Mark Blanchard - Sugar Pine [“Lucky Strike” Redwood | Carved, Curly Black Walnut]

[eKat]

Bob, that rosette is perfectly undertated and elegant, not unlike a fine men's dress shirt. It's gonna set the vibe for the entire guitar.

Keep the magic alive!

[iim7V7IM7]

Kathy, we actually are matching what we did on my Bristlecone back in 2021 (below right). That guitar had an Italian Spruce top, so we used darker flamed Koa for the outer rings. Since the Redwood top on the Sugar Pine has a darker hue, curly Sugar Maple was used to stand out. The center ring being a bit thinner than Mark’s signature rosette, it is a bit lighter visually.

Originally Posted by eKat

Bob, that rosette is perfectly undertated and elegant, not unlike a fine men's dress shirt. It's gonna set the vibe for the entire guitar.

Keep the magic alive!

[eKat]

Right on, Bob!

I love how they play off one another. They're both beautifully understated. I'm thrilled with this custom Sugar Pine, it's not gonna be a record breaker, it's gonna be a record setter. It's so perfectly Blanchard!

YAY!

[iim7V7IM7]

After completing the rough graduating the top using a graduation board and his wide belt sander using 120 grit belt, Mark continued to refine the top using a scraper and a hard sanding block with 240 grit paper. The top was further thinned to about 0.125” between the sound hole and bridge plate. He finishes the surface using a scraper to ensure a high integrity gluing surface.

After cutting the sound hole and installing the rosette, Mark observed through his Chladni patterns that the long grain stiffness had been significantly reduced (why guitars fold in 1/2 under the load of the strings!). He installed a Spruce sound hole reinforcement plate to adjust for this. He laminates this reinforcement with a thin lower layer cross grain to the top with a thicker upper layer aligned with the top’s long grain. He then reduces the thickness of the top layer of the reinforcement until two of the Chladni patterns relating to the cross and long grain stiffness return to where he wants.

Here is the graduated LS Redwood top with the Adirondack Spruce x-braces being Titebond 1 glued to it in his 30’ dish being held in place under the force of stiff Hickory go-bars.

[iim7V7IM7]

Mark continues to glue in Adirondack Spruce braces to the LS Redwood top. Here you can see the X-brace, Sound Hole Reinforcement Plate, Upper Transverse and Popsicle braces have been installed. Mark uses a laminated Maple/Brazilian Rosewood Bridge Plate. In this shot you can see the tremendous clamping pressure from Hickory rods in his go-bar deck bearing down on the Bridge Plate.

[Steve Kinnaird]

I dunno, looks like he scrimped on the go bars…

🤪

[iim7V7IM7]

Tall Adirondack Spruce braces and the laminated Maple/Brazilian Rosewood bridge plate are in place ready for the carving process to begin and for Mark to find the future guitar’s “voice”. Mark’s pattern is reminiscent of in some respects to Jean Larivee’s in its configuration. Where it differs is in his selection of tops by long-grain to cross-grain stiffness ratio, top thickness contouring and their shaping with the assistance of Chladni patterns to dial them in.

[iim7V7IM7]

Here is the LS Redwood top with some partial carving of the Adirondack Spruce braces that are beginning to resemble their final shape, but the ring mode while starting to take shape is not yet where he wants it. They are still too wide and high and he will need to take some time to refine them. He will probably carve and check patterns 50 or more times over several days before he’s satisfied with the result.

[SColumbusSt]

I always appreciate your threads. It is so interesting to see how different luthiers go about things in different ways.

[iim7V7IM7]

Thank you…

Originally Posted by SColumbusSt

I always appreciate your threads. It is so interesting to see how different luthiers go about things in different ways.

[iim7V7IM7]

Mark has been fine tuning the top bracing and his Chladni pattern #6 is getting more to where he wants it.

Pattern #6 is now more round and closed below the sound hole. The pencil lines illustrate where the pattern was before the current brace adjustments. Mark also said that the tap tones had improved. He uses both feedback methods when refining a top. Tapping allows him to hear the mix of resonances and sustain, whereas Chladni uses one frequency at a time.

