Malachite Machinga Meridian--New Baranik Build!!!

Nemoman · #1 11-10-2019, 02:36 PM

So the time has finally arrived and my ticket has been punched in the Baranik build time machine! This guitar has been awhile in coming both in reality and in my dreams.

I first met Mike back at the SBAIC in 2016. I played his guitars and came away impressed, but wasn't in the position to buy or commission one at that point in time. Fast forward a year to Santa Barbara 2017 where I was able to play several examples of Mike's Meridians, the model I had determined would work well for me. They all sounded fabulous to my ear--I was sold, and put down my deposit then and there.

Mike told me his wait time was about 18 months, and I had told him that I was in no hurry at that point. My anticipation has really been building over the last 6 months, until finally my wife and I visited Mike at his shop in Mid-October. Up until that point, I had planned on using cocobolo for the back and sides along with some of Mike's fabled Colorado blue spruce for the top. It wasn't until he pulled out some of his sets of Machinga (also called Manchinga) that I was captivated with one of these sets and decided that that was the route I wanted to go.

I've been wanting to use malachite in a custom guitar build for quite awhile and Mike was game and seems the perfect luthier to pull it off. Green has always been my favorite color, and Malachite is also a small town in Colorado near where my parents lived and retired to for the last 13 years of their lives. I found this piece of Malachite down in Tuscon at the gem and mineral show while visiting my Aunt and Uncle down there earlier this year. And the Colorado connection also continues with the Colorado blue spruce...it all seems somewhat cosmic to me...

Besides, it's not everyday you get to use the alliteration of Malachite Machinga Meridian in your build thread title!

I shared some of my ideas with Mike while we visited at his shop, and we came up with a plan for many of the details of the build. I really love Mike's aesthetics and his graciousness at incorporating some of my ideas is really exciting. He is truly a master craftsman, and I feel blessed to have him creating this guitar for me.

Enough of my babbling--here's some pics of the woods to get this party started...

And the master himself!

Thanks for checking it out--more to follow soon...

CoolerKing · #2 11-10-2019, 02:49 PM

Awesome! Will be following along faithfully.

TomB'sox · #3 11-10-2019, 03:09 PM

What a cool start. I love it when guitars have a personal meaning like this one has for you.

I am not familiar with Manchinga, this looks spalted as well right? What is it comparable to?

justonwo · #4 11-10-2019, 03:16 PM

Looks like a good start to me!

Jwills57 · #5 11-10-2019, 03:27 PM

Hey, Nemoman--Very beautiful and interesting woods. Baranik builds an incredible guitar. I've played several (don't own one) and each has been stellar. Is it my imagination or has the Baranik website been down for quite some time? I've tried baranikguitars.com for the last couple of weeks and nothing pops up and nothing on google, either. Just wondering if anybody knows anything. Thanks. Best, Jack

Nemoman · #6 11-10-2019, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

What a cool start. I love it when guitars have a personal meaning like this one has for you.

I am not familiar with Manchinga, this looks spalted as well right? What is it comparable to?

Thanks, Tom--this will be a special guitar for me.

It is indeed spalted--apparently Machinga is one of the few spalted woods that is strong enough to bend sides from. Mike has built quite a few guitars with it, and Jason Kostal built an MDW with Machinga a couple of years back. Tonally it's compared to top-quality rosewoods with quite a few overtones.

I believe the blue spruce will really make it sing!

CoolerKing · #7 11-10-2019, 03:38 PM

Mike's website has been MIA for as long as I've known him.

colins · #8 11-11-2019, 01:54 AM

So excited to see this one starting Nemoman!

I was really pleased with how Mike captured my blue theme and I am sure that he will use your malachite in a very good way. And having your great ideas on the design as well makes for a special collaboration.

Looking forward to more posts!

colins · #9 11-11-2019, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jwills57

Hey, Nemoman--Very beautiful and interesting woods. Baranik builds an incredible guitar. I've played several (don't own one) and each has been stellar. Is it my imagination or has the Baranik website been down for quite some time? I've tried baranikguitars.com for the last couple of weeks and nothing pops up and nothing on google, either. Just wondering if anybody knows anything. Thanks. Best, Jack

Jack, the website is down but not lost! Mike has an Instagram page at the moment - https://www.instagram.com/baranikguitars/ and a new "proper" website is well on the way (yes, fellow Baranerds, I am serious).

Col

Deft Tungsman · #10 11-11-2019, 02:19 AM

Congratulations on this auspicious beginning of another killer Mike Baranik build thread!

I once played a manchinga 00m built by Mike. It was a beautiful guitar.

cigarfan · #11 11-11-2019, 04:51 AM

Glad to see a build for the Nemo man! And it looks like a doosy!

Gonna love watching this come together.

iim7V7IM7 · #12 11-11-2019, 05:36 AM

Thanks for sharing your journey...

I will be watching along...

Bill Kraus · #13 11-11-2019, 06:11 AM

Congratulations Nemoman, that is some beautiful spalt in that machinga, and I am very interested to see what you do with the malachite. I was lucky enough to meet Mike B. while attending the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery way back in the day. The school took us on a trip over to Mikes shop, and I recall being amazed at how clean and organized the shop was, It looked unused. Mike was very gracious to us and took a good chunk out of his day to show us around. Congratulations on the new build!

Nemoman · #14 11-11-2019, 11:06 AM

Thanks for all the comments, guys, and for following along.

I think this will be a fun and exciting journey. And in Mike's words, this is going to be an "Epic" build--sounds like a good ride to me!

So the journey has officially begun--Mike sent these pics as he got things underway.

The back being joined and doing the limbo under some substantial wood blanks...

Successfully joined!

And the sides in various stages of torture...

And finally, Yowzah--love this shot of the side!

Thanks for following along!

Cocobolo Kid · #15 11-11-2019, 12:47 PM

Congrats on the custom build with Mike. The process is almost as fun as receiving the new guitar. Your Meridian looks to be really special. I will be eagerly following your build thread. Thanks for sharing.