Hatcher's Studio 2018
 

Happy New Year!

Time to start a new studio thread. This year you will see that I am continuing my commitment to more sustainable woods. I am enjoying the treasure hunt finding extraordinary local and domestic woods and I am asking the hard questions about the source and sustainability of any exotics I purchase.

I've made an investment in equipment to do my own re-saw work which enables me to have complete control making the best cuts in the best billets I can find.

Here is an example to start the year off;

After tuning up my new 22" 5hp band saw and working the bugs out of my re-saw milling sled I am ready to start biting into the good stuff. Here's a picture of me working the set up:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4597/...968c5723_b.jpg

Here are several billets of spalted, quilted, Western Big Leaf Maple. They're thin but, there's enough for two back and side sets if I don't mess up!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4728/...956a4319_h.jpg

I didn't mess up :) Here are a couple pictures of what the wood looks like dry;

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4681/...eaa2a998_c.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4596/...c58d2ebb_b.jpg

It would look great with Bloodwood trim;

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4679/...df9463f0_b.jpg

Another advantage of cutting my own sets is I get the cutoffs for rosettes, headstocks, etc. without worrying about matching colors!

So this is the first of many more I have in the works. Wait until you see what I have in store. I intend to really expand your concept of what domestic wood can be!

The figure in that maple is fabulous, but isn't it even harder to find maple that dark? That's the darkest big leaf maple I've seen! To my eye, white maple or myrtle would make a good trim.
Steve

Thanks for commenting Steve,

I see you’re from Oregon, that’s where this wood came from. It’s the spalting that has made the wood darker. Spalting can be tricky because if there is too much it can weaken the wood or rob the tone. Fortunately, there is a little room in there where the colors change without effecting the stiffness and tone.

Happy New Year!
Mark

That maple looks incredible, Mark!

Great post to start of the new year!

ye bastage! I was scoping that piece on Nwtimber awhile ago, and then it disappeared, now I know where it went! :lol: well at least we know it's in good hands

Gorgeous looking stuff Mark!

Wowzers!!!
 

Now that is some yummy Maple!!! Unreal figure. My wife is a Maple junkie. We have a bunch of beautiful furniture in flamed and tiger Maple. She freaked when I just showed her this!
Be sure to use LOTS OF HEARING PROTECTION!

WHAT? I Know you treasure your ears!

This will be fun to follow!

Cheers

Paul

That's one heckuva maple set there, Mark! Lovely figuring and coloration. It's also great to see a glimpse of you once in a while; nice to tie a face in with a builder.

Also, that's one crazy bandsaw setup! I'm trying to figure out if/how you index that thing for consecutive slices?!

Excellent character in that Maple. Nice find! And Happy New Year’s Mark!

Thanks Paul,

It is amazing how much variation there is in a given species of wood. That really adds to the sense of being on a treasure hunt!
Thanks for the hearing protection tip! I’m actually very concienentious about protecting my hearing, it’s important to have good hearing doing what I do and especially when voicing guitars the way I do. You’ll notice the saw isn’t running in that picture. It’s pretty hard to take a candid picture when you’re a one man shop :). The picture was just to give a scale of things.

Thanks Nemoman and happy new year to you!

Gotta be quick! Thanks! Mark

Thanks David!

Thanks cigarfan and happy new year to you too!

Thanks Louie!

I’ve been trying to work out a good re-saw setup for awhile now. After a lot of fooling around I’m finally sartisfied. Part of the fooling around was adding an index for consistent cuts without using a fence. You don’t see it in the photo but, I added an easily adjustable vertical bumper a little before the blade that is working out wonderfully.

Thanks for commenting!
Mark

Very impressed with that setup.

My New Year's resolution is not to be lured in by Mark's amazing pictures of woods and guitars in process.....must be strong, must resist temptation......

Thanks! I've been working on a reliable set up for months now. You'll know I've gained complete confidence when I start cutting up my big Koa billets and that 100lb Black Ebony log! Uh and there will be lot's of pictures when that happens-nice pictures :)

Looks like Jupiter's eye.

Road Trip!
 

So I've been cooped up in below zero temps for a week up here in New Hampshire. Time for a road trip. Car's got heat. I got word on New Year's day there was a new source for some prime aged Honduran Mahogany for neck stock within days ride and I went for it yesterday. I left in the -11 degree black morning and headed east over the mountain to greet the sunrise. An hour and a half later with the sun in my eyes I reached the ocean and turned North for the beautiful frozen Mid Maine Coast.

