Hatcher's Studio '19 #2

[Mark Hatcher]

I have the Piña with finish now and I'm very please how well the woods popped!









More pictures to follow as we go through final decisions and I get the guitar strung up.

Thanks for following!
Mark

[Lonzo]

.. and style and beauty !
Jawdropper

[ukejon]

On my goodness....that’s a stunner!

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Lonzo

.. and style and beauty !
Jawdropper

Thanks Lonzo!

Originally Posted by ukejon

On my goodness....that’s a stunner!

Thank you ukejon. I was tickled to see how well the fretboard goes with the top.

Originally we were considering going with Gotoh X-finish in nickel but the gold in the Cocobolo, Redwood top, and Koa trim really screams out for gold tuners.

For the last couple months I have been building up my stock and variety of tuners. The pillow-top sculpted headstock was designed with Gotoh 510 minis in mind so that narrows it down to Gotoh gold minis. My success at building out my stock allowed for three options in gold:



Initially I liked the idea of using the satin X-finish gold:





Once they were on though I felt the X-finish antique gold and the metallic gold finishes were better choices:





The metallic gold was decided on. Next is what buttons to use? Stick with the gold button or go with lighter weight custom wood button?
First off, since I make the buttons we have unlimited choice. Besides the lighter weight, I feel my very comfortable round buttons go better with the headstock design.

Sapwood capped Cocobolo is a good choice but maybe sapwood capped Koa would be better. We'll work this one out next week.

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

[Aspiring]

Mark that is a stunning looking instrument. Beautiful work!

[Guitars44me]

Spectacular beauty!!!

Others here may know this already, but I recently experimented with full-size buttons on Gotoh Mini 510 tuners. They work great, they just need the long screws. I was happy about this, as I find the miniature buttons difficult to work with when doing a complete re-tuning, especially on stage.

The subtle pillowing of this Headstock is really nifty!

Gorgeous work! Congratulations

Paul

[FGBR]

Beautiful work, love that truss rod cover.

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

Mark that is a stunning looking instrument. Beautiful work!

Thanks Aspiring! It is coming along really well. I can’t wait to get strings in it.

Originally Posted by Guitars44me

Spectacular beauty!!!

Others here may know this already, but I recently experimented with full-size buttons on Gotoh Mini 510 tuners. They work great, they just need the long screws. I was happy about this, as I find the miniature buttons difficult to work with when doing a complete re-tuning, especially on stage.

The subtle pillowing of this Headstock is really nifty!

Gorgeous work! Congratulations

Paul

I like your point about the larger buttons being easier to adjust. I find that advantage on my rounded custom buttons too. They offer an easier grip as well.

Thanks for commenting!

Originally Posted by FGBR

Beautiful work, love that truss rod cover.

Thanks FHBR! That truss rod cover is a bit more work on this design because it is sunk down into the headstock overlay. I do this so there is enough clearance underneath the strings that you can remove the cover without having to take the strings off.

Mark

[DanR]

That is another nice looking guitar from you, Mark. Your personal aesthetic reflected in your guitars seems to match mine on a regular basis.

[FGBR]

Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher

Thanks FHBR! That truss rod cover is a bit more work on this design because it is sunk down into the headstock overlay. I do this so there is enough clearance underneath the strings that you can remove the cover without having to take the strings off.
Mark

Exactly, and the entire headstock has such a beautiful 3D landscape. Well done

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by FGBR

Exactly, and the entire headstock has such a beautiful 3D landscape. Well done

Thanks FGBR!

I got the Cocobolo bridge made and glued on today:



I do keep getting distracted by the figure of the Redwood top!:



Cheers,
Mark

[Nemoman]

Those really are some crazy, cool woods, Mark.

That fretboard is insane!

Really beautiful work--hope we get to hear this one before she ships out.

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Those really are some crazy, cool woods, Mark.

That fretboard is insane!

Really beautiful work--hope we get to hear this one before she ships out.

Thanks Nemoman, I appreciate your comments! I’ll try to get a sound sample up before the guitar ships.

Mark

[Zandit75]

Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher

I do keep getting distracted by the figure of the Redwood top!:



Cheers,
Mark

Looks fantastic Mark!
I can almost see Harry Potter's Sorting Hat in the figuring of that top!!

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by Zandit75

Looks fantastic Mark!
I can almost see Harry Potter's Sorting Hat in the figuring of that top!!

You're right! It does kind of have that ghost face.

Besides all the figure there are a couple of other dimensional features on the guitar. I'm happy with how the 3D rosette catches the light and I like the sapwood highlight as well:



You can see in the picture above I worked the same sapwood highlight into the Koa fret markers to give them the illusion of a rounded look.
I also chose some sapwood highlights for the sound port Koa:



When it came time to consider the tuner buttons I designed a new puffier round button and naturally they need to be Koa and let's cap them with sapwood while we're at it:







Thanks for viewing
Mark