Hatcher Studio '16

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by rogthefrog

That quilt is something else. What causes quilting to occur?

3 or more Amish women with nothing to do????

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by rogthefrog

That quilt is something else. What causes quilting to occur?

Stress? Genetics? I know it's rare and shows on flat sawn wood. It looks like curly maple when it's quarter sawn but not all curly figure turns quilted when flat sawn so go figure. I've also heard that only grandmother trees can make quilted maple.

[Hierophant]

That quilt is unbelievable. Will turn out to be a killer guitar for sure and I can already hear the dry, clear and sweet tone coming out of this beautiful box.

[dbradfie]

You mentioned you are making spec guitars for "future shows". Is there a show in the works somewhere that you are targeting in particular?

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by dbradfie

You mentioned you are making spec guitars for "future shows". Is there a show in the works somewhere that you are targeting in particular?

Woodstock would be a natural choice but, I'm also thinking of Memphis and Santa Barbara. In the longer term, when EU currency is doing better against the US dollar, I would like to do shows in Spain, Italy, and of course Berlin.
There are large markets that I just haven't had exposure in.
All this is over the next couple years as there is quite an investment in time and money getting spec guitars together.

[Mark Hatcher]

Here is a picture of the materials for the second spec guitar I've recently started:



This will be a Brazilian Rosewood Greta grand auditorium model with a Florentine cutaway. In the picture you see I selected a light colored Western Cedar top and am using gold EVO fretwire and all gold Schertler open back tuners. There are two pieces of bark from 20,000yr/old+ wooly mammoth tusks that I'll use for the heel cap and truss rod cover. I'll also use wooly mammoth ivory for my edge type fret markers. Finally, for the rosette there is a piece of curly Red Oak burl that fell into my hands while I was bringing in fire wood. I'm going for a subtle organic look on this guitar highlighted with gold and trimmed in Black Ebony.

If someone asked me to build what I think is the best sounding guitar I can build, this is it. It will have a very active cedar lattice braced back and be a culmination of what I believe are the best elements of the best sounding guitars I've made to date.

[gregg]

Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher

Here is a picture of the materials for the second spec guitar I've recently started:



This will be a Brazilian Rosewood Greta grand auditorium model with a Florentine cutaway. In the picture you see I selected a light colored Western Cedar top and am using gold EVO fretwire and all gold Schertler open back tuners. There are two pieces of bark from 20,000yr/old+ wooly mammoth tusks that I'll use for the heel cap and truss rod cover. I'll also use wooly mammoth ivory for my edge type fret markers. Finally, for the rosette there is a piece of curly Red Oak burl that fell into my hands while I was bringing in fire wood. I'm going for a subtle organic look on this guitar highlighted with gold and trimmed in Black Ebony.

If someone asked me to build what I think is the best sounding guitar I can build, this is it. It will have a very active cedar lattice braced back and be a culmination of what I believe are the best elements of the best sounding guitars I've made to date.

Hey Mark, looks like this should be a beauty, always fun to pick out the parts/pieces and see where the vision takes you....have fun!

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher

Here is a picture of the materials for the second spec guitar I've recently started:

If someone asked me to build what I think is the best sounding guitar I can build, this is it. It will have a very active cedar lattice braced back and be a culmination of what I believe are the best elements of the best sounding guitars I've made to date.

The materials are outstanding together to be sure. The Cedar is very pretty and the BRW goes without saying. However,That Mammoth is fantastic and the thought that part of the guitar comes from your wood pile is both humorous and cool at the same time. I am more intrigue by the "best sounding guitar I can build". I have played two of your guitars and it is hard to imagine anything sounding better than those!!!!

I have a feeling this spec will not be making it to any shows hahah!

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by gregg

Hey Mark, looks like this should be a beauty, always fun to pick out the parts/pieces and see where the vision takes you....have fun!

Thanks Greg,

Yea, it is fun to pick the parts. Picking them for 4 specs at once is a lot to do.
I'm trying to show different models and keep them each feature rich but, in different styles.

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

The materials are outstanding together to be sure. The Cedar is very pretty and the BRW goes without saying. However,That Mammoth is fantastic and the thought that part of the guitar comes from your wood pile is both humorous and cool at the same time. I am more intrigue by the "best sounding guitar I can build". I have played two of your guitars and it is hard to imagine anything sounding better than those!!!!

I have a feeling this spec will not be making it to any shows hahah!

Thanks for the kind words Tom,

It certainly wouldn't bother me if the guitar didn't make it to a show!

Mark

[Zandit75]

Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher

Here is a picture of the materials for the second spec guitar I've recently started:



This will be a Brazilian Rosewood Greta grand auditorium model with a Florentine cutaway. In the picture you see I selected a light colored Western Cedar top and am using gold EVO fretwire and all gold Schertler open back tuners. There are two pieces of bark from 20,000yr/old+ wooly mammoth tusks that I'll use for the heel cap and truss rod cover. I'll also use wooly mammoth ivory for my edge type fret markers. Finally, for the rosette there is a piece of curly Red Oak burl that fell into my hands while I was bringing in fire wood. I'm going for a subtle organic look on this guitar highlighted with gold and trimmed in Black Ebony.

If someone asked me to build what I think is the best sounding guitar I can build, this is it. It will have a very active cedar lattice braced back and be a culmination of what I believe are the best elements of the best sounding guitars I've made to date.

This is already looking gorgeous, and it's just a pile of bits!! Can't wait to see the finished product!

[printer2]

Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher

It will have a very active cedar lattice braced back and be a culmination of what I believe are the best elements of the best sounding guitars I've made to date.

I am going to be real interested in the softwood back. I am guessing that it will be much lighter than normal backs resulting in a more resonant back. Should make for a very 3D sounding guitar.

[Mark Hatcher]

Originally Posted by printer2

I am going to be real interested in the softwood back. I am guessing that it will be much lighter than normal backs resulting in a more resonant back. Should make for a very 3D sounding guitar.

I'm sorry Fred, I could have worded that better. This is a thin BRW back with cedar braces in a lattice configuration. A cedar backed guitar would be a whole different animal.

[JamesO]

You always have the most beautiful wood! I can't wait to see the cedar/brz come alive.

[Mark Hatcher]

I visited with a collectable knife maker friend of mine today who is retiring and had the opportunity to cherry pick through a very old collection of wooly mammoth ivory and tusk bark. I also picked up some exhibition grade white mother of pearl as well as some of the best gold mother of pearl I've seen:

Here is a picture of some of the wooly mammoth pieces I got. You can see where they get the term "tusk bark" on that top middle piece:



Here is some of the mother of pearl. The gold pearl coloring runs quite deep which is rare:



That gold will definitely find it's way into the BRW spec I'm currently working on.

I was like a kid in a candy store!

Mark

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher

I visited with a collectable knife maker friend of mine today who is retiring and had the opportunity to cherry pick through a very old collection of wooly mammoth ivory and tusk bark. I also picked up some exhibition grade white mother of pearl as well as some of the best gold mother of pearl I've seen:

Here is a picture of some of the wooly mammoth pieces I got. You can see where they get the term "tusk bark" on that top middle piece:



Here is some of the mother of pearl. The gold pearl coloring runs quite deep which is rare:



That gold will definitely find it's way into the BRW spec I'm currently working on.

I was like a kid in a candy store!

Mark

Wow, that wooly Mammoth ivory is fantastic!!!! I know you are putting it into your spec Greta, I wonder how that might look on one of your smaller models? They just dug up a 6 or 8 foot wooly Mammoth tusk on a Discovery show while gold mining, but it did not look like this material!!!!