Sexauer/'16 (Chapter 2)

[Tom West]

[QUOTE=Bruce Sexauer

Speaking of dogs, my dog Roxie, whom some you have met and many of you will have seen pictures of in previous posts, is short for the world (lymphoma) and much on the mind of Linda and I.
[/QUOTE]

Bruce: Sorry to hear about Roxie. We can feel for you and your wife as we are dog owners too and understand how much they can mean to folks. All the best and take care.
Tom

[TomB'sox]

Hello Bruce,

I am sorry to hear about Roxie, I have some knowledge in this area if you would like to PM me.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Thanks for your empathy, folks. We do plan to just play out the hand as far as medical options are concerned. She's an older dog and is actually pretty comfortable, considering.

[Bruce Sexauer]

This single 0 will have a port in it. I believe that a port makes a positive difference to the player's joy in many situations, though with some cost to the guitar's projection. A single 0 being mostly about the player, and less about performing well in a big room, the port is a fine idea IMO. Keeping the port small has advantages according to my research, and so I am.

I reinforce the side around the port with skewed grain mahogany as my construction methods are light, and added fragility seems like a bad idea. Here's how I do that:

set-up:


Sorry about the focus, but too late to re-shoot the chip:


glue-up (HHG):


More to follow.

[LouieAtienza]

Sorry to hear about Roxie, Bruce. Hope you get to enjoy Roxie's company as much as possible.

As to your side ports: Do you make a modification to the main sound hole's size when figuring for a sound port, or just leave it the same size?

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

Sorry to hear about Roxie, Bruce. Hope you get to enjoy Roxie's company as much as possible.

As to your side ports: Do you make a modification to the main sound hole's size when figuring for a sound port, or just leave it the same size?

Excellent question, especially in view of that I did it differently this time. In the past i have diminished the soundhole by a token 1/8" when putting in a side port. I recently learned that my intuitive reduction is about a third the actual surface area added by my conservitive sideport. This time I did not reduce the soundhole at all. My guess is that no one will be able to point out any obvious effect. There are simply too many equally/more important variables at play.

Roxie is seemingly "better", but since that is illogical we remain braced for the inevitable. She continues to play her role perfectly adequately as long as we keep the walks short and level-ish.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I took fewer pictures than I meant to. Perhaps someone will get some value here despite that.







Also this:

[jessupe]

Cool stuff. Bruce is there acoustic reasoning behind the shape of the sound port you are using? I'm sure the strength of the ellipse is important, but is there any acoustic benefit to this shape? I experiment around a bit with port shapes, I feel there is generally an improvement with a port but have not read any info on the shapes effect. I have seen some that look neato, but would be concerned about the long term structural integrity.

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

Excellent question, especially in view of that I did it differently this time. In the past i have diminished the soundhole by a token 1/8" when putting in a side port. I recently learned that my intuitive reduction is about a third the actual surface area added by my conservitive sideport. This time I did not reduce the soundhole at all. My guess is that no one will be able to point out any obvious effect. There are simply too many equally/more important variables at play.

Roxie is seemingly "better", but since that is illogical we remain braced for the inevitable. She continues to play her role perfectly adequately as long as we keep the walks short and level-ish.

Thanks for the insight. I have not had an opportunity to try a sound port... yet.

The resiliency of "man's best friend" always amazes me; having faced the inevitable myself quite a few times. My dog Joi, who's half Shepard and half Husky, is about 11 human years now, and she's developed a growth on her right shoulder. She still goes around her business, but the vet's concerned that she may be too old for surgery. A biopsy came back benign, but because of the size of the growth they're not 100% positive.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I use the elliptical form for my sideport because it is the underlying basis for much I of my design work over the years and fits right in. It has the structural advantage of having no stress creating corners, length without cutting cross grain, and being barely over 1/2" wide. The width thing is said to be important in ported cabinets where tonal integrity is concerned, and it resonated for me. Mainly, it is unobtrusive and even beautiful.

Roxie is having a down day compared to the last couple of days. I/we really appreciate the community support.

[jessupe]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

I use the elliptical form for my sideport because it is the underlying basis for much I of my design work over the years and fits right in. It has the structural advantage of having no stress creating corners, length without cutting cross grain, and being barely over 1/2" wide. The width thing is said to be important in ported cabinets where tonal integrity is concerned, and it resonated for me. Mainly, it is unobtrusive and even beautiful.

Roxie is have a down day compared to the last couple of days. I/we really appreciate the community support.

Thanks so much for the reply...So sorry to hear about your doggie, It's something I've been through before, its not easy. I hope things get better for her. My cat who was part of the original duo, who is the remaining one is not well either, so I'm kinda going through it too

[Bruce Sexauer]

Say goodby to the inside, I am about to close 'er up:

[Bruce Sexauer]

In year 2000 Eric Schoenberg and I were just 4 years into my involvement in his ongoing "Schoenberg Guitar" project. He long ago became my best customer ever, and we have now completed over 70 guitars, each one built as a custom guitar with ever evolving specifications seeking his ideal as best we can conceive it. This is a far more intimate sort of relationship than any of my other dealers have developed, but not unlike those, since 2008 there has been a bit less business.

Getting back to 2000, that's when he and I went in together on a a few wood buys. We still have some of that wood unused, and the guitar I am starting today will feature an "E grade" Rivolta Italian Spruce top he and I acquired at that time! When I put up wood I usually pencil some marks on it to remind me of where I got it and how I thought at the time it should be joined. In this case I needed to remind me that it was not entirely mine:

[Bruce Sexauer]

Say hello the outside!

[Treenewt]

Good Lord, Bruce, I love looking at pics of your builds! Absolutely stunning work, inside and out! Thank you for taking the time to chronicle this for us!

And I too offer my sympathies regarding Roxie...