Beautiful shape - absolutely lovely contours. I think the heart is perfect. Thank you, Mica!
 
Tom

Agreed on the heart - like Mica said, the line drawing just made it look beefier than it actually is. Very nice!

That's purty.

That is a cool top.  I love the heart cut out.

Bump - hey Mica - how are we doing on this? It's been a while.
 
Peace
Tom

Mica - I'd love to hear from you.
What can you tell me about my guitar?
Thanks,
Tom

Here's the next generation limbering up for their trip to Santa Rosa.
 
How are we doing on the inlays Mica?
 
Tom
 

Tom I think this is shaping up to be my personal favorite  further.  I love your wood choices, and the heart turned out great.  What a lovely instrument.

How nice!

Thanks! It's really a nice guitar. We went to Santa Rosa last summer and I got to see and hold it in it's current state - no elecs or hardware. Just waiting on inlay art now. I'm looking forward to playing it some day soon.
 
Peace

That day is approaching fast. Here's the inlay art that Tom approved:

 But one thing... I need to move the cervical spine down a touch to be more anatomically correct.  With materials roughed in:

 The abalone will certainly look a bit different on the real one.  This is James' next inlay project. Should be beautiful in person. I'm really looking forward to this inlay.

that's an awesome inlay, and that top is incredible... this is shaping up to be one of my favorite guitars in recent memory.. congrats, tom.

What an amazing concept for an inlay!

I love the inlay concept too. Susan's creative eye and amazing intuition never cease to inspire. She designed this after a couple conversations and an email or two. It perfectly captures the spirit we were going for - and yet the final drawing was almost a complete surprise. I love how she created the curved bottom edge to follow the contour of the heart omega.  
 
Now, after seeing Mica's rendering I can hardly wait to see it in person!

Fingerboard inlay in the bag:

  And in the board:

  You will be amazed at the shell in person. It's so beautiful.