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  #196  
Old 03-11-2018, 10:32 PM
jessupe jessupe is offline
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Today was a great meeting at 'the Prez's" shop. Bruce went over the 'build in the air" method which really has many advantages, it allows for freedom in the build and allows one to change up designs easy without having to make molds, and of course because your not making molds you'll save time and effort and be able to put that into building the actual guitar.

We saw some of Bruce's more recent work that he has posted here, all of which is spectacular. The Koa flamed back is absolutely stunning and probably the finest Koa I've seen, and that's coming from someone who lived in Maui for 5 years, so I saw lots of Koa.

All in all it's a great time and a great group, I feel very fortunate to be in the location and to be able to attend.

A big thanks to Bruce for doing what he does, which is really a labor of love for the craft and the folks that are involved, and Tad also for helping with the recording.

Hope to see you all at the next one.
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  #197  
Old 03-12-2018, 11:41 AM
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Great to see you in my shop yesterday, Jessupe. The March NCAL meeting drew 20 to 25 attendees, which meant there was only just room for everyone in my "build room" for the demonstration of my assembly technique. I thought it was a very good meeting.

Here is a picture of the 00 "Tree" guitar with the peone all in, and ready to have the sides shaped to receive the back, once the water I used to clean up the HHG has dried.

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  #198  
Old 03-12-2018, 12:15 PM
LouieAtienza LouieAtienza is offline
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Bruce that looks awesome... Also the first time I recall seeing that crossed UTBs. Pretty cool idea, if I must say.
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  #199  
Old 03-12-2018, 02:44 PM
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While I admire the Taylor crew for stepping out of the box and implementing an alternative system which may be more financially efficient and probably does address the guitar’s major weakness of folding up across the soundhole, I am critical of its clunky lack of elegance, and it does not appear to me to handle cross grain stiffness as well as my modified traditional system. So I woke up in the middle of the night a few weeks back, inspired by their efforts, with the idea of the Upper Transverse X brace you see in this guitar. It replaces both the UTB and the so called popsicle brace, a brace which I consider far more important than it is usually given credit for. If the popsicle brace is as important as I think, the UTX should do the job a little better.

The main reasons for this UTX are increased stiffness across the sound hole and the fact that I can now tune my main X location w/o fear of shortening the Guitar’s Lifespan. It does add a bit of labor as, so far, I have to put in the braces in 4 stages instead of my habitual 3. My method of “tuning” the braces is done in stages, which gives me correctable results in case I get too exhuberant. If I don’t ocassionally go “too far”, how am I to know where “far enough” is?

This is a “spec guitar”, which means there is no customer with expectations and that allows me to take the risk the UTX represents. I fully expect it to work very well, but there is some risk that it will alter the nature of the guitar unexpectedly. That is why I have been very careful to treat the lower bout’s bracing conservatively, in line with what I have been doing for the last several years. Of course the fact that I am using a tonewood that is new to me is a slight curve ball, but at least it is a known factor outside my body of work.
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  #200  
Old 03-12-2018, 04:46 PM
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The FT-00-Kerala is closed today, and we might get a look at her a little later.



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  #201  
Old 03-12-2018, 05:11 PM
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Before I got distracted by the NCAL meeting, I connected the neck and body of Jmat's JB-L00. I expect to hear it sing in about three days.



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  #202  
Old 03-12-2018, 08:04 PM
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Maybe I did not miss too much not being at the meeting. It is pretty obvious how it allows you the freedom to do whatever you want with the main X brace.
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  #203  
Old 03-12-2018, 08:40 PM
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Me too, Fred, but judging by the questions I got at the meeting it is not plain to everyone.

Here are a couple of shots of the 00 box closed (but not cleaned up). I plan to make it a bird's beak slothead, and the head will be faced front and back with the incredibly delicate burl I used in the rosette. Haven't settled on the binding yet, but it won't re rosewood; perhaps pernambuco?



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  #204  
Old 03-12-2018, 09:06 PM
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So much progress on so many wonderful guitars. The 00 looks great, wish I could spend some time with it. Happy to see the L00 is in the final stages.
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  #205  
Old 03-12-2018, 11:22 PM
jessupe jessupe is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jmat View Post
So much progress on so many wonderful guitars. The 00 looks great, wish I could spend some time with it. Happy to see the L00 is in the final stages.
Bruce Sexauer, the man!, the machine! , can't wait to see the "Tree" with finish.
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  #206  
Old 03-13-2018, 06:21 AM
jmat jmat is offline
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Bruce - Would a variant of that UTX work in a cutaway?
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  #207  
Old 03-13-2018, 06:35 AM
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Bruce, your output is prodigious, while maintaining excellence. Impressive!
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  #208  
Old 03-13-2018, 07:13 AM
LouieAtienza LouieAtienza is offline
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Thanks for the explanation Bruce, I like it... and jmat's going to be one lhck individual, that 00 is lovely.

SO, you have another suffix to add to your model nomenclature... would this be the FT-00 KERALA UTX?
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  #209  
Old 03-13-2018, 08:04 AM
jmat jmat is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LouieAtienza View Post
Thanks for the explanation Bruce, I like it... and jmat's going to be one lhck individual, that 00 is lovely.

SO, you have another suffix to add to your model nomenclature... would this be the FT-00 KERALA UTX?
I am fortunate for sure. Also, I am going to beat the tar out of that guitar...in a polite classically trained sort of way.
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  #210  
Old 03-13-2018, 09:45 AM
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The Sexauer labeling nomenclature can get a bit busy. At some point you would need a manual to decode it, I’m afraid. A 13 fretter with my mild MultiScale and a cutaway could be called an “FT-000-C-JB/2-UTX-Kerala”, and that skipped over the STV. Thankfully, I don’t have to mention the Oil Varnish or the Hot Hide Glue as they are standard.

My normal UTB can come unnecessarily close to to the cutaway, sometimes needing to be relieved to permit the Peone their part in the structure. While the upper arm of the cutaway side UTX would be truncated, the lower arm would function with less structural redundancy. I’d find that relatively elegant. But I think we should get the first iteration strung up and assessed before retooling the process.
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