#81 Koa Hornet “the one for Tom”

Model: Drop top Hornet
Weight: 7lbs 2.2oz
Finish: high gloss polyester body and Bridge Builder super silk neck
Top: 1-pieces Koa
Back:1-piece Koa
Core: flame maple
Accent Layer: dyed black poplar and holly
Neck Joint: Bolt-on
Neck Material: 11-piece construction maple, koa, and ebony with maple and ebony accent layers, inlaid titanium reinforcement bars, 10 degree tilt headstock
Frets: 22 Jescar stainless steel
Fingerboard: Macassar ebony
Face inlay: abalone dots
Side inlay: 3mm silver w/glow in the dark centers
Fingerboard Radius: compound 9.5”-16”
Scale Length: 25.5”
Bridge: Schaller Hannes
Tuners: Hipshot locking
Bridge Pickup: Seymour Duncan Pegasus
Neck Pickup: Seymour Duncan sentient
Nut: Graphtech 42mm width
Strings: D’Addario XS .009-046”
Additional features: the mahogany core was a gift from Tom Weber in in 2017 (we gave it back), abalone logo inlay, series/parallel switches for each pickup

In late 1995 a 15-year old me (Justin) walked into Tom Weber’s repair shop on Mcmicken Ave. in Cincinnati’s Over The Rhine neighborhood. This was more than a decade and a half before gentrification even sniffed that neighborhood. Despite being surrounded by the worst of Cincinnati’s 20th century urban blight it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

Tom welcomed me in to service my Koa topped Alembic (that I still own) and for the next 30 years he never kicked me out. He taught me how to make nuts, replace frets, set up guitars, a most importantly how to treat customers and perform top notch repair work.

Not only did he let me stick around, he never charged me a dime for the eduction he gave me. Needless to say I owe Tom several lunches. When Tom was forced to move from the ‘ol Mcmicken shop in 2017 he gifted me several pieces of Honduran mahogany that he’d been holding onto. “I bet you can do something with this” he told me.

Some of those pieces became the cores for guitars #2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8. But I saved the last one for when I felt like I could build Tom a guitar worthy of him. It took a few years, but I’m happy to report it turned out stellar.

After 30 years I’m happy to report that I still cherish all he taught me, and hopefully I owe him a few less lunches now. Oh, and we got in done in time for Christmas. (The bourbon specs are Angel’s Envy triple oaked*)