Hatcher Studio '16

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by SJ VanSandt

Mark, you seem to have a knack for finding woods that compliment each other perfectly, and you've done it again with this beauty. It may be the best yet (but I think I say that about each one you show us). I'm looking forward to the day I get to play one of your creations - or at least hear one in person!

Originally Posted by invguy921

Phenomenal looking guitar! The wood choices are amazing.

Originally Posted by JamesO

I remember looking through your studio thread when you posted that bastogne, pausing, and just looking at it for a few minutes. The finished guitar is exquisite!

Thanks for your comments fellas! I have been making a push to stock up on domestic "trophy" woods. There just seems to be a lot of bang for your buck in upper domestics compared to the exotics.

Originally Posted by cigarfan

Wow Mark. Leave you alone for a month and miss a ton!

Some awesome spec guitars you have planned. That quilted Maple is beyond outrageous. Going to be very hard to keep these as spec ... going to be a bunch of offers.

Thanks cigarfan!,

I'm over the pink eye and back with a full head of steam! For February I've started up the small jumbo Josie model. This is using one of the quilted maple sets and will be trimmed with Cocobolo. I am also finishing up the BRW Greta and will shoot a bunch of pictures before I send it off to the finisher. In the meantime here are some pictures of the start of the Josie:



I am just tickled with the amount of symmetry of figure these maple sets have:



Here I am gluing in the Cocobolo center strip and a picture with it in:





Thanks for viewing!
Mark

[theEdwinson]

WOW. That Maple is out of this world! The 3-D depth of the quilt almost looks hallucinatory.
Using Cocobolo for appointments on this Maple is an inspired choice. This Josie is going to be insanely hot!

[Hierophant]

These are exactly my thoughts. Thank God that this wood becomes a guitar!

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by theEdwinson

WOW. That Maple is out of this world! The 3-D depth of the quilt almost looks hallucinatory.
Using Cocobolo for appointments on this Maple is an inspired choice. This Josie is going to be insanely hot!

Originally Posted by Hierophant

These are exactly my thoughts. Thank God that this wood becomes a guitar!

Thanks Steve and Hierophant!,

It really is a pleasure to work with such beautiful woods. I have big plans for doing some new design accents with the Cocobolo. I am trying to emulate the curving nature of the maple figure throughout the guitars design.

Thanks Again!
Mark

[lizzard]

That is some of the nicest quilt I have ever seen (and I've been a PRS guy since the mid '80s)

GLWTB. (did I just coin that one?)

Chris

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by lizzard

That is some of the nicest quilt I have ever seen (and I've been a PRS guy since the mid '80s)

GLWTB. (did I just coin that one?)

Chris

Thanks lizard!,

The figure certainly is a distraction to work with.
You may have just coined GLWTB but then, I don't know what it means?

Mark

[cigarfan]

Good Luck With The Build

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by cigarfan

Good Luck With The Build

Thanks cigarfan and lizard!

Mark

[dbradfie]

I thought it was:

Guitars Like i Want To Buy

[TomB'sox]

I thought it was dietary: "Go lightly with the bernaise"

[ross748]

THAT IS one sweet block of Maple!

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by dbradfie

I thought it was:

Guitars Like i Want To Buy

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

I thought it was dietary: "Go lightly with the bernaise"

Originally Posted by ross748

THAT IS one sweet block of Maple!

Thanks! That was sort of helpful

[Mark Hatcher]

I am very happy with how my 2nd show spec guitar is shaping up. I have previously written that this will be my effort to make, what I feel is the best sounding guitar I can make with a leaning toward making it a performance guitar. While putting all the elements together in this project I started thinking about who would be the best luthier I can imagine, so here goes:

The best luthier would be a combination of different characteristics of the three luthiers I respect the most. This builder would have the knowledge base and sense of humor of Alan Carruth, the application skills of Ervin Somogyi, and attitude of Bruce Sexaur.

The knowledge base of Alan Carruth is obvious. I think every new builder should search and the read everything he has ever written on this forum. I say his sense of humor because of the way he deals with all the ambiguity all of this knowledge brings.

The application skills of Ervin Somogyi because of his ability to so artfully maneuver each step of building.

The attitude of Bruce Sexaur because of his clear vision brought on in part because of his intolerance for false enthusiasm.

Your opinion may vary but, there it is. We're lucky to have them!

[Mark Hatcher]

I've got a lot of clean up to do and fret work but here is how I am coming along on the second show spec:







You can see a lot of the wooly mammoth ivory and tusk back that I am working into this design. The corner markers are mammoth ivory and you can see the heal cap and truss rod cover are mammoth tusk bark. In the picture of the headstock you can see the two pieces of bark I intend to draw the nut and saddle from. An interesting thing about the bark besides, the textures and colors, is after 10 or 20 thousand years it has started to fossilize a bit and is somewhat harder than the inner core ivory. I intend to use that to an advantage in pairing it with the way I voiced the Western Red Cedar top.

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

[Nemoman]

Beautiful work as always, Mark. Really like how the sapwood on the sides trims things out. And the headstock knocks it out of the park!

The cocobolo trim on the surreal maple guitar is stunning as well.

Thanks so much for sharing your craft with us.