nothing ironic about it - i always try to be constructive, if you can look back and any times i may have said i did not like this body shape i am sure you will also find suggestions i may have made about it too. You will notice i aim to do the same with everybody, but i know you always think its just aimed at you because people dont find your body shapes aesthetically pleasing. well you keep entering them and i may get bored of typing 'the shape isnt pleasing to my eye' every month, so i also aim to be constructive in different ways since you have previously explained and demonstrated your reasons for the shape. But yes, they could be described as "weird", although i would prefer the word "unconventional" for the lack of negative implications! (but yes, it does cost you votes)
so lets repeat:
no problem with the centre stripes at all! no real problems with any of it - but i did want to question the use of sapwood 'wings' this time as being a step too far as far as the shape was concerned when combined with the centre stripes, just as part of the usual criticism i give to all the entries (occasionally i cant find anything to criticise!).
Means nothing at the end of the day, i wont get to chance to own most of the guitars in these threads - but i do comment the way i do because when i have entered this thing real feedback meant more to me than repeated "wow, thats great" comments!
You are in no way "penalised" by the voters in this competition - and definitely not in my voting and commenting habits!
Sorry, man... I was trying to be light hearted in this... Of course, I appreciate honesty in reviewing and that you took so much time in being thoughtful about it. Y'all feel what you feel. Comedy (even somewhat weakly executed) is one of the ways I deal with some of the disappointment of continuously coming in last in these polls. It ain't gonna stop me from posting my efforts. My weaning in guitars came from acoustics. It's probably why I lean towards the "sandwich" construction because the tone of these is exquisite. That cannot come across in pictures. Nor can the edge lamination of various thicknesses and grain structures of these woods and the difficulty of construction come through in pictures. This is probably the best sounding guitar I have produced to date and by far the most challenging build. I just have to accept that unless you lean more traditionally, you will not get votes. It is my choice and I will try and avoid my comedic replies in the future that, well, diminish my genuine appreciation for well thought and well wished comments.