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  #16  
Old 02-13-2022, 03:18 PM
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An interesting build Mark. I’m looking forward to the pics of this in progress.
The Amazon rosewood is very nice
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  #17  
Old 02-14-2022, 05:36 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemoman View Post
Wow--look at that silking!

Up close it's got a Pacific Northwest totem pole vibe going on!
Thanks Nemoman, Top woods normally don’t look as colorful or flamboyant as their hardwood back and side companions but the closer you look the more you see in softwoods.

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Originally Posted by j. Kinnaird View Post
An interesting build Mark. I’m looking forward to the pics of this in progress.
The Amazon rosewood is very nice
Thanks John, great to have you along!

m
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  #18  
Old 02-14-2022, 04:24 PM
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Smile SILKY!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemoman View Post
Wow--look at that silking!

Up close it's got a Pacific Northwest totem pole vibe going on!
That is some spectacular Sitka.

I am digging this a lot

Paul
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  #19  
Old 02-15-2022, 10:12 AM
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Originally Posted by TomB'sox View Post
Congratulations on the new model Mark. With the sound you got from a bit smaller box, I can't imagine the low end on this one.
No kidding! Will be some hair blown back on whoever sits across the sound hole of this beast.
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  #20  
Old 02-17-2022, 08:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Guitars44me View Post
That is some spectacular Sitka.

I am digging this a lot

Paul
Thanks Paul, glad you are following along!

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Originally Posted by Dustinfurlow View Post
No kidding! Will be some hair blown back on whoever sits across the sound hole of this beast.
Thanks Dustin, dreadnoughts do roar!
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  #21  
Old 02-19-2022, 11:16 AM
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Default Fretboard and Trim

I've been planning to do most of the trim wood in Black Ebony but I wanted to use Desert Ironwood or Snakewood for the fretboard and possibly the headplate and bridge. The color of these woods I have in stock were just too close to my existing tonewood colors, too much brown!

As these things sometimes go I got an e-mail from someone on the West coast saying his deceased grandfather (Dutch), who was a wood carver, had this stash of 30+ yrs old Ironwood. The grandson thought it would be good if this Ironwood would go into a sculpture or musical instrument as an honor to his grandfather's memory and his love for the art of working with wood.

There was this section of a log that had been sliced into cuts mostly large enough for fretboards and some left over large enough for bridges, headstock overlays and maybe tuner buttons. As good things like this happen the wood is much lighter in color than my current stock and just full of the wonderful gold fleck shimmer unique to this beautiful wood.

Here's some pics:







This last picture shows one of the slices roughed out to size. It is when you sand it flat and dry buff it that the gold flecks really come to life:



I'm thinking gold EVO frets will work wonderfully here.

m
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  #22  
Old 02-19-2022, 01:03 PM
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That's some beautiful Desert Ironwood! I think gold EVO frets will complement that fretboard nicely!
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  #23  
Old 02-19-2022, 01:29 PM
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Looks awesome, Mark, what a find.
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  #24  
Old 02-19-2022, 03:05 PM
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Default HL WILD!!

Aloha Mark,

Nice, creative build plan & woods as usual. I look forward to your always excellent visual record of your process. But what really interested me was your mention of sourcing the Amazon RW from H.L. Wild's in NYC. Now that's a blast from the past!

I used to make the trek through the bleak landscape to find all kinds of great, unexpected luthier effluvia in that little shop. I especially loved the specialized little tools I couldn't find anywhere else. I still own a brass & BRW hand purfling/binding cutter I got there.

Wild's was on South side of East 11th Street in the Bowery if I recall, right? - in the kind of scary neighborhood that was littered with burned out cars & syringes back then. H.L. Wild's front door was always locked (by appointment only) & they had about 5-6 German Shepherds guarding that front door, which had American flags plastered all over it. Ha! An elderly woman ran the shop.

Oh, the things we do & places we go to find tonewoods, huh? H.L. Wild's was the only source in town back in the 60's & 70's. Used to score decent "off" BRW sets there for well under $100 bucks. Matching one-piece BRW necks too for classicals.

All these memories come bubbling up from your mention of H.L Wild. Thanks for those Mark. Have fun with this build. BTW, did you ever go to the Folkway when you lived in "Our Town" or was it already closed by then? What a musical venue-gathering place that was. And such a cool little, literate town. I almost built a luthier shop up the road in a converted barn overlooking Norway Pond in lovely Hancock many years ago.

All the best to you, Mark! Thanks for sharing your eye, your attention to woods & detail, your love of handtools, & your photographic talents (hard to capture lighting & figure on tonewoods) with us over the years. Excellent! H.L. Wild?!? Sheesh!

A Hui Hou!
alohachris

Last edited by alohachris; 02-19-2022 at 03:22 PM.
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  #25  
Old 02-20-2022, 09:33 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by canuck7 View Post
That's some beautiful Desert Ironwood! I think gold EVO frets will complement that fretboard nicely!
Thanks, it came at a good time!

Quote:
Originally Posted by dcn View Post
Looks awesome, Mark, what a find.
Thanks dcn, it sure was!

Quote:
Originally Posted by alohachris View Post
Aloha Mark,

Nice, creative build plan & woods as usual. I look forward to your always excellent visual record of your process. But what really interested me was your mention of sourcing the Amazon RW from H.L. Wild's in NYC. Now that's a blast from the past!

