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    I just glued the bridge onto the top of the guitar being built to benefit the orphanage that i will be helping to build in Nairobi, Kenya next month. With my time being very limited since I'm tryng to get caught up and even possibly a bit ahead...as if that's possible....before leaving, I did the UV finish in record time and got great results.

   The finish is nice and flat with a great hgh gloss that is typical of this hard finish. I did use a few tricks this time to save some time that I normally don't incorporate into my every day finish sequence just to cut hours or even days off of the process. My goal was to dedicate one eight hour day to doing the entire finish process from bare sanded wood to high gloss finish on both the neck and body and it ended up taking me just under ten hours....which isn't too shabby considering the results and the toughness and durability of this finish. The whole process usually takes me about five days since I allow more time between steps for things such as flowout of coats and cooling after curing...and just just plain old fatigue from sandng. My shoulder has tough time with the repetitive motion of the hand sanding steps of the final coats before buffing.

   I'll post some brand new photos of the guitar tomorrow after i get some rest. I stumbled into my shop at three A.M. this morning to get a good workday in on my regular orders before giving those ten hours to the African Missions guitar so i'm feeling the effects of a long day of buolding and hours of sanding to push the finish to the buffer and get the neck set and bridge on.

Thanks again for all of your support with this project. I'm shopping ofr a suitable case for it to live in after it is auctioned. Any ideas will be welcomed and apreciated. I'll be carrying it to and from Africa in a very heavy duty Mark Leaf fiberglass case, but will be keeping that one here after the trip. They're big, bulky cases that are extremely protective and I keep three for each of my model sizes on hand just for transporting guitars to shows or to concerts for artists to play. They're all showing some road wear and signs of being handled by baggage handlers.

   A nice new case for the guitar will only boost it value and appeal to those who come out to bid on it.

   I found some remnants of elephant tusk ivory blocks that I'd done inlay with a few years ago and am hoping to think of something to inlay this guitar with out of it. I just though that it would be a great material for it since...after all....elephants are native to Africa.

Thanks,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega GuitarsKevin Gallagher38869.986875

Kevin,

Thank you for the update. I am looking forward to seeing those pictures. Good luck with finding the case, I don't have any ideas there. I could pitch in some money to help if you are in need of that. As far as the inlay......I have no artistic skills, so ideas are few and far between! A lions head? Mt. Kilamanjaro(sp)? The shape of the African continent? A white hand of ivory holding a black hand of ebony? That's about all I have!

Jeff

Thanks for the update Kevin, i too look forward to see more pics of that great build!

Jeff, that shaking hands idea is a great one!

Serge

Great news on the progress! Congrats...

As to the inlay, it might be a bit of a sticky wicket using elephant ivory, even if it's antique. It's an explosive topic in Africa due to all the poaching etc. I'd hate to see that guitar seized by the government or something....just a thought.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Don,

   I did think of that and may just skip it as an inlay material just to be safe. I had a guitar sit in a customs warehouse in Europe when someone thought that the Rosewood specified as the back and side wood may be Brazilian and had evidently just read their restriction menifesto and wanted to make a statement. It was kept safely in a cage there for nearly four months before they released it to its owner after several sets of paperwork were sent by both him and I.

   It came from a huge oversized rosary set that I'd purchased at an auction back in 1987. It was about 100 years old at the time, but there was little interest in it from anyone else at the auction. I got it for a song and quickly turned it into blocks and slabs for inlay. I sold a single one of the two dozen blocks for more than ten times what I'd paid for the whole set. I also have a partial chess set from the around 1900 that is made from Ivory and Ebony. Beautiful 4 inch high bulky carved pieces that will slice up nicely one day. It's in a box on a shelf somewhere around my shop.

   I guess I'll stick to various shell and woods for this inlay. I'm thinking of avoiding anything that is Africa or missions specific for the inlay and am leaning to something simple and elegant.

   My main concern is to generate as much interest from as broad a base of people as possible when time comes to sell the guitar and many folks just won't be interested in an inlay motif of that nature.

Thanks,
Kevin

Tagua nuts any good for inlay?

Hi Kevin,
Looking forward to the pics...be careful in the shop working too many long hours!
Craig