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  #181  
Old 01-20-2023, 02:32 PM
Al Mojo Al Mojo is offline
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Bravo Mark! I sense a pair of unique and lovely guitars! Thanks!
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  #182  
Old 01-20-2023, 03:06 PM
rule18 rule18 is offline
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Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher View Post
One of the things I like about building guitars is the many ways you can work a guitar to connect with the player. First off is the tone which is made to meet the desires of the player.

The feel of the guitar which I try to make satisfying in all the touch points for playing comfort and of course I work it for easy play ability. I work the balance to sit well while playing. I want the neck to feel right for the player and a volute positioned for thumb support. Finally the haptic feed back with an active back to add liveliness while playing.

The smell, I use Spanish Cedar on many of the internal parts so the scent is there whenever you open the case. I work with a lot of fragrant woods which add to the experience such as Olivewood, Cedars, Torrified Sugar Maple, and Brazilian Rosewood.

The looks are the first introduction a player has to a guitar and you want it to look great and may even have custom work to increase your connection.

That covers four of the five senses. I don't recommend tasting your guitar but if you did I have finally found a way to hit all five senses with the Walnut and Maple dreadnoughts I am working on now:



A few miles from my house is a sugar house that specializes in mixed tree saps.
They have a kiosk out front where you pick your bottles and put your money in the mail slot by the front door.
The Maple guitar has a Sugar Maple center strip and the round dot in the middle there is the hole from a sugar tap. The syrup is a combination of Maple with the nut and buttery flavor of Walnut sap to boot.
I saw that syrup and thought this would be a great little bit of swag to through in the case and if you have pancakes for breakfast before a good morning playing session I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I finally have hit my dream of touching all five senses!
That's a cool idea! Now, about that whiskey barrel stave center strip on my upcoming Greta...
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  #183  
Old 01-20-2023, 05:02 PM
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Mark Hatcher Mark Hatcher is offline
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That's a cool idea! Now, about that whiskey barrel stave center strip on my upcoming Greta...
You like whiskey on your pancakes? .

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Originally Posted by Al Mojo View Post
Bravo Mark! I sense a pair of unique and lovely guitars! Thanks!
I think that is what they are shaping up to be!

m
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  #184  
Old 01-20-2023, 06:37 PM
rule18 rule18 is offline
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You like whiskey on your pancakes? .


m
I likes me whiskey on everything. LOL!
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  #185  
Old 01-20-2023, 07:24 PM
Nemoman Nemoman is offline
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I likes me whiskey on everything. LOL!
Maybe this is what Craig is thinking of? It's awesome by the way!

20230120_152243-1.jpg

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  #186  
Old 01-20-2023, 08:03 PM
rule18 rule18 is offline
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Maybe this is what Craig is thinking of? It's awesome by the way!

Attachment 86330

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Lol, close enough!
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  #187  
Old 01-24-2023, 11:36 AM
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Mark Hatcher Mark Hatcher is offline
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Default First Dryad Strung Up

I have my first spec model Dryad Dreadnought strung up today. My initial impressions are I got the bass as I wanted and it is a comfortable guitar to sit and play, especially with the arm bevel.
I have an initial hard Maple dummy saddle on it for the break in period so I won't really hear some of the highs until the bone saddle is in and the guitar is fully intonated. I am certainly excited about what I have so far though!

The guitar is big and sounds big. The bass is clean, clear and crisp. The mids are strong and the trebles sound very promising so far. I will get some sound samples up in time.

This is my newest model so I will be using these photos to update my website.



As you can see this has a Florentine cut away and an arm bevel. It is a pretty strait forward guitar without a lot of bling. Well not until you start looking a little closer:



The headstock overlay is Dessert Ironwood Burl.

The back strap is Amazon Rosewood like the back and sides:



You can see I have a standard set of Scheller tuners. These have Black Ebony buttons. I say a standard set because Scheller these would be included in my base price. Scheller has a huge menu of choices some of which would carry an upcharge.



These tuners are a big quality upgrade over the Gotohs and Schaller tuners I used to use.

More to come!
M
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  #188  
Old 01-25-2023, 09:16 AM
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The back and sides are Amazon Rosewood. It is very rare to find Amazon Rosewood of this quality and size. It was always rare to find Amazon Rosewood like this because Amazon Rosewood trees seldomly get large enough to produce a straight grained perfectly quartered dreadnought back.



This is the the kind of wood that when an experienced luthier is lucky enough to see it he/she buys it, all of it. I came across six sets of this and you know what? I bought six sets. It was from a retiring luthier who found (probably a much larger) hoard back in the 70s at H.L. Wild Luthier Supply in NYC.

Amazon Rosewood is similar in weight to Cocobolo and African Blackwood. Tonally it lands between the two of them. I wouldn't say it is a direct replacement for BRW. It doesn't look like BRW. It doesn't smell like BRW. It doesn't float in water like BRW. Landing between Cocobolo and African Blackwood is nothing to apologize for. Matched with the right top, bracing, guitar size/profile it is awesome tonewood! And if the Amazon Rosewood has been cared for in luthier stashes for almost 50 years, so much the better.
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  #189  
Old 01-25-2023, 09:49 AM
rule18 rule18 is offline
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The back and sides are Amazon Rosewood. It is very rare to find Amazon Rosewood of this quality and size. It was always rare to find Amazon Rosewood like this because Amazon Rosewood trees seldomly get large enough to produce a straight grained perfectly quartered dreadnought back.



