MARK BLANCHARD - Pinyon, German Spruce/Madagascar Rosewood: Build Thread

[Bulldozer27]

*sigh* And the regret grows....

[H165]

I think Mark is probably the same guy I met when he was working at Tamarack Lodge in Mammoth Lakes, CA.

I've always tried to chase down rumors I've heard of custom acoustic guitar builders. If this is the guy, I was successful in meeting a good luthier just getting going in the business. If I recall, he was just at the end of his Tamarack gig; maybe early 1990s? I only saw one guitar, as his production was limited several ways. I think he only had a few; maybe only one or two, unsold guitars at that time. I'm taxing my memory but seem to recall a sort of long-body 00 size guitar; EIR, no decorative center-backstrip (and a real stretch - I think his wife or GF told me she didn't like them).

Glad to see he's got things going and has obviously educated himself in the discipline. It would sure be interesting to play one now.

[Steve Kinnaird]

Beautiful set, Bob--why am I not surprised?
This will be fun to watch. Thanks for sharing!

Steve

[iim7V7IM7]

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

Beautiful set, Bob--why am I not surprised?
This will be fun to watch. Thanks for sharing!

Steve

Thanks Steve...

[Alex Matthews]

The late Steve Wildey played his Blanchard to great effect. Larry Pattis had one during his arthritis period.

[Larry Pattis]

Originally Posted by Alex Matthews

The late Steve Wildey played his Blanchard to great effect. Larry Pattis had one during his arthritis period.

My autoimmune issues have gotten worse over the years....my Psoriatic Arthritis is/was not a period I went through...it is a lifelong condition.

Mark was kind enough to collaborate with me for what ended up as his Juniper model. I owned a few 24.75" scale Juniper guitars that were all sold when I went to the 24" scale.

Since then Mark has also done the 24" scale, and I would not hesitate to work with him again.

Mark is certainly a top flight guy and he builds top flight guitars (amongst the *best* around, for my money)...and thanks to Bob for bringing Mark and this current build to the attention of the AGF...well deserved!

[Tim Porter]

On the heel of my college buddy Larry Pattis's post, I have to add my two cents' worth:

[IMG][/IMG]

I had Mark Blanchard build me a Madagascar Rosewood Tamarack when I was in a "small jumbo" phase in 2007. It too has a 4 piece back and macassar ebony bindings. The headstock is Madagascar Rosewood.

Here's the back, with no backstrip, as you can see:

[IMG][/IMG]

It also has a Manzer wedge, as can be seen in the middle, below, between my Ryan Nightingale and my Sobell Model 1:

[IMG][/IMG]

The top is Italian Spruce. Mine has a slightly longer scale than normal--helps with C tunings. Not much; 25.6" iirc. A wonderful guitar, powerful tone that just throws itself out of the guitar, i.e., incredible projection. The wedge makes it extremely comfortable to play.

I would not hesitate a nanosecond to get another guitar from Mark. I'll watch this thread with great interest! Good luck! Tim

[iim7V7IM7]

The build of my Pinyon officially began today. Mark first likes to "rough bend" his sides using a free-form pipe bender. The D.Baronii sides post-bending can be seen here on his bench.



The distinct landscape patterning of can be seen running along the length of the sides. Next, Mark will true up the curvature of the "rough bent" sides to the shape of the Pinyon form using his Fox Bender.

More when I get it...

[iim7V7IM7]

Mark's Venetian cutaways are contoured to smoothly transition the cutaway side of his guitars to the contours of the tapered heel of his neck to ease upper fingerboard access and playability. In the photo below of a prior Pinyon made by Mark you can how the side surface transitions.



Here's a shot from today of Mark gluing the cutaway side of the Madagascar Rosewood sides to a Honduran Mahogany neck block.



Mark uses a structural epoxy adhesive for this step because it has high shear/peel strength and a longer working time. He also uses some novel pre-form and registration techniques during this operation to shape and locate the sides with the neck block. Note the number of clamps, and the use of a flexible urethane block to provide even application of clamping pressure along the transitional curves of the side to the contours of the neck block. You can see some of the concave curvature on the taped end of the side in the foreground.

[John Osthoff]

Looking good, Love that contoured cutaway

Most rosewoods bend quite easy. I just bent some of Madagascar very similar to the set you have. I did not go well. This is the first time in a long while I had issues with a bend. I went right to the fox style bender, should have pre-bent on the pipe as Mark did. Tough lesson,

Bob, this is exciting, I am going to enjoy watching this one progress.

Tim, that is an awesome guitar.

[Steve Kinnaird]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

Can't have too many clamps. If one of the rosewoods is out of your budget, clamps make excellent Christmas presents for your luthier!

Steve

[CoolerKing]

I absolutely can't tell that's a 4 piece back. WOW!

[iim7V7IM7]

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

I absolutely can't tell that's a 4 piece back. WOW!

You are not alone in your lack of ability to tell that it is a 4-piece back. LMI made more money selling these re-processed bass guitar fingerboards as guitar back and side sets. Almost ALL the highly landscaped Madrose guitars (like Tim's shown in this post) that you have seen over the last decade or so were made from these 4-piece back sets. Madrose is a number of different species. (D. baronii, D. greveana, D. madagascariensis, and D. monticola etc.). The the highly landscaped sets that you see are D. baronii. Many of the 2-piece Madrose sets with less figure are likely other species (still considered Madrose).

Here are six different species of Madrose (there are more). You will see many varieties used in making guitars. The set Mark is using for my guitar is D. baronii.

[iim7V7IM7]

The tuners arrived today from Rob Rodgers. They are single gear units with a SS23 engraving and ebony buttons. What is custom about them is the removal of the Rodgers logo (don't need that written 6 times on my back plate!), simplified shaft sleeves and short style pips.

[Diamondave]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

The tuners arrived today from Rob Rodgers. They are single gear units with a SS23 engraving and ebony buttons. What is custom about them is the removal of the Rodgers logo (don't need that written 6 times on my back plate!), simplified shaft sleeves and short style pips.

AWESOME!!!! Love it, great style... Nice choices all around...