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;

https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5716/3...cc1955c4_c.jpg

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

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5743/2...7b9dc5a5_c.jpg

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

https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8645/3...b34c830c_c.jpg

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;

https://c8.staticflickr.com/6/5508/3...908f3202_c.jpg

The Hard Maple neck seems to add additional sustain;

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5462/3...4b5fec4b_c.jpg

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

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5664/3...7bd95fec_b.jpg

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;

https://c8.staticflickr.com/6/5491/2...4490dc89_c.jpg

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;

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5675/2...8035fdb2_c.jpg

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

https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5529/2...90557a1c_b.jpg

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

https://c8.staticflickr.com/6/5684/2...8b429ca0_c.jpg

https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5755/2...31f55a43_c.jpg

and I also used the rather lightweight Schertler tuners;

https://c8.staticflickr.com/6/5796/3...911b4d5b_b.jpg

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

https://c8.staticflickr.com/6/5688/2...16b8c9fc_c.jpg

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 :)