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  #16  
Old 07-22-2017, 09:29 AM
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Originally Posted by pgilmor View Post
OK, this is one of those times where it really stinks to have my job, where I'm overseas and can't make a special trip when I would most like to. I actually contacted Bruce in 2012 about a walnut WRX he was building, but was unable to make things work because of my job. These guitars are so beautiful!! If I were in CONUS I would have all my family and friends at this show just to increase my chances. Just the usual work by Bruce Sexauer.

And then there is the Pernambuco!? Does it never end?
For me, the pernambuco IS going to end. I have made 20 fantastic out of the ballpark guitars with it and I have just 4 more sets of this quality after the one I'm using now. I also have some poorly cut P, but I have found that it must be quartered or it WILL crack up. Quartersawn P is exceptionally rare and I'd be surprised to acquire any more.
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  #17  
Old 07-22-2017, 10:47 AM
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Bob, close to exactly 3 7/8 x 4 3/4. The wedge is 7/32 at the extreme of the lower bout.

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Last edited by Bruce Sexauer; 07-22-2017 at 10:53 AM.
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  #18  
Old 07-22-2017, 11:08 AM
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Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer View Post
Bob, close to exactly 3 7/8 x 4 3/4. The wedge is 7/32 at the extreme of the lower bout.

Thanks Bruce...

I like the subtle taper in the backstrip. Very much like entasis in a column...
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  #19  
Old 07-22-2017, 11:47 AM
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I have said it before, but I love the way you construct the box with no forms. Cut the top and glue the sides to it, no forms, no two guitars exactly the same....I am sure there are others, but I don't think on the AGF there is anyone else that I recall doing it that way. Thank you also for your kind words for Mr. Collings and his influences.

I hope you have a good time at the show. There will be one very lucky person there for sure.
I agree. It is great to see examples like this that prove there are many ways to reach a desired effect. This all adds to individuality and keeps the door open for new ideas and developments to flow. Liking this approach and the patterned ribbons will provide a nice surprise to anyone shining a torch into the finished guitar.

Only downside is I am too far away to visit the show and so have a chance to win something special.
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  #20  
Old 07-22-2017, 07:25 PM
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Just to be clear - Bruce bends to patterns fairly closely, 'cause if you stray too far from the standards, it becomes a real problem to get a case. But his style does allow for so much more flexibility and creativity in any particular build - and it's why he can build asymmetrically so well. But the real advantage I've found with his guitars is the lack of internal stresses in the box, making the entire unit both more resonant, but also allowing the plates and bracing to be shaped thinner and lighter as they aren't fighting to just stay together. They sound like the finest vintage guitars even when new, and then only get better -

Got a quick look at this one before the back went on, and it is some incredible material - can't wait to see it under finish!
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  #21  
Old 07-22-2017, 10:05 PM
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Less stress is one of the reasons I tried building like Bruce rather than forcing a pair of sides into a form. That and I have not really bothered to conform to a standard size or shape yet and building a form for a single guitar seems like a lot of work.

Looking good as always Bruce. Like that subtle back strip.
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  #22  
Old 07-23-2017, 11:56 AM
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While I do generally try to avoid the work bench on Sundays, mostly to keep things in perspective, this guitar will not make it to completion by SBAIC if I dally at all. Most of the top binding went on yesterday, but this morning I fit and installed the last bit that goes in the cutaway. Not only is it not my habitual cutaway geometry, it is also not my habitual purfling package; it has an extra .032" of black/red/black to tie it into the back and side purfling scheme. I mention this to give you some perspective on my "show off" photo, the close up of the miter at the cutaway point, which came out better than I had any right to hope for.



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  #23  
Old 07-23-2017, 12:21 PM
SJ VanSandt SJ VanSandt is offline
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Yep, that's purdy purfect purfling. I've got a feeling this is going to be the dread-to-die-for: unfortunately the dread I have now is already killing me. Time to start shopping for a nice single 0 -- or maybe a Schoenberg/Sexauer!
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  #24  
Old 07-23-2017, 01:11 PM
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Originally Posted by SJ VanSandt View Post
Yep, that's purdy purfect purfling. I've got a feeling this is going to be the dread-to-die-for: unfortunately the dread I have now is already killing me. Time to start shopping for a nice single 0 -- or maybe a Schoenberg/Sexauer!
I have a guy on the fence re the Pear 0 . . . he's been straddling it for nearly a month now. Someone eventually will buy it and never look back. Why not you?

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  #25  
Old 07-23-2017, 02:52 PM
SJ VanSandt SJ VanSandt is offline
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I have a guy on the fence re the Pear 0 . . . he's been straddling it for nearly a month now. Someone eventually will buy it and never look back. Why not you?

Money. Or rather the lack of it. Best of luck with the sale though!
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  #26  
Old 07-23-2017, 04:07 PM
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I realize I live an off-center world where my guitar do not actually seem expensive, and they-re arguably not where value vs cost is concerned, but even though the Pear 0 is well under $10k, that's a good size stack of twenties! $20 a week for 45 weeks! A person would have to WANT to!

I digress.

I want to talk about the binding on this guitar. I have no idea whatsoever what kind of wood it is. And I'd bet dollars to donuts no one else does either. No one. I got it from a guy called "Toy Boy" (honest) who had acquired 400,000 4 x 4 x 46" that were cut in central America for the purpose of shoring cargo in coastal freighters around 100 years ago, so he told me. They put a crew ashore and started cutting tree w/o regard for species, they were after serious hardwood, and that's what they got. TB was on a road trip trying to find buyers for his wood and had come up short, so short he didn't have gas to get back to LA. He showed up at my door just before dusk and begged me to look through his 53 misc pieces in the back of his truck and then buy several for $6 apiece. I only found 3 that seemed like a good bet, not enough for his purpose. So I offered him $100 for the lot and he took it.

I have been using these timbers for a variety of projects ever since. My dining room table has legs made from TB timber. That purple wood I call D. camatillo that so many of my Pernambuco guitars are bound with came from this score. And this stuff I am using on he Mod-D came for TB.

This wood is mildly pinkish, and looks like a great match to the P IMO. It seems to have no meaningful open pores, or rather, what would be pores seem to be pre-filled with a creamy white substance. Sort of like Ivoroid with the colors reversed. It is as hard as any wood I use, possibly harder.

Here's a picture as it looks today:
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  #27  
Old 07-23-2017, 05:12 PM
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Bruce, I will give you $20.00 a week for 45 weeks for the Pear, to me that calculates to $900.00. Not sure that is what you meant though haha.
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  #28  
Old 07-23-2017, 06:00 PM
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Wow, to realize that it is actually $200 a week for 45 weeks makes me see that a, I am bad at arithmetic, and b, it is a huge pile of twenties.
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  #29  
Old 07-23-2017, 07:12 PM
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Wow, to realize that it is actually $200 a week for 45 weeks makes me see that a, I am bad at arithmetic, and b, it is a huge pile of twenties.

So we don't have a deal at $900.00? Dang it! One could do the 20 a week for 450 weeks which would only be 8.6 years....I really hope to play some at Woodstock!!!
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  #30  
Old 07-23-2017, 08:29 PM
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The body is done except for a bit of "finessing", and after my root canal tomorrow, it's on to the neck.









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