MIX mando/Cree Studios

[Peter Cree]

Hi, I'm new here. I'm Peter Cree a visual artist and amateur musician. i do custom finishes. creestudios.com

Recently Will Kimble and I collaborated on a Mix carbon-fiber mando (nice instrument). here is the result.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s118/petercree/DSCN0982.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s118/petercree/DSCN0981.jpg

The finish is shellac and is around 2 to 4 mics. Sounds great and gives the carbon-fiber top an alternative look.

cheers,

Peter Cree

[kyblue]

Wow!

Paula

[Joel Spaulding]

Juxtaposition of organic elements over the carbon fiber , subtly implicates wood - Nice!

[JEStanek]

Seems like a natural evolution of some of the cool Rigel finishes/decorations (e.g., Killer Bee). Looks like a good collaboration!

Jamie

[Tripp Johnson]

That looks really cool!

[sgarrity]

That is very cool!

[billhay4]

I have Mix-ed emotions.
Bill

[Steevarino]

Well,

Bill may have MIXed emotions about it, but I find myself truly FALLing for it.

Oops, maybe I should just LEAVE this one alone . . .

Steve
www.RedLineReso.com
www.CumberlandAcoustic.com

[pjlama]

Well that's refreshing.

[Phil Goodson]

Welcome Peter.
I've seen lots of your stuff over on the Martin Guitar Forum in years past. Always beautiful designs!

Will innovation in appearance take over the mandolin world? (Hmmm.... What would Bill do?)

Thanks for sharing your artistry, ... and keep it coming.

[fatt-dad]

Another welcome to Peter! I saw this over at umgf and love it! I've yet to play one of these "Mix-master" mandolins, but I'd like to! I just have to wonder how far this art concept is headed, I've enjoyed all I've seen so far that's for sure!

f-d

[billhay4]

Peter,
Took a look at your stuff. Very nice!
How does the painting affect the tone of the instruments in your opinion? I am thinking of the wood instruments in particular.
Bill

[Peter Cree]

Hi Bill and all,

Thanks for your comments.

First of all its not paint. Its a finish. So in nitrocellulose lacquer the average factory finish is usually around 10 mics. Mine come in around 4. In shellac they aren't quite a french polish but not far off.

The point of all of this is to give an alternative to standard finishes in matte, gloss, or sunburst. After all we can think of more than three finish types in this world. The "art" is not the picture, its the finish.

The sound/tonal properties exceed standard performance. For instance on a Larrivee guitar , when you scrape off the top load of UV Poly and move to nitro or shellac the instrument's top does move more freely and the instrument is improved. When I collaborated with Martin we used a four piece adi top. With a 4 mic nitro finish that little gem had one of the best sound and projection a 00 size can produce.

When living in the dry Rockies, nitro was my finish of choice. Living here in Nazareth, PA now ,I'm moving to shellac since its far easier to manipulate and more consistent in formula. Nitro has become so diverse in formula as to make it a major pain.

The entire focus of the work is to create decorative and high functioning finishes that improves tone (according to the basic instrument) in relation to a factory spray job. A guitar top in nitro can take 100 hours. In shellac a better outcome can be had in 50. A Mandolin still takes 40 or 50 hours depending on the motif and "rule of the unexpected".

With carbon fiber, anything to get the usually ugly poly off of it and replace with something that actually functions well. Yes, Carbon fiber is tough but you don't need to have an industrial strength anything to get a decent instrument out of it. CA tends to over build that way. This MIX is wonderful. Its sensitive to all touch and has some complex characteristics of a wood instrument. Really shines in a jam. It has soul , bros.

We're upgrading the web-site right now. More examples and better explanations.