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... it's here. Very happy to announce a new bouncing baby OM to the group. First and foremost a HUGE thank you to the board, John and especially Diane who has patiently fielded a ton of crazy questions from me and guided another newbie to the finish line!

It's an OM from the StewMac plan, but short scale and deep body. EIR sides and back from Exotic Wood Zone, sitka top (slight curl) from Alaska Specialty Woods, ebony fretboard and bridge from EWZ, mahogany neck, ebony binding and ziricote (?) headplate from RC Tonewoods. Hot hide glue except bindings (fish glue), french polish, Gotoh tuners. Still dialing it in but I'd rather play it! I'm very surprised by the result, it sounds good and can't wait to start on the Dred for my son.

Again, thanks to everyone, can't wipe the grin off my face!

That's beautiful. The headplate is really nice.

Thanks!

The head plate was one of the unexpected puzzles. I saw it early on and bought it in my early "look at all the amazing wood" excitement, this is what it looked like:

But when it got right down to it I couldn't get comfortable with how it would lay out on the peg head (and my wife wasn't a fan) so I started to play around with it and it worked when I flipped it, and then I realized I could use the remainder on the heel cap and I liked how that tied it together:

So I'm pleased with how it turned out but also would be a little more adventurous next time.

I think that is a stunning solution. It is good to roll things around in your mind (and listen to your spouse)!

She is a Dandy. Nice work
Your FP looks to have gone well and looks great!!!

You done great!

You mentioned Alaska Specialty Woods . . . when they offered a flat rate box of as many soundboards as would fit, and bracewood to fill the voids, I bit. Eight tops, and bracing. All wonderful stuff, and inexpensive enough to let me concentrate on building and not on my bank balance. That and the usable and inexpensive b/s sets I bought from RC Tonewoods have let me build away and enjoy the trip.

These sources have been wonderful to deal with.

I tried to do everything the hard way (LOL). But for the french polishing I rented Robbie O'Brien's course and recommend it pretty highly - it was very helpful for me to see the whole process in video form, on a guitar. I feel like I stopped a little too soon but I wanted a thin finish and that's what I got!

Another vendor that I forgot to mention was MOP Supplies in Australia, which is where I got my shell inlays (thanks to Diane for this and several other sources!) Great to work with and much less expensive than US supply houses. Since I wasn't really sure about my fret markers or rosette it was nice to be able to order a pretty good assortment for a fraction of the cost. Things got delayed by Covid but they kept me in the loop and the quality is superb.

WOW! Beautiful Job! How did you get the color in the top? That is what I want mine to look like.

Haha, thanks! I wish I could take credit for that but it's just the top with blonde shellac. However, it took me so long to finish the guitar it probably got aged naturally! :-)

I looked it up and it was AA Sitka with slight curl/quilt, so it has some natural color and then the curl gives it that kind of cat's-eye quality which I learned is technically referred to as "chatoyance" (great word). The curl/quilt also creates spots of end grain so those areas absorbed more shellac which may add to the color variation.

I'm pretty sure part of the grading process is for color or lack thereof, so the higher you go the more uniform and lighter the color, at least that's how it looks on their site.

What a beauty!

-Rich