Spoons Spoons Spoons
 

I have a new favorite wood to work with; Olivewood. I love the look, the smell, and the workability. I'm making a Penelope 12 fret model with figured Italian Olivewood and am finding that it a joy to work with.

I do mostly freehand work when I build a guitar. I've talked about this over the years, about how by avoiding too many jigs your work evolves, sometimes it happens seemingly all on it's own. Because I work the woods literally "hands on" a new wood it is like learning a new guitar song. You know where you want to go but, you need to work it until, I guess, your muscle memory kicks in and you just have a "feel" for it. With years of experience this process shortens but, never disappears.
Same with wood. I have this Olivewood and I know there is a lot of potential but I need to work it and see where it leads. So what to do? Play and learn the wood and don't start out worrying about guitars;

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So by the time I get to an omelet spatula you can see that my inner luthier is already kicking in:

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I love the sculpturing possibilities this wood has so let's get back to building that Penelope;

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Wait till you see the headstock image that wants out of my head!

Mark, I want to alert you that cats have been known to be attracted to olivewood. Good for chomping on (the wood, not the cats).

Now you have me excited to see this headstock idea.

Thanks for the heads up! That's funny, maybe I should have made cat toys for Enzo

It will be a little while but, I've got big ideas!

Can I order a utensil set on you website? Upcharge for torrified Olive wood?

When I was in Italy a few years back, one of my fun things to do when visiting these little stone towns was to seek out the little wood shop, invariably everything was this beautiful Olive wood!

That's funny, my neighbor wants to buy some Olivewood utensils too :). Maybe I've missed my calling. Kkrell said cats are attracted to Olivewood and when I checked YouTube he was right. Maybe I could just do an Olivewood line of products; spoons, cat toys, and who knows what else. Karen, my wife says I better just stick to guitars :(

Sorry duplicate

Mark,
What do you think of the olive wood aroma wafting in your shop's air space? I find the odor very appealing. Right up there with the Dalbergia nigra but certainly different. Perhaps Jelly Bellies or Glade will get on the band wagon? :roll:

I agree with you 100% It smells wonderful, like a Northern Italian restaurant. I never have worked with wood before that actually makes me hungry :)

Mark

Final Set Up
 

I got the final set up done on this spec Pina parlor. Now that is has a bone saddle the trebles are a bit brighter and it has a great dynamic and balanced sound;

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The Hard Maple neck seems to add additional sustain;

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The guitar is African Padauk and it is trimmed in Black Ebony;

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The top is Swiss alpine moon Spruce. It has a gold MOP 12th fret inlay and radial African Padauk purfling with more cross grained Padauk in the rosette;

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There is a cutaway and Black Ebony strap buttons. The neck button is set in a recessed facet for security and freedom of fret hand movement;

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I did a bit of Black Ebony sculpting to maintain the line of flow on the back binding;

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To keep the weight of the Hard Maple neck in balance I designed a lighter open headstock specifically for this model;

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and I also used the rather lightweight Schertler tuners;

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I brought the African Padauk up the back of the neck in the center laminate and then onto the back headstock laminate;

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This Padauk is bordered with a black purfling line to keep it all nice and crisp.

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

Yowzer! Stunning guitar!

My goodness that is a purdy little thang!

Fantastico!!!!! I would comment I what I like, but I like it ALL!

Thanks! That Padauk has a lot to say.

Thanks cigarfan, It's a lot of guitar in a little package.

Tom you're just easy :)

Really love that little guitar, Mark!

Wish I could make it mine--maybe once I get my tractor paid off...

Beautiful work--any soundclips coming our way?

Well it's available. I should have a sound clip up soon.

Mark

Now, should I be offended by this, hmmmm....naw, it is easy to be easy when you build everything just right! Just remember easy is not the same as cheap...

Thanks Tom! No it's not.

Beautiful 👍

Super nice as always!

Thanks! I've been playing it every day as it settle into being a guitar and I'm thinking I should make myself on of these one of these days!

Makerspaces
 

I was recently asked to give a talk at our local makerspace; Monadnock Art Tech. My talk was about online marketing for about 15 local artists. The attendees do work in fibers, metals, stone, marquetry, painting, ceramics, jewelry, and on and on. If you have a makerspace in your area I highly recommend getting involved. As a guitar maker I find the wealth of artists in my area very inspirational. I have already been influenced in my guitar work by Craig Altobello's marquetry, Howard Hitchmough's collectible knives, and Lita Judge's fabulous studio (she's a book illustrator and writer).
Going to art outside of guitar making is a great way to develop original ideas to bring back to guitar making;

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Very cool, Mark.

That's great Mark. I'm sure they all enjoyed it. Out of curiosity, which guitar was in the case?

Thanks!

It went over well. In fact, one of the attendees is setting up a likely custom order. The guitar in the case is the Padauk parlor I've recently completed. I brought it in to demo why photography works better than real life to show fine detail.

Mark

EIR Greta back from finisher
 

Just got this Indian Rosewood and Swiss Alpine Spruce Greta model back from the finisher. It is trimmed in Cocobolo;

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This is a left handed guitar with a larger sound port;

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A Cocobolo rosette and fret board;

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There is a Cocobolo arm bevel, end graft , and binding;

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I plan to have it strung up with the initial set up by the end of next week. It's always great when a guitar is just back from the finisher!

Thanks for viewing,
Mark

Gorgeous guitar Mark. That top is so creamy looking. Schweeet!

Thanks cigar fan,

I'm looking forward to hearing this with the strings on. It being a left handed guitar, I'll have a hard time playing it myself. Fortunately, my client is local and will be here to give it it's first real test run.

Mark

Beautiful work Mark, as usual. Is that neck also cocobolo?