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  #286  
Old 11-09-2015, 07:54 PM
Zandit75 Zandit75 is offline
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Beautiful Mark, great choice of timbers!
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  #287  
Old 11-09-2015, 08:02 PM
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That purfling really is special.
  #288  
Old 11-10-2015, 05:14 AM
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Originally Posted by jaymarsch View Post
Another beauty, Mark! I look forward to seeing under finish as well. I love me some cedar and pairing it with walnut is a nice combo.

Best,
Jayne
Thanks Jayne,

There really is something special about the cedar/walnut combination. It makes for a very light, responsive, and versatile guitar.

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Beautiful Mark, great choice of timbers!
Thanks! There are quite a few different woods on this guitar that were selected quite intentionally. I've mentioned it before but, part of my planning is to set the perspective wood selections up on the bench at the back of my shop. They are always in view yet out of the way. I place and pull different candidate woods in passing throughout the day and it seems to come together quite naturally that way. I should call that back wall "The Dart Board". It's really filling up now. I've scheduled a number of builds to bring to future shows so I'm working on all of my models in a range of options.

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That purfling really is special.
Thanks, that Zebrawood makes great radial purfling. Kind of a natural wood sparkle.

Mark
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  #289  
Old 11-11-2015, 03:39 PM
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Default So I was Thinking

Dano's guitar was sent off to the finisher and I've started working on building up a number of spec guitars so that I can do a couple shows. I got to thinking
(uh oh)
I was thinking it would be nice to have a prospective customer play what I would consider a pretty well balanced guitar but, have them wear headphones and listen through an equalizer. They could then adjust the equalizer to what sounds best to them. Then I would try to make them that guitar. It could possibly bring out areas in the tonal range they favor and it may also bring out frequency ranges that they were particularly sensitive or insensitive to.
I would make recommendations to which model and wood selections and I'd work to voice the guitar to match (to the best of my ability) what their preference was.

Seems like a pretty simple test unless the right channel on the equalizer was set grossly different from the left channel. I guess the best solution for that would be to make them two guitars!

What do you think of that idea?

Mark
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Last edited by Mark Hatcher; 11-11-2015 at 08:25 PM.
  #290  
Old 11-11-2015, 04:06 PM
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Any time I start thinking, I get in trouble!!! Even so, this seems like a pretty nice idea. Not sure how you adjust for any kind of sustain, for more or less as desired, or any other qualities, but it would certainly help you drill down more closely to what someone would like to hear out of a finished guitar.
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  #291  
Old 11-11-2015, 04:11 PM
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Originally Posted by mikealpine View Post
Any time I start thinking, I get in trouble!!! Even so, this seems like a pretty nice idea. Not sure how you adjust for any kind of sustain, for more or less as desired, or any other qualities, but it would certainly help you drill down more closely to what someone would like to hear out of a finished guitar.
You're right, there are a number of things this wouldn't help with like sustain, also responsiveness. It would really only be a way to help gauge tonal balance. However, it would probably be more helpful than a request for a "textured bass, choir like trebles, and dynamite mids".
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  #292  
Old 11-11-2015, 04:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher View Post
You're right, there are a number of things this wouldn't help with like sustain, also responsiveness. It would really only be a way to help gauge tonal balance. However, it would probably be more helpful than a request for a "textured bass, choir like trebles, and dynamite mids".
Interesting concept, but I was also wondering about sustain, attack, decay, note separation vs blending of notes, focus, presence, clarity, etc. Seems the E/Q would only deal with ampliltude over the frequency spectrum.
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  #293  
Old 11-11-2015, 04:21 PM
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Interesting concept, but I was also wondering about sustain, attack, decay, note separation vs blending of notes, focus, presence, clarity, etc. Seems the E/Q would only deal with ampliltude over the frequency spectrum.
Your right, it would not be a test for any of those aspects. It also would not accommodate the infinite variables that a person's perception goes through from moment to moment effected by mood, medications, recent exposure to noise, attention, blood pressure, anxiety, etc.
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  #294  
Old 11-11-2015, 04:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher View Post
You're right, there are a number of things this wouldn't help with like sustain, also responsiveness. It would really only be a way to help gauge tonal balance. However, it would probably be more helpful than a request for a "textured bass, choir like trebles, and dynamite mids".
Yes, as I said, I agree that it does get you closer than words alone will. I had an interesting experience I posted elsewhere when I was having my Stehr built. Someone else had posted a link with three different sound samples. I listened and found one that I really liked. I sent the three samples to Joel and asked, based on our conversations, which did he think I liked most. His answer was, I think you like [sample A], but my guitars really sound more like [sample B]. I actually liked the one that he said his guitars sound like, so all worked out well, but it highlighted that, as hard as I tried to verbalize what I was hoping to achieve, I didn't adequately explain it. If you do what you're proposing, it might provide a really good starting point.
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  #295  
Old 11-11-2015, 05:05 PM
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I like your thinking outside the box.

I have a hard time seeing something like that work.

My suggestion, though impractical for other reasons, is for you to have a dozen different guitars to play. Then the client could say, I like this about this one or I like this about that one.

No fancy inlays or rosettes or purfling required.

Just pure tone examples.

I'm sure you could put that dozen together in no time at all.
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  #296  
Old 11-11-2015, 08:02 PM
SJ VanSandt SJ VanSandt is offline
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Originally Posted by dbradfie View Post
I like your thinking outside the box.

I have a hard time seeing something like that work.

My suggestion, though impractical for other reasons, is for you to have a dozen different guitars to play. Then the client could say, I like this about this one or I like this about that one.

No fancy inlays or rosettes or purfling required.

Just pure tone examples.

I'm sure you could put that dozen together in no time at all.
I like this idea - I think all luthiers should do that. Just take a year out of your schedule and get to work on your range of samples. We customers would really appreciate it.
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  #297  
Old 11-11-2015, 10:31 PM
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I like this idea - I think all luthiers should do that. Just take a year out of your schedule and get to work on your range of samples. We customers would really appreciate it.
Sounds like you'd welcome the opportunity to financially support a luthier for a year while they experiment.
  #298  
Old 11-12-2015, 05:02 AM
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Thanks for the input everyone. I guess this points to the best way for getting to know someone's preferences is to put a guitar in their hand and ask what do you like and what would you change. So having a number of my guitars on hand would be a great help for studio visits as well as shows.

I had written earlier that I have scheduled 4 builds already. Here is what I am planning this winter to work on;

Pina Parlor with quilted Redwood on flamed Claro Walnut

Penelope 12 fret with Swiss Spruce on Black Gabon Ebony

Greta grand auditorium with Western Red Cedar on BRW

Josie small jumbo with quilted and bear claw Sitka on quilted Big Leaf Maple

I think that, while there may not be 12, this is a pretty good assortment of what I do. There will be a lot of different options used with these as well.

Mark
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  #299  
Old 11-13-2015, 10:12 AM
SJ VanSandt SJ VanSandt is offline
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Sounds like you'd welcome the opportunity to financially support a luthier for a year while they experiment.
Sounds like an excellent idea, Runamuck, and I'm going to do exactly that as soon as my lottery numbers hit!
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  #300  
Old 11-17-2015, 07:51 PM
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I was checking in for the latest photos and realized you have achieved 300 posts again. Time for chapter 3.
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