Normally an historic or rare instrument from a famous maker or player. One such instrument recently came up when catching up with virtuoso fingerstyle guitarist, composer and ‘John Renbourn Workshops’ tutor, Dariush Kanani.
This particular guitar turned out to be a triple whammy! Not only did it mean overhauling an instrument for Dariush but the guitar in question was a Franklin ‘Stella’ Cutaway model built by the renowned Oregon luthier, Nick Kukich. Furthermore the guitar had been gifted to Dariush by none other than Stefan Grossman, his tutor and sensei of many years.
What an honour! Stefan is the guy who not only rediscovered and recorded a bunch of legendary pre-war country blues artists, but is also responsible for firmly placing the Martin ‘Orchestra Model’ (OM) on the modern map. In 1929 Martin had set out to challenge the dominance of Gibson archtops in dance and big bands. By increasing the 000’s scale length, moving to a 14 fret neck joint and reworking the internals somewhat they hoped the OM would drive and cut-through these large acoustic ensembles. In this regard the OM was a failure, and so in 1933 it was dropped from the Martin catalogue.
However, come 1966 the OM was back! With astute wisdom Grossman opted to play an original 1930 OM-45 as his main guitar. The instrument was absolutely perfect in terms of size, depth and scale-length for Stefan’s blend of fingerstyle blues, country blues and ragtime. With the help of another significant re-pioneer and OM devote, Eric Schoenberg, the OM was starting to find its true calling and increasingly it re-emerged as the go-to fingerstyle guitar.
As a result players wanted OMs and in 1969 Eric managed to convince Martin to produce a short run of six as a special order, with them eventually becoming available from the Martin Custom Shop, from 1977 onwards. In 1986 Martin agreed an arrangement with Eric and built a line of special OMs that were branded as Schoenbergs. This saw 195 guitars built, with the deal ending in 1991. From 1993 Martin once again listing the OM as a standard model, 60 years after it was deleted.
The OM is now the most recognisable fingerstyle guitar on the planet with a plethora of luthiers taking it far beyond Martin’s original. Today we all make OMs because of Stefan Grossman and Eric Schoenberg. Having built a number of Franklin guitars for Stefan, Nick Kukich is one of the great luthiers who is now known for his OM builds in particular. Kukich had bought a beat-up 1930 OM-28 in the early 70s and during its rebuild was able to carefully measure and note his findings - to create his own Franklin OM.
I first worked on a Franklin OM for John Renbourn. The guitar had been through the wars with a split neck and smashed side (due to a wayward airport forklift). It was fantastic to work on John’s guitar and also gain insight into Nick’s work. The guitar was soon back on the road again, however, a few months later John decided to retire the instrument, deeming it too precious for the rigours of the road. Ultimately his Franklin needed a new neck, but neither John nor I were keen on chopping-about an ‘old-faithful’ and so he commissioned me to build the first of eventually three Davies guitars for him. Of course, the order was for an OM. It was to be Brazilian Rosewood with the neck dimensions replicated from his Franklin.
Anyway, so Dariush was keen to get the Grossman Franklin Stella up and running again, and I was keen to check out another of Nick’s creations. Stefan had extensively used the guitar alongside his own Franklin OM. It had seen a lifetime of use, and was now very tired. The frets were worn and tarnished and the soundboard had bellied-up through nearly 40 years of graft. We chatted with Stefan about the renovation.
Due to it having a super-thin neck Stefan suggested putting a thicker fretboard on it. This was appealing, especially as I could also take the opportunity to install an adjustable truss rod and remove the nonadjustable T-bar. However, ultimately Dariush and I decided to keep the instrument as near original as possible, with respect for its provenance (something which Stefan’s humility kept far from his radar).
By reducing the height of the bridge, and with some very careful fret-dressing, re-crowning and polishing I was able to set up the guitar with a low, fast action. It was wonderful, and was sounding great again – like the biggest OM ever… which is kind of what it is!
The work was a delight and honour to take on. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Working with great guitars and players is both revealing and didactic. Every bit gained from such great experiences feeds back into my own work at the bench, bit-by-bit and little-by-little. It’s not always immediately tangible, but it enters the mix.
Many thanks indeed to both Dariush Kanani and Stefan Grossman. It was an absolute pleasure to work together on such an historic and significant guitar and see it returned to its former glory.