My new sapele mastereso

So I made the 4.5 hour drive to Macon yesterday to pick up my new Sapele Mastereso, as me and Phil agreed not to put another dobro in the hands of a shipping company. The reason this dobro was built in the first place is because I purchased a used curly maple model from Phil a while back and someone brutalized it in shipping. I received the maple with a cracked baffle, detached soundposts, and was naturally upset (They also smashed the scheerhorn cone i sent him out of the maple guitar). Phil went above and beyond the call of duty and instead of fixing the maple guitar, he offered to just build me a new one (at no extra charge). So my misfortune turned into great fortune because of Phil's generosity and his desire to make sure I was happy. And boy am I, my new guitar is loud, punchy, throaty and I gigged with it last night through the Aura system and it sounded pristine. Phil did an excellent job on the build and I couldn't be happier. The sapele lends a warmth to the tone of the guitar that I havent heard in some maple guitars I've played, and it's never shrill sounding when you go up high on the frets like it can be with maple. There's good clear note separation and my banjo picker can't drown me out anymore when we play acoustically (plugged in the aura gives me the ability to CRANK it). What's really exciting is that I know she'll open up once I've logged some hours on her. So I'd like to thank Phil Dean not only for a fine instrument, but for making a potentially bad experience into a great experience and for being so generous with his time and effort. Just to make sure I'm happy. What a guy. A thousand thanks Phil! You are talented and gracious. And no I didn't get paid to write this.