Gilchrists and the "one exceptional American maple tree"

[Mark Seale]

That's not a kinda wish, that is the stuff of dreams and the one instrument that would get a trade out of me.

[blauserk]

One more d-log: two piece back on a Model 5. This one reminds me a bit of Jupiter with the red (OK, indulge me here) spot.

[Mike Black]

Looks as if it was kissed!

[Fretbear]

And people still ask:" Why do they cost so much....?"

[mando_dan]

This too funny. My Buckeye mandolin came from a piece of maple that fell into the builder's driveway! He was cutting it up for stove wood and noticed the nice striping. Driveway = Ohio d log!

Gilchrist owners: I'm not comparing my mandolin to yours and the Gils I've heard are fantastic, better than Loars to my ears. Still my d-log mandolin gets a big thumbs up from Tim O'Brien, Skip Gorman, and Sierra Hull.

[Mandomusic]

The front mandolin is #600 (D-Log) as is the light blond Gilchrist in the rear (#574). Middle one is not D-Log (#300).

[mandophil(e)]

Amazing pic. Check the back on this Gil - also D-Log: http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gilchrist/serial/04-578

[OldSausage]

Was there a rabbit in D-Log?

[Wilson]

Here is a picture of the back or #598. It looks pretty D-logish, but I don't know for sure that it is.

[mrmando]

Was there a rabbit in D-Log?

That depends. Got your Dawg?

[blauserk]

Amazing pic. Check the back on this Gil - also D-Log: http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gilchrist/serial/04-578

One piece, highly figured, D-log-icious:

[Charlieshafer]

Not to switch builders, but Joe Cleary (Campanella) has a maple log from the Shelburne farms property in Vt. which yielded an equally amazing back for a couple of Due's. Nice thing about amazing maples; there are a lot up here in New England. After just about ever storm, there's some old maple that's cracked and the figure showing to all who drive by can be stunning. Just have to hope there's not too much rot.

[Boombloom]

Just ran across this thread on a rainy afternoon. Yesterday I was playing with Dick Staber. He has a beautiful Campanella F5 from Joe Cleary. But the real reason I'm writing has to do with Mr. Gilchrist and Northern New York. I was in a jam with Steve at the old Noppet Hill bluegrass festival in western Massachusetts. At the time there were rumors he was either moving to the states or else here buying up wood. I told him I had tons of Adirondack Spruce and he was interested. I then told him I have 40 acres of land in the Champlain Valley and we discussed the Adirondack Park. He never took me up on my invitation to visit but I learned about wood and he learned some local history.

[blauserk]

Gilchrist's new(ish) website has a brief discussion of the D-log:

http://www.gilchristmandolins.com/misc#Dlog

And a photo of "just some of" the wood from it during the inital air drying. A lot of beautiful backs-to-be (and sides) there:

[Don Grieser]

That wood was sold to several different luthiers, but somehow Gilchrist got the hype on it. The rest of them just saw it as good hard maple.

[Richard Mott]

Dear Wilson, 598 is indeed a D-log instrument according to Steve Gilchrist's records.

[Richard Mott]

My sense is that while the D log was a great example of sugar maple, it was hardly unique--maybe of special interest to Steve Gilchrist because its enormous size allowed him to build over 150 instruments with it and thus achieve great consistency and experience with the wood. I checked his archive and the last mandolin I can find that he used the D log for was #738 finished in October 2016.

[Richard Mott]

Q: So what comes after the D log? A: The "Nitro" log.

Steve Gilchrist recently began using sugar maple from a log sourced from Nitro, West Virginia, and indicates its use in his records with the letter N, or with "Nitro". I have no idea if the log is anywhere as large as the D log was, but I think it's the only other tree singled out in his record keeping. I can say that it is both beautiful and sounds wonderful!

[blauserk]

That wood was sold to several different luthiers, but somehow Gilchrist got the hype on it. The rest of them just saw it as good hard maple.

I think Gilchrist also "just saw it as good hard maple." I wouldn't attribute any hype to him.

See:
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...teve-Gilchrist
Setting forth Gilchrist's comment on the log to MojoMando:

============
G'day,

Well, there is nothing mythical about that tree, or maybe there was... before it was chopped down?

That log was just a great example of a big old hard sugar maple tree. Came from up-state NY and was given the code "D" because it was spotted by a "Drunk" retired logger.

I got it in 1998 and it yielded about 160 sets. There are only a few backs left now.

That log was big, had deep "slow" curl and offered up many sets of the same quality. It was just about all "slip" matched (not book matched) with a few 1 piece backs.

Hard sugar maple is hard sugar maple, no matter what it is called.

Thank you tree "D".

[JFox]

Steve tells me that my guitar shown on the cover of my 2004 CD is from the D log. Fabulous instrument.