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A new SJ w/ High Mountain Tonewood top!
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Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:27 am ]
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Here's a SJ (or J-185) style acoustic that I just finished up, with a top of the Lutz Spruce that I got from Shane at High Mountain Tonewoods. Pardon my lame pictures, I am still trying to get good ones!
It's got Cherry back, sides and neck and maple binding.
It's really opening up already! I'm very happy with the tops, thanks Shane! I'm not too good at describing what a guitar sounds like in this way, but it has a good balance of sparkle and low end- I was almost more surprised by the sparkle and clarity than I was with the bass response, which also was more than I'm used to because I typically build smaller guitars. Lately I've done a couple of these. This is the first with Cherry, and the first with Shanes' tops which seem to be an improvement over the earlier ones I'd made.
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:28 am ]
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Here's the Cherry back...
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:29 am ]
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A side view...
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:33 am ]
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I will try to show a couple of closer pictures...This one shows the binding edge. I love this quartersawn Cherry, it's very pretty when cut this way.
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:34 am ]
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That pic doesn't show the fineness of those tops! This one shows the grain of that killer spruce.
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:39 am ]
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Last I'll post the peghead. I made this guitar for a friend of mine as a gift, and I attempted an engraved inlay of him here. I had help from my friend Dan Sharp, a very good artist, with turning a photo into this design. I am still learning engraving- can you tell??!
Friends don't mind of you practice on their guitars!

Here is the photo of this hippie guy...


And this is the result of Dan's help with the photo- thanks, Dan!
Author:  Alain Desforges [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:40 am ]
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Very nice! I love cherrywood.... That lutz sure looks good too... Very nice rosette...
Author:  Alain Desforges [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:42 am ]
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There's no denying it's him... He'll be very pleased for sure. Does he know about this personalized touch?
Author:  Anthony Z [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:44 am ]
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Mark - very nice! Your work is very tastefully executed. I too like Cherry guitars. BTW: the inlay is an excellent likeness.

Quesion: what grade of Lutz is that?
Author:  Wade Sylvester [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:54 am ]
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Very nice combo Mark!
Do you know if Dan used Photoshop or something to get the inlay map or was that free hand?

Thanks for sharing!

Wade
Author:  Arnt Rian [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:01 am ]
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Hey, good job on the portrait Mark; you should be proud! Great, clean, all around nice guitar.

All this talk about lutz spruce is m aking me anxious to build with it, hmmm... Is this the first time you've build with it?
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:02 am ]
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My friend knows nothing about this guitar- it's a total surprise to him. I've known him for 35 years, and he's had the same D-18 since before I met him. It's getting a bit tired, and he needs a new guitar and can't afford one! I respect him and his playing - he's very good- and we have been through a lot and had some great times and I knew he needed one of my guitars! I'll give it to him tomorrow.
Dan Sharp is a member here. He builds guitars as well as does this great artwork (believe me, this inlay design is nothing!) and I'll ask him to come by and tell how he did it.
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:08 am ]
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Shane will probably drop by and tell what grade the spruce is- All I know is it's sweet! It is the first time I've used his wood.
I might as well post a pic of the rosette, too.
I get all my abalone right from the shell. I get the shells anywhere I can, I have a stash that got from an abalone fisherman out on the west coast. I cut them up with a wet-saw, and then I work them down into blanks on a grinding stone of the type used for stonework. I've been doing that for a long time and I learned how to do it from Jim Patterson's book, Pearl Inlay.
The shell that I used for the peghead inlay is river mussel, I gathered the shell myself from the Grand River here near my home. Some of it is very white, and other shells are pink and you can see the two colors in the face.
Author:  Mike Dotson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:09 am ]
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Nice job Mark!
Author:  Daniel M [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:09 am ]
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Beautiful job on the Inlay... Doesn't look like a first engraving attempt to me. I think you nailed it!
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:10 am ]
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Hey Hesh, thanks! Dan is the artist who helps me out with artwork, and the guitar is for my friend John.
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:30 am ]
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Here's the 12th fret inlay....
Author:  old man [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:37 am ]
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That's really nice, Mark. I'd like to hear about his reaction when you present it to him. Should be some moment.

Ronold man38766.6516435185
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:41 am ]
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I'll take a pic, and let you all know what he said. That would be fun!
I put the fish on there because he had once asked me to inlay one on his D-18- and I refused! The trussrod cover is also carved to suggest a fish.
Author:  RCoates [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:52 am ]
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What a great gift... I'm mean the friendship that you share. The guitar is very nice too. I'd love to hear how he responds when presented. Please keep us posted.
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:12 am ]
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[QUOTE=Mark Swanson]I knew he needed one of my guitars! I'll give it to him tomorrow.
[/QUOTE]

Mark, this is awesome! Maybe your friend could play us a song on it someday. Oh my, what a friend.

To quote James Taylor, "Shower the people you love with love. Show them the way that you feel."

Now I know what James meant, because of you Mark!
Author:  Don Williams [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:14 am ]
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Looks fantastic as usual Mark. I really like that cherry. Great wood selectiona and appointments all around.

Author:  Shane Neifer [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 9:39 am ]
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Mark,

Like I told you when you sent some photo's the other day that is a fabulous guitar! You never sent pictures of the back and all of that fabulous inlay. You have done an incredible job. Like Bruce was saying, a huge part of what makes this guitar so very special is why it was build. I am humbled!!

Thanks for sharing this (all of it!) with us Mark.

Shane
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