In 1987 a very large quantity of this Long Leaf Mahogany was imported for a large job. They were matching colors and the rarer darker pieces were put aside maybe 350 board feet in all were left in dry storage. Now 30 years later they are making them available and I am the first one there!

This is the genuine Mahogany people say you can't get anymore and if you did you would have to wait 30 years for it to be what this stuff is. I drove by the Lee Neilson factory and showroom on the way there and luckily didn't realize what I was looking at when it went by.

I made my selection and got to try to catch up with the sun before it set on the way home. So here is what I got, this first board is 4 inches thick by 12 inches wide and six feet long:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4638/...33beed89_c.jpg

That's enough for me to get 18 necks of American Mahogany:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4725/...0038fd44_c.jpg

I also bought a small two neck blank from another board. I'll say I was over budget but, I am not ashamed to say the this board was a bit scary. It has a dark color which is nice and it is hard as rock and really heavy. When I measured and weighed it at home it comes up to 44lbs per cubic foot. Big Leaf Mahogany normally come in at 37lbs. That is a huge difference!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4739/...b76b18bf_c.jpg

These Swietenia Macrophylla boards are gorgeous and the chatoyance when wet just sparkles:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4644/...2d089129_c.jpg

It occurred to me today that I am going to hold the two dark neck for "Tree" guitars as they'll be great matches. The other 18 will be for higher end specs or upcharges on customs because they are premium wood that came at a premium.

Finally here's the question: How many different common names did I use for the same species of wood?

Well to be more complete, you may have come up with a couple more names for Honduras mahogany. I mean is it truly "genuine" mahogany? I'll have to ask the Meliaceae family if those pieces are true descendants... They would know if they're "true" mahogany... Time to hop onto my HOG in the freezing night...:D

Heck I don't know. I was looking at the wood.

I count 6 and they are all beautiful!

Yeah, there are other names too, like Brazilian Mahogany except this wood came from Honduras. It’s funny how the names come from all over the place. I suppose if you were from Honduras you wouldn’t call it Honduras Mahogany, you’d just call it Mahogany or whatever name it was always called there. It’s someone not from Honduras that would call it Honduras Mahogany. Ok Ok, it’s really snowing and I’m stalling going out to start the snow blower!

And why not?

Yeah, that’s what I’m counting too! It is very nice wood, glad I came across it!

Domestic Woods
 

I wrote earlier that I'd try to show some domestic wood that would change your thinking about what domestic wood is. Here is one I recently re-sawed that might just do that;

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4725/...d187092e_b.jpg

Looks like Olivewood, smells like Olivewood and in fact it is California Olivewood. There have been various fruit and nut woods introduced and farmed in California for over 250 years now. Sometimes the old trees get cleared for new ones. Sometimes those trees make great tone wood. Sometimes those woods also have a wonderful "exotic" look:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4738/...001c5bd3_c.jpg

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

Wow! That’s pretty Mark.

Yes, that is special.

Thanks for commenting Paul and Tom. I'm enjoying this rather rewarding adventure in domestic woods!

Mark

That is scary awesome--Wow!

A bunch of great pieces to start things off, Mark. Thanks for sharing the story of that Mahogany you got. Very interesting and a nice score!

They probably just call it madera... But yes, one man's exotic is another man's domestic. Someone in Honduras is probably using a similar piece as a ridge board on a roof!

Like what do they call a Chinese restaurant in China? A restaurant!

I do love the idea of using domestic woods. And yes there are lots of beautiful ones here. Have never played a guitar made of olive wood, what would be a close comparison?

Mahogany
 

I bought a nice piece of Mahogany a few years in an estate sale in Kalamazoo. 4"x17"by 6.5 ft. Sold off at the Gibson auction in 1984 and put away in a garage. I wandered into the garage saw it with some 12/4 Walnut and Cherry that I had no interest in at the price being asked. But the "unknown" plank was yelling very loudly, "Take me home". There were also some nice scraps of BRZ large enough for a few bridges priced at $1ea. One of my better wood buying days.

Beautiful woods!!!
 

Yummy stuff and great stories too! What is not to like?

You Luthiers are modern alchemists. You turn beautiful wood into music.

Cheers

Paul

I love the idea of using domestic wood - that olive looks brilliant, and would love to hear it.

Over here in the U.K. I know of a couple of builders using all domestic woods for some guitars...haven’t got to try one of them yet either....but it definitely appeals to me.

D

Thanks!

Thanks! I have a lot planned for this year and I’m feeling like I’m well stocked up to go!

Thanks, Olivewood is hard, comparable to Ebony. I would say it sounds like Ebony but a little rounder or midrange oriented.