Hatcher's Studio 2022
 

I'm starting out 2022 in a new home and a new studio here in the Green Mountains. The shop is up and running and I've already sent my first guitar build here out for finish.

Time to start a new build! About two years ago I bought this board:

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It is torrified curly Hard Maple and it is quartersawn. This is the only board I have ever seen like this before and since that was wide enough for backs and shows such strong figure for quartersawn Maple (which usually show curl best when flat sawn). And it is torrified.
I was able to get two guitar back and side sets along with neck wood and misc sizes for headstock or rosettes etc.

This was the first guitar I made:

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So I know how this back and side set sounds. With it being torrified it has picked up a nice sustaining tap tone. You might say it still has the clarity of Maple with some of the charm of rosewood.

Hard Maple is also known as Sugar Maple which is where Maple syrup comes from. So after it is roasted in the torrification process it smells like granola when you work it (being a northeasterner, granola is kind of on par with manna from heaven).

We're working out which top to match up on this guitar and have it down to either Western Red Cedar or Swiss Moon Spruce. We'll likely incorporate stone inlays in the rosette like what I did on my last guitar but without the abalone:

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Here is the cedar top I'm recommending:

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If we go with this top I think a Green Turquoise rosette made from these stones would look wonderful:

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The other option is a set of alpine Swiss Moon Spruce which I think would look great with Blue Turquoise:

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Either top will work great with this Maple set.

Like the first guitar I made with this wood this will also be my Piña​ model.

And we're off in 2022!

M

Happy New Year Mark! I remember you working with this maple before, and it turned out stellar! Can't wait to see how this one goes. Such beautiful natural materials all the way around.

I can testify that the 1st Piña made of 1 of these 2 torrefied maple boards sounds every bit as great as it looks and smells. It has amazing sustain and the tones across the register it produces are dripping off like honey - or shall I say AAA grade maple syrup ;) - full, thick, very ripe and sweet, I am tempted to say matured - but despite the already great sonical characteristics I hope there still could be further maturation as it has a spruce top. It is the contrary of shrill or empty, it is loud and resonant and a joy to play! ..can’t put it down.

If this is any sign, someone will get a jewel of a guitar!

..and if it was me I’d go with that incredible cedar top (as I have spruce on mine .. and that still can possibly open up to make it even better)

Torrified Maple Build
 

I can't wait to see how this goes too!

I think you are right on, Lonzo!!!
 

And so it is, Klaus!! We are going with the cedar top. Thanks for your cedar top recommendation and great description of the sound. That's what I'm looking for, and the pics of your guitar are beautiful!

Happy New Year to you too Treenewt! Thank-you


Thanks for jumping in on this Lonzo! No-one has played that wood more than you and I appreciate your kind words!

And so it is :)

Mark

Congrats Jeff, those are some amazing pieces of wood to build with! The Cedar looks perfect.

All those materials look like an absolute dream in the making. Looking forward to following this.

Last year I did some visual comparisons with blue and green next to wood about this shade along with abalone. To my surprise, the green looked better with the abalone. Not only that, but my wife lso agreed. It's uncommon that we agree on aesthetics. I had been so sure the blue would stand out better.

Blessed with talented luthiers!
 

You are so right! But, more than that, Tom, we are blessed with such amazing luthiers...I have been so blown away by their artistry and understanding of the woods they use and how to get the best sound out of the woods that we have in this world. I feel very lucky to have met some of these artists and to be able to enjoy their works of art.

Congrats Jeff! Will be fun to follow this one.

Very cool build--so glad that you went with the cedar!

This will be an awesome adventure--congrats!

Thanks Dustin, The woods certainly are inspiring!

I've found that using green as a background in photographs often to works much better showing off the colors in wood.

Always good to have you along for the ride!

Thanks!
Me too :)

Then the next decision is what to do for the trim. We wanted a good contrast to show of lines of guitar. The top two contenders were Black Ebony and African Blackwood:

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We decided on the African Blackwood. It is certainly dark enough for the job but, just a little more muted to go with the overall look of the guitar.

We also are going with an African Blackwood back center strip. Here is why: With the deep curl figure on the back it is hard to line up the curl where the halves meet.

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Actually it isn't really that hard to line them up but because they are book matched when you look at the back from different angles the reflection in the curl rolls back and forth but where one side the reflection rolls up they other side rolls down. So putting a little break between them helps mitigate the seeming mismatch. Now on the back of a very curly backed violin I think the seeming mismatch looks great. Maybe it is because of the more rounded back of a violin? I don't know, maybe it's just a look we're used to on a violin.

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We also went with a little thicker white Maple border purfling. That wasn't something I keep so I cut that purfling myself. One of the things I like in Maple purfling is if you cut it from curly Maple you get a very subtle shimmer in the end result. Here is where I cut it from:

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Thanks for following along through all of that!

m

Back Graft and Logo
 

Next comes the back graft:

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A strip of cross grained spruce is glued in to strengthen the joint between the two back halves.

Once the glue is set the graft is profiled into a doom shape to reduce the stress lines you would get along the grain of the back:

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Then comes my branded H wood logo chip:

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m

Mark, you have such an amazing wood collection, and fantastic taste and artistry to go with it.