Hatcher's Studio 2020

[Mark Hatcher]

Correction

Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher

The Brazilian Rosewood came from a retiring luthier up here in New Hampshire. I believe he got it from H L Wild Luthier Supplies in NYC which closed in the mid 1970s

Mark

I got a pm from the luthier I bought the Brazilian Rosewood from. It came from Tom Thiel here in the North East and it was sourced “way back when” from Steinway Piano company

Sorry about that, just want to set the record straight!

Thanks Mark

[Lonzo]

Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher

Correction



I got a pm from the luthier I bought the Brazilian Rosewood from. It came from Tom Thiel here in the North East and it was sourced “way back when” from Steinway Piano company

Sorry about that, just want to set the record straight!

Thanks Mark

.. so you really get a steinway woodsman ... not so bad

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Lonzo

.. so you really get a steinway woodsman ... not so bad

I won’t say that Steinway BRW enhances that piano like sound. Well, I guess I just did! I am kidding of course, I wanted to be the first to say it though!

Mark

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Won't be long we'll be seeing this beauty in person!

But at 3 lbs. 11 oz. I think we'll have a hard time holding it down--it'll want to just keep floating away!

Amazing work--congrats, Stan and kudos, Mark!

Thanks Nemoman!

Mark

[Mark Hatcher]

Back to the Redwood and Claro Greta I'm working on. It's always an exciting time when I'm closing up the box. With this guitar there is a lot of prep as I'll need to have parts the channels set for the top purfling by the sound port and the arm bevel. In these pictures I'm showing how I am leaving space for the top purfling around the throated port:





Meanwhile we've decided to go with the two toned Amboyna burl on the arm rest done similarly to the rosette:





So the top and back are set to be glued on. First up is the back:



Thanks for viewing!
Mark

[Lonzo]

I love how this evolves.. the colors, the patterns, the shapes... can‘t stop looking at those pics.

[Mark Hatcher]

Here is the Greta body being closed up. The pictures are pretty self explanatory:













Thanks for viewing!
Mark

[Mark Hatcher]

Here are a couple pictures of the end graft setting up:





The binding will be Black Ebony and the arm bevel will have the same mix of Amboyna burl framed in the Black Ebony.

With the tremendous amount of figure on the top, back and burl all over the place I'm depending on the solid Black Ebony to frame it all in so it doesn't end up looking like mush from a few feet away.

[Nemoman]

That end wedge is awesome, Mark--the lines of it tie in beautifully with the throated port!

This will all look lovely with the black ebony to set it off...

[Lonzo]

Fantastic !
The black and the fine lines set the burl off wonderfully and accentuate the colors and arbitrary patterns of it nicely... the burl drop shape in that end wedge also ties in with the pattern on the lower back... not coincidentally I suspect.

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Nemoman

That end wedge is awesome, Mark--the lines of it tie in beautifully with the throated port!

This will all look lovely with the black ebony to set it off...

Thanks Nemoman, I normally would have done just a solid Black Ebony end graft but the burl is working out well so...

Originally Posted by Lonzo

Fantastic !
The black and the fine lines set the burl off wonderfully and accentuate the colors and arbitrary patterns of it nicely... the burl drop shape in that end wedge also ties in with the pattern on the lower back... not coincidentally I suspect.

That’s what nice about doing one-off custom work, you can act on the opportunities as they arise!

Mark

[Mark Hatcher]

I have the binding and purfling all bent and ready to install next week. In addition to the Black Ebony binding there will be black and Maple side purfling.



On the top there will be Bacon figured African Padauk radial purfling bordered by fine line black-Maple-black purfling lines. This will be similar to the set-up I had on this Cedar/Koa guitar:



Thanks for viewing!
Mark

[Mark Hatcher]

I have over twenty five different species of woods suitable for fretboards. We went through a number of candidates that might go with this Greta and narrowed it down to three:



The color is OK for any of these. The Katalox has a nice earthy brown and the contrast with the rest of the guitar is it's lack of figure. It would have the Black Ebony binding with Maple purfling and I feel it would be a great wood to use if we were using it for a background on a fretboard with a lot of inlay work.

The Ziricote color picks up nicely on the grays of the Claro Walnut and the black of the binding and would help tie that all together. Maybe all that figure is a little too much on a guitar with such figured tonewoods.

The Macassar Ebony has browns that fit in nicely and the black grain lines again tie into the Ebony trim.

So we eliminated the Katalox because we're not planning a lot of inlay and placed another Ziricote fretboard blank with a little less figure:



Here we have a winner. This is a big fretboard blank so there is room to move it around to get the best position for the figure inside the profile:



We'll likely go with a Ziricote bridge to got with the fretboard.

I'd also like to point out something I've been working on from the start on this guitar. With the throated port positioned correctly it gives the impression of the guitar having a double cut away. The pointy Florentine cut away on the right and rounded Venetian on the left. I have to say it is a trick to get the line from the Venetian side to line up and flow well across to the Florentine side. When the binding and purfling are all in and the fretboard is on this will be even more evident. Anyway, I'm proud of how this is coming out

Thanks for reading all that!
Mark

[Guitars44me]

This one is really a beauty! But ALL of your guitars are beautiful.

Looking foreword to seeing that burl on the armrest !!!

Have FUN

Paul

[Lonzo]

Originally Posted by Guitars44me

This one is really a beauty! But ALL of your guitars are beautiful.

Looking foreword to seeing that burl on the armrest !!!

Have FUN

Paul

.. that armrest burl with black lining is something I look forward to as well...
never thought about the venetian/florentine combo in terms of the apparent lines
.. but te „S“-shape should match well with the top of the headstock and possibly the soundhole end of the fretboard.. very consistent !