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#61
08-07-2015, 02:46 PM
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… 
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#62
08-09-2015, 07:22 PM
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Mark has joined the Engelmann Spruce top and installed the figured Brazilian Rosewood rosette...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 08-10-2015 at 05:20 AM. Reason: spelling
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#63
08-09-2015, 08:10 PM
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Yup, she's handsome for sure, Bob!
Thanks for posting these shots, Steve
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#64
08-09-2015, 09:00 PM
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Look at that silking...oh, so sweet! 
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Martin 00-18G; Waterloo WL-S; Furch: V1 OOM-SR, Green G-SR, Blue OM-CM; Tahoe Guitar Co.: OM (Adi/Hog), 000-12 (Carp/FG Mahog), 00-12 (Carp/Sinker Mahog), 00-14 (Adi/Ovangkol); In the night you hide from the madman You're longing to be But it all comes out on the inside Eventually
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#65
08-10-2015, 05:18 AM
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#66
08-10-2015, 07:55 PM
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Graduating the Top
Mark graduated the Thickness of the Engelmann Spruce top today. He felt that he managed to get "nice mode shapes" very close to his target frequencies with this top set. In Mark's building style, he feels "the tone is in the top", so he spends a bunch of time selecting tops with target densities and stiffness ratios based on 1) the size of the guitar and 2) the players style and goals for the instrument. He refines the tops by using Chladni free-plate tuning to guide his graduating the thickness of his tops pre-bracing. Methodical and detailed note taking over the years has provided him with the ability to understand how these patterns relate to how the guitar may sound when completed.
The cross dipole tells Mark information about the cross stiffness of regions of the top. The Chladni pattern was ‘open’ (lines ran off the edges of the top) when the top was a uniform thickness. Graduating the top thickness 'closed’ the mode. From experience, he knows when the top is glued to the sides, it will be forced into a closed shape. In Mark's experience, when a top wants to do that anyway, the finished guitar will be a more efficient. He targets 250Hz on this one, but some of the other modes were slightly below target, so he stopped sweeping at 255Hz. He will keep this in mind when he does the bracing.  The final thickness just in front of the bridge position is 0.135”. The edges of the top by the rims are much thinner. Some parts of this top have as much as 0.040” of graduation. This approach balances efficiency and headroom.  Here Mark is laying out an approximation of his symmetrical, non-scalloped bracing pattern onto the top.  More when I get it...
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 08-11-2015 at 03:20 AM. Reason: wording
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#67
08-10-2015, 08:35 PM
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Fabulous update, so informative! Mark is a master.
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#68
08-11-2015, 07:28 AM
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For those of you interested, Mark has a wonderful "hands on" 68 slide presentation covering his approach to free plate tuning in his guitar making available for purchase on his website. (http://www.blanchardguitars.com/guit...hladni_buy.php). This is a synopsis of a talk that he gave at the 2007 Healdsburg Guitar Festival on the subject.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#69
08-11-2015, 06:57 PM
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Raw Bracing...
Mark glued on his bracing and bridge plate to the Engelmann Sprucetop today. You can see the raw layout of his symmetrical bracing pattern and plate finger braces. For the most part, Mark uses Red Spruce for his bracing. The sound hole reinforcement is crafted from Norway Spruce (scrap from a prior guitar's top). The bridge plate is a laminate of Sugar Maple and Brazilian Rosewood. Visually, I like how the arch of the bottom of the bridge plate flows into the finger braces.
I suspect the chisels will come out tomorrow and the voicing will continue... 
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 08-14-2015 at 02:42 PM.
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#70
08-14-2015, 02:41 PM
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Carving the Top Braces
Mark finished his symmetrical top brace carving this morning.
He related to me that these smaller sized tops like a Pinyon are a bit "trickier" to interpret purely with the Chladni patterns. The modes influenced mostly by the edge of the top tend get confounded with modes that provide insight into what’s going on stiffness wise in the center of the top. It’s difficult for him to tell "what is what" because the modes can interact and create odd patterns. In the end, Mark used his ear and luthier skills as much as the free-plate tuning to sort it all out and finish the brace carve. Mark uses a 30' radius dish for his top braces. Remember the rims and linings are shaped to a shallower 47' radius. The top cleaned up nicely! Here is the before and after shots side by side...  I was talking to Mark about the whole hot hide glue vs. tightbond argument when gluing up braces to a top and he showed me his answer to the age old debate in lutherie... 
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#71
08-14-2015, 08:17 PM
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That's what Torres used. Still works a charm.
Steve
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#72
08-15-2015, 04:59 AM
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Quote:
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#73
08-15-2015, 07:20 AM
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Side-by-Side...
I want to thank Derek for sharing the build photos of his 2002 Blanchard Bristlecone in the thread that he posted:
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=397060 It is very rare to be able to see the work of a luthier side-by-side with 13-years of work in between them. Lutherie is an empirical journey of experimentation and trial and error. Mark's top bracing has evolved from a very traditional, scalloped x-brace, tone bar, finger braced approach to his non-scalloped, symmetrical bracing pattern, ladder brace type tone bars, flat plate finger brace scheme of today.  Despite these profound structural differences, Both are beautifully crafted and it is my suspicion is they both will sound very much like a "Blanchard".
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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#75
08-17-2015, 08:18 PM
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Manzer Wedge
Yesterday, Mark glued the Engelmann Spruce top to the Madagascar Rosewood rims. Today he cut the Manzer Wedge using the same side trimming router fixture that he used to dish the top linings and rims, but set up differently. This time the back edge is being cut and the mold is jacked up on one side to create the wedge.
 The Pinyon ended up at about 4-3/8” deep on the treble side and 3-5/8” deep on the bass side. It’s roughly 4-1/8” at the tail block and 3-1/2” at the neck block. With the top glued on and no back, the body Mark said that it already feels very responsive. It has a nice, sustaining, ‘ping’ when tapped at the bridge location.  Here’s the body ready to receive the back. The back can be seen having it’s ladder braces glued in the background on his go-bar deck. You can see the 30' radius to the braces can be seen.
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings…
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