Chladni reveals how well formed the mode shapes are which he feels correlates to efficiency. Correspondingly, the tap tones become more clear when the shapes are good, but it’s pretty subjective. Chladni patterns leave no doubt. They spell it out in black and white.

[BlueBowman]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

He will probably carve and check patterns 50 or more times over several days before he’s satisfied with the result.

This sentence alone is enough to raise awareness of the time spent in voicing a top on a solo build. The attention to detail…just incredible.


And awesome stuff as usual, Bob. Great pics of the mountains and the build! Must surely be an inspiring place for the creative mind

I know Bob posted about this already, but I just listened (actually twice) to Mark’s recent episode on the Luthier on Luthier podcast. Definitely one of my favorites, as they dive deep on the building process. I find it interesting that he likes to leave his tops thicker than most luthiers (in a world where thinner is usually sought after). Hard to pin point anything in a guitar, but I’ve heard another luthier mention leaving the top a bit thicker can result in more “musical trebles.” No idea if that’s true, and totally subjective, yes, but I find it interesting nonetheless. Anyway, I highly recommend giving the episode a listen.

[iim7V7IM7]

Owning a few of Mark’s guitars, and having witnessed his building approach before, Mark has a three stage process for his tops:

1) For any given model in his top selection he looks for a specific ratio between the long-grain and cross-grain stiffness. The same top that is a good candidate for a smaller model may not be suitable for his larger models.

2) Mark’s tops are contoured in their thickness. The center section running from the fretboard through the sound hole to the bridge is typically around 0.130” (thick as you say). His tops are contoured quite a bit as they radiate out towards their perimeters and not necessarily symmetrically. On my Bristlecone for example by the widest point on the lower bout it is 0.098” on the low E string side and 0.110” on the high E string side. Over the end block, it is thinned to 0.095”. In addition, his tops are braced to a 30’ dish radius, but when they are glued to the rims, the linings have a flatter 48’ radius creating a compound curvature. He uses Chladni and tap tuning to get the top where he wants BEFORE any bracing begins.

3) Mark’s bracing process is a slow empirical approach as I mentioned in my prior post, using both Chladni and tap tuning to get it where he wants it. He typically uses Red Spruce for his braces, adjusting their height and width based on the individual top being braced. His sound hole reinforcement is cross-grain laminated and his bridge plates are rift mismatched Maple/Brazilian Rosewood.

No matter which of his models that you choose or back and side wood, he is a big believer in “the tone is in the top”. If you choose the wrong set, no amount of contouring or bracing can adjust for this.

Episode 92

https://luthieronluthier.libsyn.com/

Originally Posted by BlueBowman

This sentence alone is enough to raise awareness of the time spent in voicing a top on a solo build. The attention to detail…just incredible.


And awesome stuff as usual, Bob. Great pics of the mountains and the build! Must surely be an inspiring place for the creative mind

I know Bob posted about this already, but I just listened (actually twice) to Mark’s recent episode on the Luthier on Luthier podcast. Definitely one of my favorites, as they dive deep on the building process. I find it interesting that he likes to leave his tops thicker than most luthiers (in a world where thinner is usually sought after). Hard to pin point anything in a guitar, but I’ve heard another luthier mention leaving the top a bit thicker can result in more “musical trebles.” No idea if that’s true, and totally subjective, yes, but I find it interesting nonetheless. Anyway, I highly recommend giving the episode a listen.

[BlueBowman]

Thanks for the added information!

Looking forward to future posts

[iim7V7IM7]

Mark has finished bracing the sound board. The Red Spruce braces added only 46 grams (about 1.6 oz) of weight to the LS Redwood top. The top is contoured, being thickest between the sound hole and the bridge and asymmetrically tapers between 0.013”-0.028” towards the perimeter of the lower bout. He was pleased where both the Chladni patterns and tap tones ended up.