly after this guitar arrives.

[Steve Kinnaird]

A mahogany OM with a burst--doesn't get much better than that.
Congrats, Juston!

Steve

[justonwo]

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

Shadetop and no cutaway? At least there will be some minor differences between our guitars.

Yeah, we are kinda guitar twins!

Originally Posted by jt1

My favorite woods, one of my favorite designs (if only it were a Nick Lucas!), by one of my favorite builders. Beyond lust worthy.

Change the sheets in the guest room. I'll be arriving shortly after this guitar arrives.

Any time, my friend. But there will be a few to change the sheets. Sorry. It’s the Bay Area.

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

A mahogany OM with a burst--doesn't get much better than that.
Congrats, Juston!

Steve

Thanks, Steve. Can’t wait.

[justonwo]

A bit of progress.

[jt1]

More gorgeous work from Mr. Slobod. Congratulations and thanks for sharing this with us.

A dream guitar, to be sure.

[colins]

Beautiful precision, craftsmanship and woods....what a great guitar this will be!

[ChuckS]

Looks like a great build, and great tonewood combination.

[justonwo]

Not a ton of photos this time around. John is super busy. But here are some photos of my big frets being installed. EVO 55090.

[TomB'sox]

?, are they extra wide?

[justonwo]

Dr. B Sox, I believe they are a bit wider. Mainly, they are taller. If I’m not mistaken, 43080 is much more common (0.043” tall and 0.080” wide). The 55090 is 0.055” tall and 0.090” wide. I find this fret wire much easier for bending and clean barre chords. Although I don’t have a problem with 43080, it takes just a little more effort to get clean barre chords. I can’t do vintage fret wire.

[TomB'sox]

Cool, thanks for the education. Just when I thought I knew everything I have to re-evaluate and apparently apologize to Kathy as I just finished telling her I knew everything...

[iim7V7IM7]

Tom, Jescar who makes EVO fret wire supplies it in wide range of sizes such as:

——-Height——-Width——
——-0.037”——-0.080”—-
——-0.043”——-0.080”—-
——-0.047”——-0.095”—-
——-0.047”——-0.104”—-
——-0.055”——-0.090”—-

Traditional flat top fret wire is 0.037” x 0.080”. Many luthiers use 0.043” x 0.080” as their standard fret wire. It is just a tad taller but maintains a traditional look. Typically, taller frets (>0.045”) are preferred by string benders and they also sound clear with lower left hand pressure (what Juston likes). Narrower frets tend to intonate a bit better (and hold it longer) but they can wear faster. As wider frets wear (which tends to be a slower process) intonation issues tend to arise. Like all things guitar, choice of fret wire has its plusses and minuses...

[AlanHw]

WOW, already this stage~ Awesome!

[blindboyjimi]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

Tom, Jescar who makes EVO fret wire supplies it in wide range of sizes such as:

——-Height——-Width——
——-0.037”——-0.080”—-
——-0.043”——-0.080”—-
——-0.047”——-0.095”—-
——-0.047”——-0.104”—-
——-0.055”——-0.090”—-

Traditional flat top fret wire is 0.037” x 0.080”. Many luthiers use 0.043” x 0.080” as their standard fret wire. It is just a tad taller but maintains a traditional look. Typically, taller frets (>0.045”) are preferred by string benders and they also sound clear with lower left hand pressure (what Juston likes). Narrower frets tend to intonate a bit better (and hold it longer) but they can wear faster. As wider frets wear (which tends to be a slower process) intonation issues tend to arise. Like all things guitar, choice of fret wire has its plusses and minuses...

That’s the beauty of using EVO. I have 43080 on one guitar (a mistake by the tech, but I’m fine with it). I have 47095 on 4, and 47104 on 2. Since EVO hardly wears at all (pardon the pun), you don’t run into the intonation issues you would with regular nickel frets. I’ve not tried the 55090. I suppose it’s very similar to the 47095 because once you’re used to a very light touch and your fretting hand never touches the fretboard, it doesn’t really matter how high you go above the fretboard. I like the 95 over the 104 width as when I slide I can feel the frets below more like a bar fret. I started using the 47104 after I bought my first Norman Blake Martin 18/28. Norman specified 0.046” x 0.103” on those guitars (Dunlop 6155). As each guitar needs a fret dressing, I just re-fret with the EVO as my tech charges about $160 for a dressing with set up and $350 for a full EVO re-fret with set up. So I just re-fret as I’m more than halfway there.

This build is stunning. I can’t wait to see the sunburst against that figured mahogany. I have never spoken to John Slobod but I wonder what he’s picked up from his work on Bourgeois guitars, Schoenberg guitars, his time with Julius Borges vs his own gestalt from his many builds. He must be in the 200-300 range by now? The only picture of the bracing is blocked by the clamping tools. Does he build more modern or more like Jules Borges as a strictly Martin vintage OM? My Borges OM-18 is made with what Jules calls “Golden Grain Mahogany” and is one of the best guitars I’ve ever played. Jules is currently working on a Madagascar OM-42 Deluxe for this fall. We haven’t discussed plain vs a sunburst top, but I love a great sunburst.

[justonwo]

BBJ, I'm not sure how closely John follows the vintage Martin recipe. Having talked to him, I know he's now using a slightly taller X brace than Martin would have used in those days. This gives the guitar more power and mids. My sense is that he's zeroed in on his own sound. I wouldn't say his guitars are copies of the old Martin formula, but I've also played a lot of old Martins and feel like that "old formula" results in a pretty wide spectrum of tone - case in point being two 1930 Martin OM-28s that I played at Schoenberg that sounded VERY different.

I think he is getting close to guitar number 200 under the Circa name.