The Story of the "D" Log as Told by Steve Gilchrist

[MojoMando]

I was curious as to whether either of my two beloved Gils were made from the fabled “D” log, so I emailed Steve to ask him about that, and also where the “D” label came from. Below is Steve’s answer which he gladly said was ok to share with this forum. (BTW: Answer to my first question: one is and one isn’t.) MojoMando

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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".

[Malcolm G.]

Love it!

So, backs in Tree D, eh?

Do you need the special glasses?

[Will Kimble]

Fascinating to me that it was "just about all "slip" matched". Thanks for sharing.

Will Kimble
www.kimblemandolins.com

[sunburst]

Well, there is nothing mythical about that tree...
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.

Exactly. All the hype is from others, not from the builder. We all have roughly equal access to quality wood.

[Rob Fowler]

Not being a builder I don't know what "slip matched" means. Can somebody clarify? Thanks!

Good to hear it from THE MAN.

[MikeEdgerton]

Anyone curious about past discussions about this subject can find most of them here.

[sunburst]

Not being a builder I don't know what "slip matched" means. Can somebody clarify? Thanks!

Good to hear it from THE MAN.

First, book matched (traditionally considered best for tops and backs) means a piece of wood is sawed in the middle and opened like a book. The edges are then joined and glued to make a two piece top or back with a center seam and very similar looking grain to each side.
If the wood cannot be sawn that way for one reason or another (usually not thick enough), consecutive, end to end, pieces can be taken from the board. One piece is flipped over and joined to the other in a similar manner to a book matched set. The grain will not always look as similar to each side of the center seam, but it will look closer than randomly chosen pieces normally will. Purists may think it is an inferior way to make a two piece plate, compared to book matching, but there is no quality difference.

[johnny5]

haha, it's so funny that after all of the conjecture about the mythical d-log's super mysterious (or random, i read just the other day that it was from a property owned by susan sarandon) origins, the builder's final answer is "yeah, pretty much just a nice tree i got a while back".

like he was going to say aliens planted it or something.

[Steve Ostrander]

You mean that it's not a tree from Orville Gibson's boyhood home? Dissapointed....

[MikeEdgerton]

You mean that it's not a tree from Orville Gibson's boyhood home? Dissapointed....

You need to read this thread.

[Rob Fowler]

First, book matched (traditionally considered best for tops and backs) means a piece of wood is sawed in the middle and opened like a book. The edges are then joined and glued to make a two piece top or back with a center seam and very similar looking grain to each side.
If the wood cannot be sawn that way for one reason or another (usually not thick enough), consecutive, end to end, pieces can be taken from the board. One piece is flipped over and joined to the other in a similar manner to a book matched set. The grain will not always look as similar to each side of the center seam, but it will look closer than randomly chosen pieces normally will. Purists may think it is an inferior way to make a two piece plate, compared to book matching, but there is no quality difference.

Thank you, John. Much appreciated.

[Tim W]

I had been wondering about this very thing but never thought to ask. I went to a house concert the other day to see Mike Compton pick a while and since I knew his was made from that log I just asked him.

He gave me me a bit more detailed description but that first post is the jist of it. Nothing special, just a good Huge tree. It's ironic that this thread came up just after I learned the answer, I reckon other folks must be wondering about the same stuff I am.

[Wilbur James]

The lure of the mythilogical, it creates such longing...........

[BradKlein]

Nothing 'mythical' perhaps, but this is what 'magic' looks like when it comes to making musical instruments. Mr. Gilchrist doesn't say that the D log is just a random tree that he just happened to use on 160 mandolins. I have to imagine that he liked it more than the alternatives available to him. And that having such consistency, the ability to make over 100 instruments from the same tree allowed him much better control than he'd have otherwise.

Just as with Stradivari, the 'magic' is the sum of many 'mundane' decisions, skills, opportunities, techniques... but that doesn't make it less magic as far as I'm concerned.

[Chris Baird]

As a builder it's useful to have a lot of wood from the same tree. Once you get one mandolin right, you know what to do with the rest of them.

[blauserk]

haha, it's so funny that after all of the conjecture about the mythical d-log's super mysterious (or random, i read just the other day that it was from a property owned by susan sarandon) origins, the builder's final answer is "yeah, pretty much just a nice tree i got a while back".

like he was going to say aliens planted it or something.

I heard it was Sigourney Weaver's property (which is consistent with upstate NY; I dunno where Sarandon has houses). Being a "great example of a big old hard sugar maple tree" is nothing to sneeze at.

[Dan Margolis]

"So, backs in Tree D, eh?

Do you need the special glasses?"

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!

[Paul Statman]

"So, backs in Tree D, eh?

Do you need the special glasses?"

Now you're just being silly, Dan. You would definitely need a 3D pick and and 3D strings, though..

[grassrootphilosopher]

As a builder it's useful to have a lot of wood from the same tree. Once you get one mandolin right, you know what to do with the rest of them.

That sounds about right to me.

By the way I found that the backs of the D-log mandolins looked especially nice. I saw (and played) an early "The Gilchrist" (late 70ies I guess) two early 90ies "Gilchrists" that all looked allright, okay back, nice tone and projection but they didn´t hype me out. My good mandolin is about as good as those. But I played the Ex-Compton #500 and someone´s #502, both D-log and both had a little extra while even two serial numbers away both instruments sounded different. The backs on both are very, very nice indeed. Special D-log backs... nice.

[Perry]

I heard it was Sigourney Weaver's property (which is consistent with upstate NY; I dunno where Sarandon has houses). Being a "great example of a big old hard sugar maple tree" is nothing to sneeze at.

That would be cool since I am in moderately upstate NY and have a D log specimen. One piece back.

Maybe from this property?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jillrachel/1867492369/

[Boombloom]

I ran into Mr. Gilchrist years ago at the old Noppet Hill Bluegrass Festival in western Massachusetts. I told him I had a bunch of Adirondack Spruce on the woodlot behind my house. We had a nice talk about the Adirondack region and State Park. I invited him up for a visit but he hasn't shown up yet....

[OldSausage]

He probably has quite a long list of trees to visit. Maybe he's not looking to branch out. Or perhaps he just arrives quietly, and leaves.

[Bill Baldridge]

Maybe he's not looking to branch out.

Clever Maybe he arrives quietly and leafs.

[Spruce]

There was another "D" log that made it into a bunch of Gils, and that was an Engelmann log which yielded a gob of sets that I sent to him in '92 or so....

[doc holiday]

Well talking of Tree-D, Dan M......the back of your Ellis isn't hard to look at. Seem like T.E. & Bill C are frequently arm-wrestling over maple....