#286
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Beautiful work as always Mark. I LOVE the old tools, especially that hand drill.
Seeing that log makes me scratch my head though. If its been laying in the silt for 7,000 years, I wonder how it fell ... on its own ... with such a nice even square cut on the end of the log? |
#287
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It looks like they are just doing a lot of prep work before they try hoisting up those very wet and delicate logs. Here are a couple more unusual top sets I've gotten in lately. I really liked the look of the tri color Sitka tops so I looked for a some Western Red Cedar along those lines. Here are a couple pictures of on top I just got. The picture shows two options in aligning the sides; I thought this cedar top with a natural sunburst looked great too; I got a couple curly Port Orford Cedar tops like this one while I was at it; Finally I have this King Billy Pine top. This is a hard one to get because it is so rare growing only in Tasmania. It's not pine, or spruce, cedar, cypress, fir, it's King Billy Pine left over from when Tasmania was part of Antarctica; Thanks for viewing! Mark
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Mark Hatcher www.hatcherguitars.com “"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking". Steven Wright |
#288
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Wow--all of those tops look amazing, Mark!
Really dig the sunburst cedar and the King Billy!
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2013 Stehr Auditorium (Carpathian/Myrtle) 2015 Stehr Auditorium (Adi/BRW) 2020 Baranik Meridian (Blue Spruce/Manchinga) 2020 Wilborn Arum (Tunnel 14/Coco) 2021 Kinnaird Graybeard (BC Cedar/Bog Oak) 2022 Kinnaird CS Student Build (Adi/Padauk) 2023 Kinnaird FS (Italian/Koa) |
#289
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That cedar is a prime sounding WRC top it would look great with Leapordwood binding and a number of backwoods. thanks for commenting! Mark
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Mark Hatcher www.hatcherguitars.com “"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking". Steven Wright |
#290
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The Tree Neck Woods
Stepping back to the progress on the Josie small Jumbo Tree guitar. I am working on the neck now and we have selected out the woods. We have dark Honduran Mahogany that was milled about 35 years ago for the neck. The center laminate is cross grained Snakewood and it has curly Maple borders. The laminate on the back of the headstock will be from The Tree:
The Snakewood fretboard with be bound with The Fiddleback Tree binding and have a maple purfling so it will go well with the similar body binding. The headstock overlay will be Snakewood: I just put on the fretboard binding so it it isn't shown yet. On another note: I am usually working on about four guitars that are at staggerd starts so are always at different stages. I usually try not to post about more the one or two guitars at a time on these threads because it just gets to be a jumble. I do want to make a comment about a Bloodwood guitar I'm working on. I've been sweating bullets over bending the sides for this Greta GA model. Bloodwood is extremely hard, stiff and it tends to be brittle which does not bode well for an easy bend. I'm happy to report that I've had complete success in bending the sides on this! So is it hard to bend, you may ask. I don't know. I've been bending sides for a long time now and I used every trick in my back of tricks right up front and it just didn't have an opportunity to show me! Thanks for following along! Mark
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Mark Hatcher www.hatcherguitars.com “"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking". Steven Wright Last edited by Mark Hatcher; 11-26-2020 at 10:34 AM. |
#291
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Nicely bent bloodwood Mark. I notice that you have a Florentine cutaway rather than Venetian. Did the resistance to bending have anything to do with that?
John
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Kinnaird Guitars |
#292
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I think it would be challenging to bend a tight Venetian cutaway. I hand bent the inside of the Florentine and it took some muscle for that turn. I think it would be possible though without having to resort to a laminated side. Mark
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Mark Hatcher www.hatcherguitars.com “"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking". Steven Wright |
#293
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Fretboard
Here the fretboard bound and radiused for the Tree Josie sm jumbo;
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Mark Hatcher www.hatcherguitars.com “"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking". Steven Wright |
#294
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It would be tough to beat a snakewood fretboard for beauty. One of my favorite woods for fret boards and bindings as well.
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PS. I love guitars! |
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Mark, that fingerboard binding is remarkable. It looks like more of the burl? Such a lovely color contrast with the Snakewood. And even though both are heavily figured, it isn't too busy. I think the Holly? purfling line helps there. It's subtle, but anchors transition between the binding and the fingerboard.
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#296
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I like the color pallete in this picture. So many subtle shades of reds and browns that sit perfectly against the white soundboard. Seeing the shadow cast by the 3D rosette accent makes me wonder how high it sits above the soundboard. Is it as high as the fretboard?
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#297
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The snakewood color in combination with the binding and the fretboard end shape look very good and find a natural complement in the art deco piece across the soundhole, both in shapes and color combinations !
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#298
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I agree that mixing too many figured woods can be a mess. To avoid that when I mix figures I try to differentiate them by scale and uniformity. So a very orderly curl on the Fiddleback Tree contrasts with the more random tortoise shell quilting of the The Tree. The small figure in the Snakewood looks more like texture. Quote:
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On another note. Since I cut those Leopardwood back and side sets I've really been paying a lot of attention to medullary rays in hardwoods. As it happens my student in Tasmania sent me this gorgeous set of quartersawn Casuarina Sheoak: Here's a close up of those incredible medullary rays: Casuarina Sheoak is a very hard and stiff wood for it's weight. It's weight is right in the middle of the pack of commonly used back and side woods. It's between Padauk and Zebrawood. It has a reputation for a quick loud response and a leaning toward fundamentals. Thanks for viewing! Mark
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Mark Hatcher www.hatcherguitars.com “"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking". Steven Wright |
#299
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You have a student in Tasmania? Tell us more! Is this a sort of virtual apprenticeship?
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#300
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Beautiful wood--your closeup pic really shows it off!
__________________
2013 Stehr Auditorium (Carpathian/Myrtle) 2015 Stehr Auditorium (Adi/BRW) 2020 Baranik Meridian (Blue Spruce/Manchinga) 2020 Wilborn Arum (Tunnel 14/Coco) 2021 Kinnaird Graybeard (BC Cedar/Bog Oak) 2022 Kinnaird CS Student Build (Adi/Padauk) 2023 Kinnaird FS (Italian/Koa) |