Hatcher's Studio 2021

[Lonzo]

A world class model masterfully photographed..
The lighting and composition of those detail shots of the soundport and the cutaway are top notch.
..I need to talk about that side of things..
a) it is well deserved
b) I run out of words for this wood and the combo you put together

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Lonzo

A world class model masterfully photographed..
The lighting and composition of those detail shots of the soundport and the cutaway are top notch.
..I need to talk about that side of things..
a) it is well deserved
b) I run out of words for this wood and the combo you put together

Thanks Lonzo, guitars make wonderful models for a camera and a camera is great tool to make you stop and really look at what you are building.

[Mark Hatcher]

Here is the first picture of the top since I finished the french polishing. I carved out the Snakewood bridge today to go with the Snakewood fretboard:



Snakewood is some serious wood. It is hard as a rock and polishes up like a gem stone. There are no pores to be found which makes it perfect for a handled wood like fretboards and bridges. It's heavy so I'm doing some extra carving on the bridge to keep the weight within the range I want.

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

[edcmat-l1]

^^^ Amazing craftsmanship. It really is stunning.

[TomB'sox]

Really amazing. I just love snakewood and that bridge is an example of why, so pretty. Love the 3 D inlay on the rosette as well. The colors all work so well together as always.

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by edcmat-l1

^^^ Amazing craftsmanship. It really is stunning.

Thanks edcmat-l1! I look forward to getting strings on this guitar.

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

Really amazing. I just love snakewood and that bridge is an example of why, so pretty. Love the 3 D inlay on the rosette as well. The colors all work so well together as always.

Thanks Tom. Snakewood and Desert Ironwood are my new favorite trim, bridge and fretboard woods. I love the grain and colors. As hard as they are they are both are a pleasure to carve.

Thanks for commenting!
Mark

[Dustinfurlow]

Gosh man...this build is just crazy beautiful. I bet Alan - the owner of Cedar Rock - would have a good drool over this. He's a big fan of Snakewood as well.

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Dustinfurlow

Gosh man...this build is just crazy beautiful. I bet Alan - the owner of Cedar Rock - would have a good drool over this. He's a big fan of Snakewood as well.

Thanks Dustin I'm planning on getting strings on this one next week and we'll see how it all comes together. I'm very pleased with this guitar and have high expectations!

Mark

[Mark Hatcher]

Years ago I was very impressed when I first heard about the Ford Rouge Falls Plant. It was a gigantic facility that in it's prime employed 100,000 people.
What particularly impressed me was how it was set up to directly import the raw materials and coal for their on-site power station.
Basically, raw materials like iron ore and coal came in one side and automobiles came out the other!

So in my comparably minuscule way I thought I'd show what I can do.
The raw materials such as these logs come in the big door, right into where I mill the wood:



The wood then works it way through my studio and guitars come out this little door on the side :



Easy peasy, right?

The thing of it is there are some advantages of doing my own milling. I pick the cuts I want for instance, when planning it out I might have the opportunity to get two really great woods sets as opposed to four OK ones.
If I am cutting a fretboard, bridge, binding and a headplate all from the same log there isn't much trouble making them match.
I like the treasure hunt feel of cutting into a log.

Here are what these four logs are:



Desert Ironwood makes awesome fretboards, bridges, bindings, overlays, rosettes. It is very comparable to Snakewood as far as color, lack of pores and hardness but it has nice black grain lines and a golden fleck that shines when the light is right. It doesn't have Snakewoods' check figure.

Hollis Applewood, I'm going to cut into this one and then decide. It came from an apple orchard a couple towns over from me here in New Hampshire. They were clearing out some of their old trees and this was the largest log I could fit in my Mini. An interesting feature of this log is you can see where the tree was originally grafted to the root set.

Gabon Ebony, I bought this locally but it comes from Africa. Everyone knows what you do with Gabon Black Ebony.

Sugar Hard Maple, this came from a huge old tree that I took down next to my firewood crib. It was old and hollow. I am hoping to find some nice figure and spalting in this log. If not I'll keep chopping and throw it into that wood crib.

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

[Mark Hatcher]

In my previous post I mentioned the gold fleck that shows up in Desert Ironwood when direct light strikes it. I cut my first fretboard out of that log I displayed and thought I'd try to capture it in a picture:



This is the best I could do with a picture and it doesn't do it justice. The gold shines out as though it's metallic gold foil. It's shockingly amazing. The most beautiful wood I have ever seen.

Mark

[TomB'sox]

That is beautiful. The sparkle is pretty cool! In regards to your previous post, I picture a machine with lots of belts and pullies and chains with a smoke stack coming out where the billets go in one end on the conveyor belt and out comes a sparkling new Hatcher....probably not how it happens.

[Nemoman]

If the pic doesn't do it justice, it must be amazing in real life!

The colors and the grain are mesmerizing!

[Jamiejoon]

Loving this series of posts. Always love seeing the transformation from trees to guitars.

I think desert ironwood is the most beautiful possible wood for fretboards. Would be quite something if a big enough piece could be found for back and sides.

Speaking of which, snakewood is outstanding for back and sides. I have a snakewood guitar that is a treasure.

[cigarfan]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

That is beautiful. The sparkle is pretty cool! In regards to your previous post, I picture a machine with lots of belts and pullies and chains with a smoke stack coming out where the billets go in one end on the conveyor belt and out comes a sparkling new Hatcher....probably not how it happens.

With little eeny weeny Mark Hatchers standing inside at every level to take progress pictures. Every guitar would pop out with a coffee table book!

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

That is beautiful. The sparkle is pretty cool! In regards to your previous post, I picture a machine with lots of belts and pullies and chains with a smoke stack coming out where the billets go in one end on the conveyor belt and out comes a sparkling new Hatcher....probably not how it happens.

Your on to me!

Originally Posted by Nemoman

If the pic doesn't do it justice, it must be amazing in real life!

The colors and the grain are mesmerizing!

I'm excited about the possibilities! I attacked that log again today and now have 6 Desert Ironwood fretboard along with wood for bridges, binding and overlays and that was using less than half the log!

Originally Posted by Jamiejoon

Loving this series of posts. Always love seeing the transformation from trees to guitars.

I think desert ironwood is the most beautiful possible wood for fretboards. Would be quite something if a big enough piece could be found for back and sides.

Speaking of which, snakewood is outstanding for back and sides. I have a snakewood guitar that is a treasure.

Thanks for commenting Jamiejoon. Both Snakewood and Desert Ironwood are pretty small trees so we don't see many guitar back and sides sets but there are some out there!

Originally Posted by cigarfan

With little eeny weeny Mark Hatchers standing inside at every level to take progress pictures. Every guitar would pop out with a coffee table book!

HaHa It's a hard day at work taking all those pictures!