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Old 04-14-2021, 11:39 AM
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iim7V7IM7 iim7V7IM7 is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: An Exit Off the Turnpike in New Jersey
Posts: 5,152
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eKat View Post
Hi, guys.

I've been postin' up photos of the build of Bob's Blanchard Bristlecone (whoa - say that fast 10 times) on my FaceBook page and they've been a real hit.

Here's the final post in case you might want to check it out.

It's PUBLIC right now but it won't be that way until the end of time.

SO. . . here's what's undoubtedly going to be a huge URL:

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=...eric&ref=notif

Bob, thanks for letting me crash your thread. May you have the time of your life breaking this puppy in. It's really beautiful!
Kathy, this is my second Blanchard guitar (my other is a Pinyon that Mark built for me 7-years ago). Mark's guitars are responsive, balanced and have a unique timbre with fat, round trebles that I have really bonded with. I own a number of other custom flattops by other luthiers and surprise, surprise... they all have different signature timbres! I like them all for different reasons, but they are all different. People's perception of these differences is of course heterogeneous and somewhat subjective.

What I try to do in these “build threads” is to try to unveil subtle differences in how guitars are uniquely designed and built to help begin to explain the diversity of sounds that we all experience. Forums like this one on AGF tend to focus on beautiful woods, artful decoration and novel design/features. I like these aspects as much as the next guitarist, but I also try to highlight “what” is going on beneath the hood and to touch upon the “why” underpinning certain decisions.

Most luthiers who started building > 25 years ago, learned their craft in isolation and developed their own unique approaches unless they apprenticed for someone else (minority). Today, this is less true amongst younger builders. This is driven by the advent of lutherie schools, the availability of tools/fixtures/materials from supply houses and the proliferation information on the internet.

Over the last 6-years, Mark (and some other talented luthiers) has been extremely generous in sharing his time and approaches for building instruments. I hope that this thread serves as an information source for anyone considering commissioning a custom instrument from Mark. I should get the guitar late next week and I will of course share my impressions with the forum.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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