Man, that is a stunning guitar. The Black Walnut is as pretty as any Rosewood (even Cocobolo) I ever seen. Congratulations are certainly in order for this one! Would love to hear how it sounds.

beautiful execution. Love the walnut neck

Thanks Trevor, I'm glad you feel that way!

Thanks magr40. That Black Walnut neck is wood I got that was in an old barn that used to be a saw mill. The barn was being restored and I was asked if I wanted any of that old wood that was piled up there since the mill closed. Seems the mill closed in 1850! So I said yeah I'll try to help out and pull some of that old stuff out of there. So I'm figuring that anything that wood wanted to do it had plenty of time to do these past 168 years. I expect it will be a stable neck :)

Very pretty work, Mark! Love that walnut...

Steve

Thanks Steve, I've been doing a lot of walnut lately and would be happy to do more!

Mark

I'm the lucky guy who will receive that gorgeous cedar over black walnut Greta. This is my first custom build and Mark was amazing to work with. I was fortunate to be able to play one of Mark's guitars when one was "accidentally" shipped to me. I think Mark should consider "accidentally" sending guitars to other members of the forum. It has spoiled me for any other guitar.

If you're considering commissioning a custom build, you can't go wrong with Mark. Take a look at some of his builds here. In addition to my Greta, I love the little parlor he made for Nate D.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4564/...fee2aa15_n.jpg

Phil

Thanks Phil! I appreciate your kind words and it was a pleasure working with you as well.

Mark

Hatcher
 

I can echo. I have been playing my Hatcher today, comparing it to 2 others and decided that as much as I like them, they don't compete.

Mark was fun to work with and knows his stuff. Not only does he make spectacularly beautiful guitars, but they are a true pleasure to play and to listen to. He also completed mine right on time. That never happens, at least that's how I used to think.

Hatcher's Studio 2018
 

Thanks Bard! That was a fun build. I'll be exhibiting at the Woodstock show this fall. Hopefully we can catch up if you go.



Mark

Woodstock
 

I don't miss that one and will be looking forward to visiting with you then.

Mark, ideally I will see you there! Don’t bring anything too tempting, please...

I fully agree. Great design work Mark.

Hi Mike,

Great! Hope to see you. I'm afraid I will be trying to bring temptations though :)

Thanks ukejon!

What absolutely gorgeous work Mark!!!

Thank you David!

Really gorgeous work Mark...as usual. You have such an inspiring eye for design. Much can be learned by watching you build guitars. Thanks for sharing your work! Love it!!

Hi Mark, I'm really interested in your comments above. What is it about maple that makes this piece of sitka the preferred choice? is there a unique tap tone that works particularly well with maple the the SJ sized guitar? I'm curious about the thought that is put into choosing this wood combination and what the end goal is to be. Both woods you have chosen are stunning!

thanks

Hatcher's Studio 2018
 

The choice of a top for a Maple guitar centers around what my goals are for a maple guitar as opposed to say a rosewood or mahogany guitar. Usually, when you read folks opinions of maple guitars someone will say something along the lines of “well I played this maple guitar that, without looking, you’d think it sounds almost as good as a rosewood guitar”.

My goals making a maple guitar do not include making a mediocre rosewood guitar.

I want a maple guitar to basically have the emphasis on fundamentals, note separation, and clarity of a Mahogany guitar with the purity of tone of the fundamentals that you get with a rosewood guitar. Overall, I also want quick and strong dynamic responsiveness and I want that balanced up and down and across the fretboard. That in my opinion is what makes for a great maple guitar.
So why this top? Well the choice of bear claw is mostly cosmetic. It goes nicely with the quilted Maple. It also can be an indicator of good cross grained stiffness which in this case proved true. Good cross grain stiffness will make my job balancing the tonal response a little easier when I voice the top.
The choice of this lighter weight but, overall quite stiff top helps with the quick response.
The overall timbre of this top when tapping lends itself well to the pure tone I’m looking for in the fundamentals.
So that in a nutshell is the beginning of my thinking in selecting this top for this back and side set on this model maple guitar.

I hope you find that helpful!
Mark

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7340/...c8308bc6_c.jpg

How is this even real? And how do I make it mine? That's the most beautiful guitar photo I've ever seen.

Thanks byudzai! Here is a link to the Flickr album that shows some of the steps in making this guitar real:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/283528...57671140236986
If you want to make that picture yours I don't have any blocks in place and you can download a full resolution file of that photo.

Now if it's a guitar like this one you want you can secure a start date on my build schedule which currently is just rolling into 2020.
I got three guitar back and sides sets from the billets I made this guitar from and they are all sold but, 2020 gives me time to source an equal or better quilted Maple set to reserve for your build.

Thanks, Mark

Mark, thanks for sharing that information, it was very enlightening, thank-you! You have elegantly described maple's strengths. I also checked out a couple of your youtube maple/sitka recording, to hear what your guitars sound like. Whoever gets this guitar is very lucky.
Is the quick response you mentioned from this piece of sitka also a function of the size of the guitar (small jumbo josie)? Would this be less of a concern for an OM sized guitar? Maple is considered to be a a bit bass shy, do you like the SJ size to help achieve a better tonal balance?

The quicker response of the top is a function of it being more light and stiff. There is less weight to get moving and everything else being equal, sound tends to travel faster through stiffer wood.
The small jumbo size is one of the ways to get a little more bass and the quicker responding top is probably more important on the larger bodied guitar.

Mark

New Wood Day
 

I've been getting a lot of interest in Maple lately and I've been hard at it searching for more. I just got in a couple of very nice billets. Love new wood days!

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/967/3...f8d84c4c_b.jpg

Mark

Article
 

A local southern New Hampshire newspaper has a nice article on me out. The reporter interviewed me at the shop for about 2 hours and I'm surprised how much he got!
http://www.ledgertranscript.com/Hatc...itars-16453055

Thanks for viewing
Mark

Headstock Plate
 

Here is a picture of the headstock overlay I am working up for this Quilted Maple Josie guitar:

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/966/2...4e01345e_c.jpg

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

Whoa--that is very cool!

Such fluid movement executed in some beautiful woods!

Thanks Nemoman! The woods are Cocobolo, quilted Maple, and Amboyna and Maple burl.

Wow Mark. Really nice headstock. As always I’m astounded at how you can cut those adjoining pieces to match so perfectly. Piece of art!

Thanks cigarfan! We're building on a bit of a theme here. The rosette follows along:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4754/...c832e873_c.jpg

Beautiful work, Mark!