A new OM is hitting the work bench.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I'm getting closer to being done on this one.
I wet sanded 600, 800, 1000 and 1500. Then I rubbed the finish by hand with rubbing compound, then polish, then scratch remover.
It's shiny but not as high gloss as when done on the buffing machine using Menzerna compounds.
I don't have room to leave my buffing machine set up all the time so for now it got a hand job. I may still buff it.

I seem to always have some gaps show up along purfling after this stage that for some reason I didn't catch earlier. That is frustrating but at least with nitro lacquer it's easy to fix. I've already done a couple of spots on the side purfling and now I have some small gaps in about 6 places around the rosette purfling.

I usually don't get them on the rosettes, but I used the plastic bwbw purfling left over from my archtop guitar build. I like the nice stark look but used the special glue for gluing plastic to wood and I guess it doesn't have as good gap filling properties as titebond and Fibre or wood purflings that will expand some with the moisture.

Anyway, what I do for these gaps is place pin string tape on either side of the gap...just slightly wider than the area to fill. Then I brush on lacquer over the area. One quick wipe of the brush to float on some lacquer. I leave it to dry and repeat. Usually about 8 or 10 coats will sink in and fill the area just above the tape thickness. I let it dry a couple days the pull the tape and scrape the area flush with a razor blade and sand flush. Blends in and you'd never know there was a gap there. Tedious but works well, doesn't disrupt the rest of the finish and I'm in no hurry.

The frets still need leveling, bridge glued down, tuning machines installed. And probably power buffing.
I'm anxious to hear how she sounds.
I've liked the walnut/redwood combination sound on the 2 I made already.

[Stray Feathers]

That's a beautiful instrument! I agree with you about the walnut; I've done a 6-string and a 12-string with walnut OM bodies, and they are both maturing nicely. The 12 is Sitka, and the 6 is Engelmann. It's nice when you can use North American woods. Bruce W.

[TEETERFAN]

Very, very nice. That walnut looks gorgeous. In the seventies, I saw a Martin D-45 with walnut back and sides. It was beautiful. Thanks for sharing, you should be proud!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Thanks fellas.
It's not perfect for sure, but I'm working on the finish to try and improve the looks.
I will be buffing it out on the machine for sure.
I hope to buff it soon. Lots going on in the next two weeks and I'm out of town most of the time.