In about 1984, I purchased an old Kay parlor sized guitar at a flea market for $65.00. It had a solid spruce top and I bought it with the idea of rebracing it with Martin style x braces. I removed the back and re-braced this guitar and it turned out to sound better than I expected. The picture below is that guitar nearly 40 years later.

This was the start of a 40 year journey for me which involved my efforts at improving the sound of some cheaper, (mostly Kay & Harmony) solid topped acoustic guitars. I have learned a lot in these years about acoustic guitar construction and repair. I recently  turned my attention back to the idea of rebirthing these old guitars after several years of building my own guitars and doing repairs. I’m now calling these guitars that I have reworked a “Nichols B-2 Conversion”. This is short for Born Twice, which describes what I’ve done by “rebirthing” them. They now feature Martin like qualities such as scalloped x braces, enlarged sound hole, Martin style bridges and bridgeplates, Martin style pickguards, neck resets, updated tuning machines, and other minor upgrades. These B-2 guitars are not intended to look like a new guitar. We do as little as possible on the looks of them and concentrate our efforts on the sound. We are not interested in creating wall hangers, collectors guitars, or museum pieces. These Nichols B-2 Conversion Guitars are meant to be players’ guitars. We’ll list a few pictures and some links to our YouTube channel which has some articles describing the conversion of these guitars. These articles also show what these B-2 Guitars sound like. These guitars can be purchased for a fraction of the cost of a vintage Martin. If you are interested in purchasing one, you can contact me at my email address: ronnienichols48@gmail.com.

Below is a picture of 4 of these guitars.

Below is a picture of a Kay guitar with the Nichols B-2 Conversion. Here is a link to my Youtube Article on this conversion:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jaNSLghfQg

 

Next picture below is a picture of a Kay/Truetone Guitar with the Nichols B-2 Conversion Here is a link to the video on this conversion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPpxj9BeutA&t=22s

Below is a picture of the Harmony Sovereign with the Nichols B-2 Conversion.                                Here is a link to the video on this conversion:                                                                                                   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd3-4G-8UkM&t=601s

Below is a picture of the Harmony H165 with the Nichols B-2 Conversion. here is a link to the video on this conversion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJocvmJYjpI