This one is now finished!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

This is the OM I built for my grandson. Started it May 1st, finished it last night. That is the fastest build thus far.
This is my 11th guitar.

It is Ambrosia Maple back & sides, Redwood top, one piece Honduras Hog neck, walnut bindings, ebony fretboard, bridge and headplate veneer. It is built off the Jonathan Kinkade plans.
It sounds like a guitar! Yah!
Actually it sounds quite good, a little chimey, which I expected from maple. The notes have clear separation, and there are hardly any overtones. The midrange stands out, the bass is not boomy, more subdued.
I know the sound will change with time. I did a french polish and it is not very good frankly, but I wanted it shiny for an 11 year old. I see it is very hard to keep from putting fine scratches in the FP finish, especially one that has only cured about 3 weeks.
I would have sprayed nitro but just didn't have time to deal with the days of spraying and long cure time.
The woods are quite striking and I like how it looks.
Caleb is arriving tomorrow and gets the guitar on Saturday. I think he will be very surprised, not even his mom and dad know about it. :)

[Danl8]

Nice looking guitar! How thin did you go on the top? The maple guitar I finished this year has gone from uninspired sounding to most excellent in a few months. Caleb's OM will certainly progress in tone quality, I would think.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Dan, the top is at .110"

[johnnparchem]

Amazingly fast start to finish. The guitar looks great.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Yeah, amazing for me, usually takes 5 to 6 months!!!!

[Phil]

Your grandson is going to love it!

[alexander paul]

the best way to make a guitar mature is to play the dickens out of it...

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Hey gang
I made this guitar in 2016 for my grandson who will be turning 18 in August and starting college on his birthday.

So I did a French polish on this guitar and it's been in India for 7 years. The heat and humidity played havoc with the shellac....soft and sticky much of the time.

So it brought it to me last week and I stripped the finish....actually sanded it off, and I'm spraying nitro lacquer on it now. I hope to have it back to him in about 3 weeks. It will look like a new guitar. He took pretty good care of it and there were very few dings, etc.

Here it is in the spray booth. I've got a sealer coat and 8 thinned coats as of today. Probably will do 2 more then two flash coats to help level it out.

I'll post a pic of the completed refinish and assembled guitar.

[Stray Feathers]

Kevin, you have a lot of experience with that environment, and it's really instructive to learn how it affects different finishes. So far I have not had to worry about whether any of my guitars got any further than my house, but this is good to know! Bruce W.

[TEETERFAN]

That sounds like the best decision on going with nitro. The real world can be an unforgiving thing. Good luck with the new finish.