I used to make the trek through the bleak landscape to find all kinds of great, unexpected luthier effluvia in that little shop. I especially loved the specialized little tools I couldn't find anywhere else. I still own a brass & BRW hand purfling/binding cutter I got there.

Wild's was on South side of East 11th Street in the Bowery if I recall, right? - in the kind of scary neighborhood that was littered with burned out cars & syringes back then. H.L. Wild's front door was always locked (by appointment only) & they had about 5-6 German Shepherds guarding that front door, which had American flags plastered all over it. Ha! An elderly woman ran the shop.

Oh, the things we do & places we go to find tonewoods, huh? H.L. Wild's was the only source in town back in the 60's & 70's. Used to score decent "off" BRW sets there for well under $100 bucks. Matching one-piece BRW necks too for classicals.

All these memories come bubbling up from your mention of H.L Wild. Thanks for those Mark. Have fun with this build. BTW, did you ever go to the Folkway when you lived in "Our Town" or was it already closed by then? What a musical venue-gathering place that was. And such a cool little, literate town. I almost built a luthier shop up the road in a converted barn overlooking Norway Pond in lovely Hancock many years ago.

All the best to you, Mark! Thanks for sharing your eye, your attention to woods & detail, your love of handtools, & your photographic talents (hard to capture lighting & figure on tonewoods) with us over the years. Excellent! H.L. Wild?!? Sheesh!

A Hui Hou!
alohachris
Glad to spark some fond memories!

The Folkway was gone before I got to NH. There are still shows organized by the same people.

The H.L.Wild was gone before I started building guitars but I know it had a long history and was certainly the only game in town for the luthiers of the '60s and '70s. One of whom was Steven Warshaw who started at Martin and later worked with Gurian. He made a lot of classic guitars and some steel string. He retired a couple years ago and was selling his wood stash. I got some of the oldest that he had which he said he bought from H.L.Wild:



It was five Black Ebony fretboards and six jumbo Amazon Rosewood sets. I was very excited to add these to my wood locker. Back in the 60s Amazon Rosewood was not distinguished from Brazilian Rosewood. They can look very similar. The giveaway is Amazon is a bit heavier than Brazilian. It is about the same weight as Cocobolo. To me sound wise it falls between Brazilian and African Blackwood where Cocobolo falls between Brazilian and Ebony.

Amazon Rosewood trees are usually not very large so to get quarter sawn straight grained jumbo size sets is a very rare find. Plus, the age of these sets is a big deal.

The fretboards were a good find. Now if I have a client who says, "You just can't get good Black Ebony like you used to" I can say, "Oh,Yes you can!"

m
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Last edited by Mark Hatcher; 02-23-2022 at 04:58 AM.
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  #26  
Old 02-20-2022, 11:15 AM
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Smile Great woods!!!

I love those fretboard blanks! Big fan of desert ironwood, at least on my JKs. And, yes, the gold EVO frets will sure look good on these!

Glad you have a fine stash of woods !!! Many folks will enjoy the soulful sounds they will make…

Always beautiful pics, too

Have FUN building

Paul
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3 John Kinnaird SS 12c CUSTOMS:
Big Maple/Cedar Dread
Jumbo Spanish Cedar/WRC
Jumbo OLD Brazilian RW/WRC

R.T 2 12c sinker RW/Claro
96 422ce bought new!
96 LKSM 12
552ce 12x12

J. Stepick Bari Weissy WRC/Walnut

More
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  #27  
Old 02-21-2022, 09:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Guitars44me View Post
I love those fretboard blanks! Big fan of desert ironwood, at least on my JKs. And, yes, the gold EVO frets will sure look good on these!

Glad you have a fine stash of woods !!! Many folks will enjoy the soulful sounds they will make…

Always beautiful pics, too

Have FUN building

Paul
Thanks Paul! I've been building up my supply of Snakewood and Desert Ironwood. They are both hard on tools and a pain to work with but their toughness is exactly why they are the two best trim and fretboard woods.

m
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Last edited by Mark Hatcher; 02-22-2022 at 08:21 AM.
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  #28  
Old 02-21-2022, 09:17 AM
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Default Red Jasper Rosette

In keeping with the more subdued look of my first Dryad dreadnought I choose Red Jasper for the center ring:



Jasper is about at the hardness limit that I am tooled up for. As you can see I selected some stones with veins of quartz which is even harder but I want the added character:



I find the best way for now for me to make these stone rosettes is to completely make the rosette before inlaying it into the soundboard. This is because when sanding the stone the sand coming off of it destroys the softwood tonewood. So I inlay the finished rosette about .005" deeper than the soundboard surface and then once it is set I bring the soundboard surface down to the rosette level.

This also gives me the opportunity to really see how it will look before committing to inlaying it:



And in she goes!



m
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  #29  
Old 02-21-2022, 08:47 PM
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Mark, that Red Jasper ring is very pretty, and comes off as very intricate, with all that detail.
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  #30  
Old 02-23-2022, 04:43 AM
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Mark, that Red Jasper ring is very pretty, and comes off as very intricate, with all that detail.
Thanks kkrell! I think it works well with the rest of the colors on this guitar.

Here it is out of the go bar deck, cleaned up and the sound hole cut:





m
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