Mariposa

Long ago, in the deep forest of northern Californa, an ancient giant redwood tree had been felled. It was dismantled and dismembered, its body scattered far and wide in the form of matchsticks, pencils, furniture, homes. Its disappearance caused a cascading series of changes to the forest, the ecosystem around it, and even the weather. The land would never be the same again.

And that’s why we should never harvest the living giant sentinels of the pacific coast. However, the redwood lumber is highly resistant to rot, and so by scouring the forest floor modern-day loggers can find portions of wood that are still useable, left behind by long-ago tree fellers.

A single-piece chunk of a redwood burl makes up the body of Mariposa. However, after decades under damp moss, when it was finally dried several cracks opened up. Rather than give up on it, I decided to use the furniture technique of inlaid “butterfly dovetails” to reinforce and stabilize the cracks; thus “Mariposa”, meaning butterfly.

The butterflies are made of wood to match the neck; in this case verawood from Argentina. This is quite simply one of the densest and strongest woods on earth. It is heavier than water, and has a natural waxy texture that makes it incredibly smooth and slick to the touch, as well as being almost impossibly durable. Working with it felt like carving marble.

The hardware needed to be worthy of the wood, so I fitted it with a special bridge and tuner set of highly polished 3-d printed stainless steel. Two chrome Lace Alumitone pickups provide powerful and transparent sonic reproduction of the highly resonant body, while the gentle gloss of a hand applied french polish brings out the incredible depth and colour.