Hatcher 100th Guitar!

[Mr. Paul]

Congratulations, Mark! You have managed to create a unique, personal brand in a very crowded field.

Is there a particular part of the building process that you would say you do most differently now vs your first build?

[Aimelie]

Originally Posted by Mr. Paul

Congratulations, Mark! You have managed to create a unique, personal brand in a very crowded field.

Is there a particular part of the building process that you would say you do most differently now vs your first build?

Butting in here to say the above is a great question.

I’ve been getting a real kick out of these recent “Hatcher” posts — please keep them coming (so that I can feed the vicarious pleasure monster hiding inside).

Mighty congratulations for your 100th! That’s a wonderful accomplishment.

[mikealpine]

I’m a fan, Mark, very much looking forward to seeing what you deem worthy to include in this guitar. I always appreciate the depth of your explanations and how freely you share your craft. Your instruments are elegant, and I love watching each take shape.

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by KevWind

"Hear your fingerprint " ha I like that

But I think you are correct about WRC and response. I was a dyed in the wool flat picker for 50+ years . But since getting my Josie with the Redwood B&C and WRC top I have actually started using bare thumb and fingers (not actual fingerpicking style) but a combination of rhythm strumming and sometimes single note embellishments . And I still alternate that with flat picking . And I have noticed with the flat pic I can use much less energy to get loads of projection .

For example here I am using it "bare fisted" to strictly drive the rhythm section.

Thanks for the demo and words of support KevWind!

Originally Posted by Mr. Paul

Congratulations, Mark! You have managed to create a unique, personal brand in a very crowded field.

Is there a particular part of the building process that you would say you do most differently now vs your first build?

Thanks Mr. Paul! I've been thinking hard about how to narrow it down to a particular process and there are just so many that have changed. I think the most important process is how to keep track of what you've done to what with what and how worked. Tough question!

Originally Posted by Aimelie

Butting in here to say the above is a great question.

I’ve been getting a real kick out of these recent “Hatcher” posts — please keep them coming (so that I can feed the vicarious pleasure monster hiding inside).

Mighty congratulations for your 100th! That’s a wonderful accomplishment.

I'm glad you are picking up on how much I love building guitars!

Originally Posted by mikealpine

I’m a fan, Mark, very much looking forward to seeing what you deem worthy to include in this guitar. I always appreciate the depth of your explanations and how freely you share your craft. Your instruments are elegant, and I love watching each take shape.

Thanks for your comments Mike. A journey is all the more enjoyable when shared.

Mark

[joe white]

Well put Mark and glad to see that you are still enjoying the journey.

I know that I was near 1000 finishes when I started my hiatus and still enjoyed trying something new.

[Tim McKnight]

Congratulations Mark and welcome to the club. I crossed that line over 2 decades ago and I’m almost at 300 now and I still scratch my head on occasions. The acoustic guitar is certainly one complex machine that should keep us intrigued for a very long time.

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by joe white

Well put Mark and glad to see that you are still enjoying the journey.

I know that I was near 1000 finishes when I started my hiatus and still enjoyed trying something new.

Thanks Joe! It’s been a good ride so far and I am still excited to see what’s around the next bend.

Originally Posted by Tim McKnight

Congratulations Mark and welcome to the club. I crossed that line over 2 decades ago and I’m almost at 300 now and I still scratch my head on occasions. The acoustic guitar is certainly one complex machine that should keep us intrigued for a very long time.

Thanks Tim! 300? That’s a lot of guitars! I appreciate you chiming in.

Mark

[Mark Hatcher]

Let's get back to the top and our intrepid beachcomber.

After filling up his little motorboat he weaves his way through the islands of Vancouver Bay to his shop. There the rough billets are inspected and cleaned up before storage:



I ordered a tricolored WRC billet:



Once received and after the billet is acclimated to my shop, I squared it up with my Scrub plane.
A Scrub plane is a little beast of a plane for fast rough work. I think of it as my little Badger.



With that done I'm ready to start resawing. I'll confess I haven't started resawing by hand (yet).
Here are the top halves cut and stickered. They'll stay here until I'm sure they are fully stabilized:



Three years later I'm comfortable to use one of these sets for #100
Here are a couple samples from my 11 and 1/2 top sets:



Considering the model and the my goals I selected out this top:







Ready for the close up:



m

[cigarfan]

Man, that is some beautiful WRC. Wow!

[BlackKeys36]

Thanks for the detailed explanations and beautiful pics, Mark. That WRC is stunning!

[Carpinteria]

That’s beautiful stuff! I sometimes think of the top, visually, as a “canvas.” I’ll be interested to see your artwork with it. Dave

[Jamiejoon]

Oh my goodness, that is beautiful cedar.

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by cigarfan

Man, that is some beautiful WRC. Wow!

Thanks cigarfan!

Originally Posted by BlackKeys36

Thanks for the detailed explanations and beautiful pics, Mark. That WRC is stunning!

Thanks BkackKeys36. Fortunately, guitars are great photo models. They patiently hold quite still (hopefully) while you snap away.

Originally Posted by Carpinteria

That’s beautiful stuff! I sometimes think of the top, visually, as a “canvas.” I’ll be interested to see your artwork with it. Dave

Thanks Carpinteria, That is a good way to think about it. It is definitely a composition.

Originally Posted by Jamiejoon

Oh my goodness, that is beautiful cedar.

Thanks Jamiejoon!

[Mark Hatcher]

After the top is joined and generally smoothed the next step is to do the rosette. That starts with cutting the channel. The cleanest way to cut a channel I have found is to cut the edges with a very sharp blade and then route it out with a very sharp router plane:



You can see there are plenty of adjustments you can make to set depth etc. The heart of this tool is a very very sharp blade:



Notice I'm saying sharp a bunch of times here? The joy of working with cutting tools is determined by the skill of the woodworker sharpening and shaping the cutting blades.

There are a lot of sharpening methods and I think one way is pretty much as good as another. If you want a sharp tools pick a method and get really good at it.
You'll know you are making progress when some blood shows up on your work and you have no idea where it's coming from.

m

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher

You'll know you are making progress when some blood shows up on your work and you have no idea where it's coming from.

m

That brought a chuckle. I know what you mean.