Brad's completed KMG Dreadnought

[Kevin in California]

Way to go Brad. The dawg turned out great. A real tribute!

[Brad Hall]

Thanks everyone. Of course, after all the work that went into this guitar I wanted to love it. I've spent the past 2 weeks playing only this guitar, and played my 000-18 and Voyage Air today to see how it holds up. Happy to say very well. Different in every aspect, which is what I wanted. The bass is quite powerful. The treble is a little bright. The mids are unremarkable but acceptable. The long scale takes some getting used to but I like it.i did a few things that don't show up in my photos. There is a thin green wood trim strip throughout the top, sides, headstock. Subtle and looks nice. I put a walnut trim around the edge of the sound hole. I like how it looks but it did shrink the opening just enough to make getting my hand in and out a skin removing challenge. Lesson learned. I bent some walnut binding to sandwich the green strip to the maple. The maple binding came pre bent and I had real problems getting them to match up. Won't be doing that again. My first Tru Oil experience. The jury is still out.
Lots to like but hard for this amateur to get it right. I'm unhappy with the finish right now and will likely try once more to get it better. Technique is everything and I fell short here. All in all it was a great experience and I learned a lot. Had fun building it and really enjoy playing something from my own hands. The hook is set deep. I'm building the thickness sander featured here right now. Hope to start the next one soon. A surprise 000 fo my wife. Once again, thanks to all.

[ken cierp]

If I am understand correctly -- you made the sound hole diameter smaller. That being the case what you are hearing is some what to be expected -- the perceived bass is increased and the mids seemingly a bit suppressed or homogenized -- at least that is one of several theories regarding sound hole size.

As an example the Tony Rice and Clarence White signature model guitars ("D" size) have larger than usually sound holes and are said to be louder and have more balance treble to bass response.

[Brad Hall]

You are correct. I wrapped the inside edge with a pre-bent 3/16" thick trim piece, thus shrinking the size of the opening by 3/8". Didn't seem like much when the idea struck. Looking back it's easy to see why tried and true methods and dimensions are what they are. Thanks for the explanation.