This is the the kind of wood that when an experienced luthier is lucky enough to see it he/she buys it, all of it. I came across six sets of this and you know what? I bought six sets. It was from a retiring luthier who found (probably a much larger) hoard back in the 70s at H.L. Wild Luthier Supply in NYC.

Amazon Rosewood is similar in weight to Cocobolo and African Blackwood. Tonally it lands between the two of them. I wouldn't say it is a direct replacement for BRW. It doesn't look like BRW. It doesn't smell like BRW. It doesn't float in water like BRW. Landing between Cocobolo and African Blackwood is nothing to apologize for. Matched with the right top, bracing, guitar size/profile it is awesome tonewood! And if the Amazon Rosewood has been cared for in luthier stashes for almost 50 years, so much the better.
That's some beautiful wood (and cool story, too).
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  #190  
Old 01-26-2023, 11:00 AM
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Originally Posted by rule18 View Post
That's some beautiful wood (and cool story, too).
Thanks Craig!

I matched the Amazon Rosewood with a torrified Sitka Spruce top:



It is a great tonal pairing with the Amazon Rosewood when it is on a large guitar. With the top and back properly voiced to work together I get the sustain from the Amazon and the quick response and clarity from the torrified Sitka.

Plus, I like the gold color of the torrified Spruce:



It looks good with the sparkling gold of the Dessert Ironwood fretboard:



You can see from the pictures above that the frets are gold Evo. The bridge is Black Ebony and the bound rosette is Red Agate stone.

As an aside, I often read discussion about how much a guitar's back affects the sound of the guitar. Folks usually say somewhere between 80 and 95 percent of the sound comes from the top.
Here's a little experiment you can try at home. Hold the guitar by the neck and tap the top a little behind the bridge and listen how loud and how long the guitar that tap sounds.
Now lay the guitar down on something soft like a thick rug or blanket and tap it again.

What do you think maybe half as loud? The sustain turns to thump?

Now I am going to tell you something else that you probably shouldn't try at home. When the sides are in the body profile mold and the top is glued on you can tap the top and easily read the note you get.
When you do the same thing with only the back attached you can read the note you are getting from there.
Usually, you want the two notes to be 3 of 5 half steps apart with the back at the high end. This helps avoid wolf notes or dead notes
So that would be part of why you would want to voice the back to help keep this separation.

Now when you put the body together and you read the tap pitch suddenly they are both tapping at about the same pitch. Why would this be?
It is because the top and the back are coupled. What one does affects the other in many ways. This coupling is caused by few things: there is some vibration traveling through the sides that they are both glued to. The sound from the top is reflected off the inside back which has some effect. The strongest coupling though is the air inside the guitar. The changing air pressure inside the guitar is mostly what makes the top and back sync up.

So what I think we should be drawing from these two observations is the sound coming off the top maybe 85% of the sound you hear but every aspect of that sound coming off that top is heavily affected by the top's coupling with the back. So in effect you are hearing the back through the top.

Sometimes you hear that the tops are the meat and the back is the seasoning. So if you are from New Hampshire that means the back has very little influence but if your paying attention to how the back is voiced you can start getting your seasoning from? Let's say India or Mexico!

m
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Last edited by Mark Hatcher; 01-26-2023 at 11:09 AM.
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  #191  
Old 01-26-2023, 11:26 AM
Lonzo Lonzo is offline
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..I love this ... both the guitar, the woods used, as well as the story and metaphores.. resonates with me (pun intended) :-)
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  #192  
Old 01-26-2023, 06:50 PM
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..I love this ... both the guitar, the woods used, as well as the story and metaphores.. resonates with me (pun intended) :-)
Thanks Lonzo!


One of the upgrades I went with on my Green Mountains Series is the guitars come with a Visesnut flight case. These are very strong, lightweight and not bulky. They are protective and comfortable to travel with:



The Active series are included in the base price. A variety of optional upgrades are available as well.

Mark
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Last edited by Mark Hatcher; 01-26-2023 at 08:15 PM.
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  #193  
Old 02-04-2023, 10:02 AM
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I am getting to the final stages of the French polishing I am doing on the Walnut and Maple pair of Dryad dreds. After letting these dry for a couple days I'll do the final leveling and coats.

In the meantime I can work on the next steps like tuners, fret installs etc.

The Walnut Dryad is more traditional in voicing and design and the Maple is more contemporary fingerstyle.

They are both getting EVO gold frets. The Walnut has black tuners with buffalo horn buttons. The Maple has gold tuners with Macassar Ebony buttons.



m
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  #194  
Old 02-04-2023, 10:17 AM
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KevWind KevWind is online now
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That is just so beautiful Mark very well done and what I call understated elegance . My kind of guitar (would go pretty well with my Josie ) I give this one 4
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Last edited by KevWind; 02-04-2023 at 10:23 AM.
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  #195  
Old 02-04-2023, 10:29 AM
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Beautiful, Mark! Looking forward to the recordings.
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