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  #286  
Old 06-25-2019, 10:22 AM
Lonzo Lonzo is offline
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Hi Mark, those sound great! Full, rich, sustaining.. I like it a lot.
Thanks for the effort providing those and also to Charlie for the great playing that shows so many facettes of the tonal possibilities and what you can do with choice of woods and voicing !

Last edited by Lonzo; 07-02-2019 at 03:30 PM.
  #287  
Old 06-25-2019, 03:18 PM
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Hi Mark, those sound great! Full, rich, sustaining.. I like it a lot.
Thanks for the effort providing those and also to Charlie for the great playing that shows somany facettes of the tonal possibilities and what you can do with choice of woods and voicing !
Thanks Lonzo! Charlie Chronopoulos has been playing most of my sound samples for about three years now and has been a great help. He's a very talented player and his recording knowledge and experience helps a great deal too.

Mark
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  #288  
Old 07-02-2019, 02:34 PM
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Default Finishing up

I'm getting to the final stages of finishing my Unlimited Series Greta GA after replacing the neck with my new style headstock:





Thanks for viewing!
Mark
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  #289  
Old 07-02-2019, 03:08 PM
Lonzo Lonzo is offline
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Hi Mark, I love it ! As it was said before, the 1st headstock was no slouch, but this one looks even better - to me, as that is always a matter of taste an personal preference.
Somehow more ‘in style‘, more elegant and cohesive... such a beauty ! Masterful !

Last edited by Lonzo; 07-02-2019 at 03:28 PM.
  #290  
Old 07-04-2019, 02:24 PM
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Default The Woodsman Redwood/Mahogany

I also have in the works another Woodsman 00 guitar. This one with have a slothead and 200 year old Honduran Mahogany. Otherwise it will be very close to my first Black Walnut.

The Mahogany comes from the bottom of a river in Belize. These were sinker logs from early British lumber operations. I bought a number of boards so I could select and re-saw the sets myself:



The wood is beautiful with a silky sand colored appearance and very promising tonal characteristics:



Here is the back being joined:

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“Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.”. Andrew Fletcher
  #291  
Old 07-08-2019, 07:17 AM
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I am using 100+ yr old Redwood for soundboard on this Woodsman. Here I am checking that the grain aligns well and that the edges are square and it's a clean looking joint:





I also check that no light gets through anywhere as well.

Some glue and clamps and then leave it alone:



Thanks for viewing!
Mark
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  #292  
Old 07-08-2019, 08:28 AM
jaymarsch jaymarsch is offline
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I love the look of both the mahogany and the redwood so I will enjoy following how this one comes together, Mark.

Best,
Jayne
  #293  
Old 07-09-2019, 10:03 AM
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Originally Posted by jaymarsch View Post
I love the look of both the mahogany and the redwood so I will enjoy following how this one comes together, Mark.

Best,
Jayne
Thanks Jayne,

I think Mahogany and Redwood are much easier to match for good tone than they are to match colors for good looks. I looked through a lot of Redwood until I found a top I was happy with. These have a wipe of shellac on them to show color better:



Thanks for following along!
Mark
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“Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.”. Andrew Fletcher
  #294  
Old 07-12-2019, 09:43 AM
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Default Treasure Hunting

I have been on the hunt for very old tonewoods to build out my selection for The Woodsman and domestic woods in general.

Old wood is a treasure hunt. Up here in the Northeast the Industrial Revolution came and went a long, long time ago.
Many of the old mills and factories built in the 1800's that have since been converted for new uses or have just gone to waste.
A lot of great old growth woods went into the construction of these buildings, the trick is to ferret out the good stuff.




The boards above are old Black Walnut I found which looks like this when cleaned up:







It's a treasure hunt!
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  #295  
Old 07-12-2019, 03:37 PM
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That has to be both fun and very rewarding, a treasure inside an old piece of wood that most people would just walk over.
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  #296  
Old 07-12-2019, 04:58 PM
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That has to be both fun and very rewarding, a treasure inside an old piece of wood that most people would just walk over.
Treasures abound! May you find MANY!

Paul
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  #297  
Old 07-12-2019, 07:43 PM
Lonzo Lonzo is offline
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Thumbs up Soooo coool !

gems in disguise
  #298  
Old 07-13-2019, 04:41 AM
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Originally Posted by TomB'sox View Post
That has to be both fun and very rewarding, a treasure inside an old piece of wood that most people would just walk over.
It is often rewarding but, it is hard to read an old board. You just don’t know for sure until you put some time into it.
Thanks Tom

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Originally Posted by Guitars44me View Post
Treasures abound! May you find MANY!

Paul
Thanks Paul!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lonzo View Post
gems in disguise
Thanks Lonzo!
There is a lot more work involved sourcing old wood like this but, a wood like Black Walnut ages so wonderfully. The wood rings better and that beautiful brown coloring becomes much richer. Also, the internal stresses relax out (sometimes by cracking) but whatever it wanted do it pretty much has done leaving a much more stable board.
There are other aspects to this too. Heat and humidity make wood expand and shrink. This reaction is reduced with repeated cycles.
As wood matures it gains a more musical and complex sound quality and the sustain increases.
It would frankly be a shame to let this amazing wood slip away!

Mark
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  #299  
Old 07-16-2019, 06:34 AM
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Default More New Wood

I'm always excited to get new woods in the shop. Especially species I haven't had before:



This is English Bog Oak from the East Anglia Fenland Basin, Peterborough UK.
It is carbon dated at about 3,300 yrs old. There was once a forest of giant Oaks there which fell down onto the silt of the once flooded basin and laid there in the peat for thousands of years. The wood didn't rot because of the lack of oxygen and also because of the high tannin content of the wood. The tannin reacting with iron salt minerals slowly darkened and hardened the wood.

It's still has a lot of Oak characteristics like this figure in the wood:



The coloring depends on how age and how deep into the log it is. It goes from a beautiful tobacco brown to jet black. Bog Oak is in the beginning stages of fossilization so it much harder and heavier than regular Oak. It is very similar to Gabon Black Ebony in weight and hardness. It's great for bridges, binding, and fretboards:



It is more porous than ebony but I love the look and it can be fine sanded to a great shine:



I can't think of a better wood to trim with my Woodsman 00. This very old Mahogany Woodsman I'm working on right now would look awesome with a more tobacco brown fretboard like this one:





The darker fretboard is a great match with Black Walnut.

The Bog Oak back and side set is large enough for any of my models and has a very nice tap tone. I'd expect great sustain and complex tonality with the right top.

Thanks for viewing!
Mark
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  #300  
Old 07-16-2019, 01:05 PM
GeoffStGermaine GeoffStGermaine is offline
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I've always found Bog Oak to be very intriguing. Thanks for shared your impressions of the material! It will certainly look very nice with the Mahogany and Redwood and certainly seem to carry the vibe you seem to be after with the Woodsman.
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