Sexauer/'17 (chapter 1)

[Nort]

Bruce,

I had the opportunity last Thursday with some time off work to do something I've wanted to do for awhile, made the trek from Anaheim to LA Guitar sales, for the expressed purpose of playing the Sexauer 15.5 Kerala Pernambuco that Ted has there,
my first in person experience with one of your guitars.

Ted & Helene were very gracious hosts,

the guitar is amazing, beautiful to the eye and ear, perfect setup, made playing it so effortless. wonderfully balanced,
a dream fingerstyle guitar. if only I weren't already so blessed with too many guitars.

whoever acquires that guitar will be incredibly blessed, just wish it was me

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by Nort

Bruce,

I had the opportunity last Thursday with some time off work to do something I've wanted to do for awhile, made the trek from Anaheim to LA Guitar sales, for the expressed purpose of playing the Sexauer 15.5 Kerala Pernambuco that Ted has there,
my first in person experience with one of your guitars.

Ted & Helene were very gracious hosts,

the guitar is amazing, beautiful to the eye and ear, perfect setup, made playing it so effortless. wonderfully balanced,
a dream fingerstyle guitar. if only I weren't already so blessed with too many guitars.

whoever acquires that guitar will be incredibly blessed, just wish it was me

How nice of you to say, Nort!

I had thought that guitar was sold over a month ago. I guess it was just a trial shipment. This particular instrument, my 15.5 design, is basically an oversized OM. If a person likes an OM, but just wanted MORE, this guitar will deliver. NOT a dread., more like an SJ.

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

Louie, you can play it next October at Woodstock...

God willing, I'll be there!

[Bruce Sexauer]

Yesterday's NCAL meeting was dampened by the rain, but not entirely shut down. We got have hoped for 30 to 40 attendees on a sunny spring day, and got 13 brave souls instead on the single rainiest day locally in perhaps 15 years.

I cleaned my shop in about 20 hours of my time over a 4 day period as I wouldn't want anyone to think my work habits are as sloppy as they are. Apparently I was adequately impressive as I am now the reigning president of the NCAL organization. Big whoop. I have been a member of the group since the 90's, and aside from hosting a meeting every year or so, and paying my dues, I haven't really given much to the group. Time to man up, I figure.

When I started coming to meetings, Ervin Somogyi was the guiding force. He was followed by, or perhaps concurrent with, Brian Burns, a flamenco maker and tool and process geek who years ago moved out of the Bay Area to Fort Bragg. The next valiant leader was Natalie Swango, perhaps better known as the CEO of Luthier's Mercantile International. She was followed by Richard Taylor who was at yesterday's meeting and handed the role off to myself.

Because I have found that I am better with ideas than administrative duties, two of the other members who attended the meeting have agreed to assist me with my duties. Tad Laird is familiar to you as a frequent poster in my threads and has become a good friend so that is promising, and the other is an electric maker works pretty much on the opposite side of the kingdom in Livermore (60 miles?), Mike Peterson.

This should be interesting.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Before bending the challenging cutaway on Bob's single 0, I practiced on the cut-off from shaping the sides:

[iim7V7IM7]

First time that I have seen a snake charmer use a pipe bender...

[Szk]

Wondering if get the purpose of that grey block. I see it as marking the location of the bridge and allowing you to precisely position the X-braces in relation to it.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by Szk

Wondering if get the purpose of that grey block. I see it as marking the location of the bridge and allowing you to precisely position the X-braces in relation to it.

Those are Corian clamping cauls I made for when it's time to glue on the bridge. They're just sitting there. My bracing is more "intentional" than "precise".

[tadol]

Intentional vs precise - Now thats a concept only a master could discern, and quite worthy of note!

Sometime gonna have to document your bending and fitting process -

[reidplum]

I really like the snake! Bruce, does that one go along in the box when you send out the finished guitar, or are you going to start a side line of "made from real guitar-wood and guitar building processes" goodies for us guitar geeks? I'd buy a little snake like that, for sure.

Reid

[Bruce Sexauer]

I had originally thought Bob would like to have it, and it IS his wood, after all. My wife also said she wanted it when i showed it to her. Looks like a potential hit! I do get a pair of scraps like this on most guitars I make, and the bending iron is hot shortly thereafter, so perhaps I will make a habit of "snakecharming" for a while. If anyone is having me make them a guitar, they have but to spec it and they'll get a pair at no extra cost. I hear they make great gifts to a certain kind of person.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I have been asked a few times about putting side ports into my already completed instruments, which I am quite reticent to do. One of the reasons is that I do NOT want to increase the size of the accumulated porting in the box as it affects the balance of the whole package. Another reason is that the hole in the side creates a physical vulnerability to my already light structure. I do reinforce this potential weakness with a piece of skewed grain mahogany HHG'd to the side of the guitar, and it would be unlikely to get such a good join if the back were on, and no way I'm doing that kind of surgery for this end. Here's a picture of the side port reinforcement going into Bob's Single 0:

[oliverkollar]

Once again.....and again....looks great Bruce!

Bob is one lucky man!

[Bruce Sexauer]

And, here is the side-port with its reinforcement:

[clinchriver]

Beautiful wood, on this O, backing up a few guitars we saw finished pics of the D-18, your final thoughts on that guitar and where are you on the D-28's?