Simply stunning. I don't think I'd have the courage to even play it. I'd be tempted to hang it on the wall as a work of art!

Thank-you Ron, Damian, and Musictag,

The new owner, Danny, received it in good condition today and will be putting up a recording soon. I think he's a little absorbed in playing and getting to know it right now.
Thank-you everyone for your kind words
Mark

The Hatcher crossover has been with me in it’s new home for almost two weeks now and I wanted to share some thoughts and reflections about it at this early stage in it’s life. I’ve purposely waited a couple weeks because I wanted to let it settle in a bit and also, as mentioned in the build thread, our home was robbed and we’ve been dealing with all the things that come with that…

First, let me say that Mark was awesome during the whole build process and took the absolute best photos I’ve ever seen of the build process. He was also great with communication and wanted to make sure I was happy every step of the way. He even contacted Tom Doerr to talk about the type of neck profiles that I like and made it similar to the guitar Tom made for me. I appreciated that.

When the guitar arrived my wife and I opened the box together and the first thing that caught our attention was amazing smell coming from the case. Wow, it just smelt amazing. I know that’s probably a weird thing to say, but it’s true. We then pulled the soft velvet cloth off the French polished top and both sat there looking at how beautiful it is. As good as Marks photos are they don’t do it justice. I’ve never owned a French polished top guitar before and it’s lovely looking. The torched Koa rosette is so elegant and natural looking under the finish.

When I picked it up I couldn’t believe I was holding a guitar. It’s so light. I mean, seriously, it’s exceptionally light. Lighter than any other guitar I’ve ever played before with the exception of my 100-year-old Stetson parlor.

I quickly turned it over took the inlays he put on the back of the headstock for me. They’re the initials of my two children. Mark did them wonderfully. I like that they’re on the back of the headstock where I can see them as I play. Hidden from the audience. I plan on passing this guitar to them one day. Mark is clearly a very talented craftsman and I always love it when luthiers add subtle details that are only visible up close. The Koa on this guitar is just outstanding. It genuinely looks 3D. The back is perfectly book matched and so is the headstock faceplate. The headstock shape is so balanced with the guitar. I know Mark wanted to somewhat mirror the body shape and he’s done so in such an elegant way. The tuners work so well and I love the look. I’ve only played one other classical with these tuners and it was a Batson crossover.

As to the most important part of a guitar, the sound. The more guitars I play the more difficult I find it to articulate what I’m hearing as I’m fairly certain I’m able to hear more than I used to. Perhaps it also makes me a bit pickier. So when it comes to putting sound and tone into words, words seem to fail me. Maybe that’s why I write instrumental guitar music… I’ll simply say it exceeds my every expectation and has a wonderful thick full round warm tone. I’m very happy. I plan on using this guitar on many future recordings and performances. More to come….

Thank you again, Mark!

Kindly,
Danny

Thanks for the kind words Danny!
It was an honor to build this guitar for you. I really admire your playing and look forward to hearing what you can do with this guitar. I also want to thank the forum members who have commented along the way. This was a whole new style of guitar for me and your comments along the way were very supportive and encouraging.

Mark

Penelope Sound Clips
 

Hello,

Danny Combs was nice enough to send several sound clips in different styles of music. I've strung them together on a you tube and added in pictures from the build. I hope you enjoy! http://youtu.be/gLo31zoW03s

Thanks,
Mark