Greta guitar build / Mark Hatcher

[gstring]

If the Sitka and Wenge deliver the sound Mark expects... and has worked to achieve, then I will own one very impressive instrument and ....... I promise to post the first 3 songs I compose after receiving it. Unless Mark asks me to kindly remove them. lol lol lol

daniel

[Mark Hatcher]

Today I did the binding and purfling on the top. The purfling is black, maple, black, mahogany, black, maple, black. All elements that are in the rosette. Here it is getting glued and after a rough sanding;





And we have a neck! Here it is getting glued up. It has maple laminates with cross grained Wenge up the center;



Thanks,
Mark

[clicktone]

Absolutely stunning! I listened to some of the sound clips on your site Mark...incredible tone. This one is gonna be a winner!

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by clicktone

Absolutely stunning! I listened to some of the sound clips on your site Mark...incredible tone. This one is gonna be a winner!

Thanks for your kind words clicktone!

[ukejon]

Man, I know that the router has depth guides and all that but cutting that perfect little binding rabbet into the finished box always looks so terrifying to me! One slip up and things are really messed up. At least I would have a good chance of goofing it up, that's for sure. Looks great, Mark.

[Mark Hatcher]

Thanks Jon!

Here is a picture where you can have a good look at the cross grain Wenge going along the back of the neck;



We are going with my sculpted head stock for this guitar. Here are a couple pictures of the head plate after roughing it out;





It will have a black ebony binding with maple pufling.

Thanks for following along!
Mark

[GeorgeHeatley]

the carve on the wenge head veneer looks awesome, this guitars going to look beautiful under finish.

love your threads mark, keep up the great work!!!!

George

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by GeorgeHeatley

the carve on the wenge head veneer looks awesome, this guitars going to look beautiful under finish.

love your threads mark, keep up the great work!!!!

George

Thanks George,

I enjoy doing these threads.

Mark

[ukejon]

Beautiful...but that 3 3/8" neck width is going to make G chords really hard to play!

[gstring]

I originally asked for 4 3/4 '' neck but Mark suggested it might me a tad wide.
So we compromised.

dgd

[ukejon]

For 4 3/4" necks you do barre chords with your left foot, I think.

[Mark Hatcher]

So I'm getting the idea the neck is looking a little wide?
I leave the neck wide while I work on the headstock and heel. This gives me some meat to hold on to in the vise and I won't damage anything in the process.

Here is the bound head stock plate getting glued up and with the head stock generally cut to shape;





Here I am working on the binding for the fret board;





This is a relatively short scale length of 25". That with a 13 fret neck will make a very comfortable guitar. I am quite happy with how this is shaping up and I'm thinking I'd like to make a nylon hybrid like this, maybe with an open head stock.
Hmm, Somebody order that, I'd like to see how it would come out!

Thanks,
Mark

[gstring]

Mark, every thing is coming together very nicely. There are so many steps that add up to a lot of work. When do you start getting a little nervous using sharp tools on an assembled guitar ?

daniel

[ukejon]

Love the bound fretboard. What nut size do you use on your crossover nylon string guitars? How would you characterize their tone relative to a regular classical (I may have asked you this before but can't remember the answer)?

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by gstring

Mark, every thing is coming together very nicely. There are so many steps that add up to a lot of work. When do you start getting a little nervous using sharp tools on an assembled guitar ?

daniel

I guess the most nervous part for me is when the guitar is almost complete and I'm clearing the finish to mount the bridge. It's at a point when it's on the home stretch and a dropped tool or dust on the work bench can be a real disaster. At that stage the shop takes on the feel of a surgery "clean room" and you just have to be really careful.

Mark