“Yeah.”

I’m holding the all-koa “Bard,” parlor guitar that I built under the mentorship of Jay Lichty. If you’ve followed this blog from its inception, you know that I experienced an astonishingly enjoyable, deeply moving, and educational six days in a one-on-one guitar building workshop at Lichty Handmade Guitars and Ukuleles. Each day brought new challenges, insights, and triumphs … and the occasional defeat, followed by a quick huddle with Jay and a miraculous save. I’ve come to understand the lutherie mantra, “It’s only a mistake if you can’t fix it.”

If you read to my finale in the building process, you were virtual witness to the emotion that I bore when for the very first time I played a note on an instrument that was the fruit of my own labor. Maybe more affecting was cradling in my arms and, most especially, hands an instrument whose dimensions I crafted to my own preferences. With Jay’s advice and insight, I even voiced the guitar to my preferences.

And, well, it sounded pretty good, too, even after bearing the tension of strings for but a few moments and not yet having the benefit of any finish being applied to its surfaces. Actually, it sounded very good. You can hear for yourself here and here.

Since the moment when that first note rang out, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the guitar’s arrival at my home. You see, Jay needed to apply the finish, the shiny stuff needed to dry between coats, and he needed to buff it to its glossiest. So, we’d only temporarily glued bridge to guitar so that I could play the instrument before returning home and leaving the guitar with Jay for finish application. That process took several weeks, during which I wondered whether the emotion of the moment had made me imagine that those first, few notes sounded better than they really did.

That “yeah” was my acknowledgement after tearing open the shipping box and prying the guitar from its case moments after its arrival at my home that it really is an exceptional instrument. And it sounds even better now that it is shiny. The trebles are more crystalline and the basses are even richer, indeed, stunningly so. How is that richness possible in something in size just this side of a ukulele? The finish has enhanced what I initially heard and brought out tonal aspects of the instrument that were only lurking before.

It’s also a thing of indescribably beauty. Jay’s wife and business partner Corrie had sent me the photos you see here. I figured that by the magic of Photoshop she had made the koa look darker, richer, and more beautiful that it really was. Nope. It is even more beautiful in person.

Upon viewing the video recordings of my playing, Jay wrote, :That wood was as eager to become that guitar as you were to build her.” Indeed. It is quite simply the best guitar for my playing that I’ve encountered. And, I’ve encountered some guitars.

Somewhere I’ve got a photo of Tommy Emmanuel that he signed to “Johnny Faster,” the guy who could never wait to get to the end of a tune. This guitar has slowed me down because every note is so beautiful.

Ah, but enough talk, I’ll let the instrument speak for itself:

“The Last Time I Saw Home.”

“The Water is Wide.”

If you’d like to see, hear, and play my guitar, it will be awaiting you June 5 through June 7 at the Lichty Handmade Guitars and Ukulele table at the Memphis Acoustic Guitar Festival. But, you’re going to have to build your own with Jay or commission him to build it for you. This one will never be for sale.

All photos by Corrie Woods.

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The story from the beginning.