Vintage SM2 — Bound for Japan
- Stephen McSwain
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
A look at one of our newest builds — a tobacco sunburst SM2 with flame maple, ebony binding, and a real broken-in feel.
The Build: Flame Maple, Tone-Chambered Mahogany
The SM2 is our larger-size guitar body, and this one is built around a flame maple top over a tone-chambered mahogany body, with a three-piece set mahogany neck. It's the kind of build where the wood does a lot of the talking — chambering the body opens up the resonance, and the flame maple gives it that visual depth you can stare at all day under good light.
Look at the little accoutrements on this thing — there's a custom inlay on the fretboard cut to echo the top, and the body is bound in ebony to match the flame maple. Small details, but they're the difference between a nice guitar and one that feels like a finished piece of work.
Why I Love a Tobacco Sunburst
This one's wearing a tobacco sunburst, which is hands-down one of my personal favorite finishes to put on a guitar. It just sits right on flame maple. We sprayed it in nitrocellulose and then vintage-ized it — meaning we worked the finish over so it's got real checking, the kind of subtle weather lines that make a guitar look like it's been around for 60 or 70 years.
What I love about a vintage-ized nitro finish is that it doesn't just look old — it feels old. The lacquer is thinner. It breathes with the wood. Pick this thing up and it plays like a guitar that's already been broken in for decades. That kind of feel is hard to fake.
Going Traditional (For Once)
Most of what comes off our bench has a metal top — that's kind of our signature. So this build was a chance to go the other direction and keep things real traditional. Ebony headstock cap. Nitrocellulose binding and paint. Simple, clean, classic.
Sometimes the discipline of stripping a build back to its essentials is where the best tone comes from. There's nothing fancy hiding the wood here. Just the materials doing what they do.
How It Sounds
Plugged in, this guitar gives you nice, full, rich tones across the board. It'll handle a clean jazz comp without getting brittle, and if you want to dig in and play some rock and roll, it pushes back with the right amount of grit. That tone-chambered body adds an acoustic bloom you really feel when you're playing it unplugged in the shop.
Either way you take it — laid-back jazz or loud rock — this one delivers.
Headed to Japan
This SM2 (and its companion build) are getting packed up and shipped to T. Kurosawa, where they'll find their next chapter with players who appreciate this kind of work. We're proud of what's leaving the shop on this one.
Build Specs at a Glance
Model: Vintage SM2 (larger body)
Top: Flame maple with ebony binding
Body: Tone-chambered mahogany
Neck: Three-piece set mahogany
Headstock: Ebony cap
Inlay: Custom inlay matched to the top
Finish: Tobacco sunburst nitrocellulose, vintage-ized with checking
Destination: T. Kurosawa, Japan
If you've got questions about the SM2 or want to talk about a custom build, get in touch. Always love hearing from players who care about this stuff as much as we do.
— Stephen, McSwain Guitars
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