1984 Franklin OM

This Franklin Orchestra Model guitar was made by Nick Kukich, then of Sandpoint Idaho, in February of 1984. Back then, there were few builders concentrating on building these smaller body long scale (25.4”) guitars. Kukich quickly built a reputation, which he enjoys to this day, as one of the finest builders of OM style instruments.

In addition to the long scale, this guitar features straight grained and beautifully quartered Brazilian rosewood back and sides, a finely grained German spruce top, ebony bridge and a mahogany neck joined to the body at the 14th fret. The body is trimmed with Ivoroid bindings, herringbone purfling in the “28” style, a finely executed 5 ply-9 ply- 5 ply rosette in boxwood and ebony, ebony bridge and a celluloid teardrop pickguard. The ebony fingerboard is bound in Ivoroid with snowflake inlays. The nut width is 1 11/16” and the bridge spacing is 2 7/16” with a
slim, fast neck. The Brazilian headplate is triple bound with the Franklin “F” inlaid in mother of pearl.

The bracing is non-scalloped and forward shifted, made before forward shifted bracing was widely adopted among builders. The Brazilian has a few filled pinholes and grain anomalies, common features among the high grade Brazilian available at the time. The all -original natural finish throughout is very thin, and this reveals a few grain lines that absorbed more finish, particularly between the bridge and tailblock. There are signs of playwear throughout this well cared for guitar, with pickwear at the top of the pickguard, press marks and a few dings on the top, and a few small and lightly feelable marks on the back of the neck.

A recent neck set, new saddle and refret ensure excellent playability. An under saddle passive pickup with an endpin jack has been installed. Overall, this is a well played and well cared for OM with a big pre-war voice for a fraction of the price of the original Martin examples.