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  #46  
Old 12-14-2011, 09:38 PM
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Steve Kinnaird Steve Kinnaird is offline
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Love the headstock, Bruce.
And my, you DO make varnish shine!

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  #47  
Old 12-15-2011, 07:53 PM
walrus walrus is offline
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  #48  
Old 12-16-2011, 09:41 PM
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Bruce Sexauer Bruce Sexauer is offline
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I strung this guitar AND delivered it today. It is rare for a guitar to spend so little time in my custody, and more of those very sweet minutes would have been just fine. I can now say with authority that Pernambuco mixes extremely well with Adirondack. I have tended to choose the very hardest and stiffest Euro in the past as playing into Pernambuco's qualities makes more sense than playing against them, which is what I do with Cocobolo (for instance). That's because P's native qualities are wonderful, whereas Cocobolo is over the top on the hard edged projection side of the equation IMO, and needs a little tempering, or civilizing, before I find it acceptable in polite company. Probably a controversial viewpoint, but it is certainly mine. If Brazilian is King, surely Pernambuco is Queen. Long live the Queen!
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  #49  
Old 12-17-2011, 01:07 AM
walrus walrus is offline
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Yep, I picked up the JB-15-D today. Thanks Bruce for letting it go even though there's some minor tweakage left to be done (I'll be back!). It's a rare treat to hear a guitar within its first couple hours of stringing. Even knowing it's settling in and to not to have unrealistic expectations, I was happily surprised. Some quick impressions:

1. The power! This mini-D has volume to spare, especially with a flatpick. It reminds me of my Collings D2H BRW/Adir but without the metallic harshness that guitar originally had. Like my Collings, I like how you can throttle back on the picking and still be plenty loud, or be aggressive and eventually turn your ears red with the volume. But the Sexauer is strung with lights!

2. The soundport! It does give a "surround sound" experience to the player. To hear the difference, Bruce put a piece of tape over the port while I was playing; the mini-D immediately sounded less open and a bit muffled- you get accustomed to the soundport's effect pretty quickly. Bruce didn't hear a noticeable difference with projection during this impromptu test.

3. The sound! With the Adirondack/Pernambuco pairing, I didn't know what to expect at the beginning. Bruce had never done it before. Would it be harsh and metallic? Would it be mostly treble and little bass? No worries. The guitar has ample bass, while maintaining an incredible clarity and a wonderful "shimmer" to the treble. The sound is wonderfully balanced and thick up and down the fretboard.

While fingerpicking, the bass is already there, but the trebles are a bit tight; there's room for the sustain to grow. This is where time will hopefully loosen that up and increase the responsiveness and sensitivity even more.

Here are some quick pics. The sunburst is lighter in person. I love the flame on the Koa headplates and mahogany neck. Back to playing!


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  #50  
Old 12-17-2011, 04:10 AM
cpabolting cpabolting is offline
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Bruce... nice to be back at AGF. Just looked through all of these pictures... that is one impressive build. Love the quartersawn Pernambuco.... not too many sets of this around.
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  #51  
Old 12-17-2011, 12:13 PM
Berf Berf is offline
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This is one beautiful looking guitar walrus and from your review I get the impression that it sounds great too. Congratulations to you and Bruce. Is it too early to make any comparisons with your Brazilian Sexauer?
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  #52  
Old 12-17-2011, 12:47 PM
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Good to see you here again, Keith.

Walrus brought the JB-16 over for comparison on pick-up, so they are both fresh in my mind. The 16 (BRW) is ballsier, a much richer sound, but it is also nearly 2 years played. I do not expect the mini-D to ever have the 16's level of scootch because that's not the nature of Pernambuco.The new guitar has incredible clarity and beauty, a purity that I have never heard in BRW, or any other tonewood. It is right where I hoped it would be. We never were shooting for the 16's sound, it has those bases covered very well. There is a contrast between the two guitars which will never be crossed, and that's what we were after. It is at least as distinct as the difference between a Saxophone and a Clarinet, in fact the clarinet would need to be pushed a little toward a flute so as to hear a bit less of the reed.
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  #53  
Old 12-17-2011, 03:24 PM
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Beautiful beautiful guitar, Bruce & W.!! Bruce could you elaborate on "scootch" as a tonal quality?
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  #54  
Old 12-18-2011, 03:06 PM
walrus walrus is offline
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One difference that stands out is that the mini-D is more "in your face" with its sound. There is more definition from bass to treble, and the highs are stronger and accentuated. To get more esoteric, the mini-D's notes seem to have a "halo" around them, like a slight chorus effect. No harshness! This clarity or purity as Bruce states seems to be a quality of Pernambuco, probably accentuated by the Adirondack top. The perception of the mini-D's additional power and projection might be influenced by the soundport- I'd like to hear the comparison with my BRW/Old German JB-16 as the audience, not the player.

As an example of how life can be a punk mutha, the second day after having the guitar I lean it against my guitar case for a second and it tips over, creating a deep indentation on the left bout right above the waist. GRRRRRR! And so it made an emergency run back to the shop of Sexauer. Here's hoping Bruce can use all his powers of luthiery to mask/lessen the scar as much as possible. At least I got the first ding out of the way.
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  #55  
Old 12-18-2011, 11:47 PM
mcoliver77 mcoliver77 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by walrus View Post
Here are some quick pics. The sunburst is lighter in person. I love the flame on the Koa headplates and mahogany neck. Back to playing!
Oh wow! Absolutely gorgeous burst!
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  #56  
Old 12-22-2011, 10:41 PM
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  #57  
Old 12-22-2011, 10:46 PM
racman racman is offline
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Ouch - that must have hurt!

I can only imagine what it must have felt like afterjust getting this beautiful guitar and having that happen nice repair though but it will still be a reminder - oh well, adds to the character of the guitar I guess.
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  #58  
Old 12-22-2011, 11:19 PM
walrus walrus is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by racman View Post
Ouch - that must have hurt!

I can only imagine what it must have felt like afterjust getting this beautiful guitar and having that happen nice repair though but it will still be a reminder - oh well, adds to the character of the guitar I guess.
That's what I'll saying to the dunce (myself) that did this, "It's character, mojo, character, mojo,..."

Seriously, post-repair it now just looks like a cosmetic "flaw" on an adi top that the burst didn't cover. Something I can definitely live with!

On another note, I'm looking forward to the new Hoffee case that'll be waiting when I pick up the JB.
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