Mulatta

Bruce Sexauer · #1 02-08-2016, 05:10 PM

I am well into my third nylon of the last decade and a half, all this last few months. Completion of the one I will describe here will double my lifetime output (so far) at 6 total.

I am loving the Blanca I finished a month ago all out of proportion. Having been a steel string player for 55 years, I have never previously bonded with the nylon alternative. Probably that is because my previous efforts were all more or less classical guitars while, musically, I am a risk taking improviser.

It has been suggested that I try a Flamenco Negra, but having just made a Brazilian/Italian true classical, I feel that Rosewood such as that is just too focused and formal to produce the kind of character I am loving in the Blanca. But there is other rosewood, and in my experience of 35 or so steel string guitars I've made from it, Dalbergia tucurensis might be just the ticket. Being as close to white as it is to black, this guitar will not be nearly "Negra", so I am thinking of it as "Mulatta", though the title is actually "Mulatto" as that is what I say automatically.

Here are the outside and the inside of the top. More to follow.

Bruce Sexauer · #2 02-09-2016, 05:50 PM

I have glued the top to the neck!

Bruce Sexauer · #3 02-09-2016, 07:45 PM

I was lucky enough to buy 300 board feet of quartersawn Dalbergia tucurensis lumber about 40 years ago, and I have been building with it ever since. At the time, no one had seemingly heard of it, but as time passed its star has risen, and now Martin is featuring it for their guitars since Brazilian is virtually over. I have always treated is as a "standard" wood, which means no added cost, but I guess I am going to have to rethink that as LMI and others are asking $500 for a set these days. I do consider it the best all around tone wood since guitars made from it are a joy to play with their active backs, and it is easy to get that liveliness, almost feels like cheating! It projects well as rosewoods do, but has a personal quality to it that no others in my experience can come close to, not unlike mahogany IMO.

So here's the back for this Mulatta:

And a better shot of the top, now with the tail block clamped to it.

mr. beaumont · #4 02-09-2016, 08:11 PM

Very nice, however, be careful with that term.

redir · #5 02-09-2016, 08:14 PM

How do you set the neck angle Bruce?

What a score on that lumber!!!

Bruce Sexauer · #6 02-09-2016, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Very nice, however, be careful with that term.

You are the second person to say that, which causes me to think it may have a meaning I am unaware of. I think "Mulatto" means a person of mixed race, specifically Black and White, which is what this guitar is. Does it mean something else? Or is it a slur? I do not personally have a negative charge on it, but perhaps others do?

The previous back picture was tweaked to show the grain, and was also the inside. Here is something closer to the color (without finish), and it is the outside:

Bruce Sexauer · #7 02-09-2016, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redir

How do you set the neck angle Bruce?

I will show you when we get there.

mc1 · #8 02-09-2016, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

... Dalbergia tucurensis ... I do consider it the best all around tone wood since guitars made from it are a joy to play with their active backs, and it is easy to get that liveliness, almost feels like cheating! ...

wow. very interesting.

mr. beaumont · #9 02-09-2016, 08:31 PM

It does mean that, it's just antiquated, some people are offended by it.

Am I seeing a little cross grain flame on that back?

Bruce Sexauer · #10 02-09-2016, 09:36 PM

It is not flamed, but it is very close to the quarter, and there is probably some Medulary display visible in the photos. The sides, which you will see later, are extremely well quartered and do have a strong Medulary display.

cobalt60 · #11 02-09-2016, 10:56 PM

Great looking back wood, and "very normal" top bracing based on the last build I saw of yours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

You are the second person to say that, which causes me to think it may have a meaning I am unaware of. I think "Mulatto" means a person of mixed race, specifically Black and White, which is what this guitar is. Does it mean something else? Or is it a slur? I do not personally have a negative charge on it, but perhaps others do?

The term does indeed have a troubled place in contemporary language. To be honest, it's a complicated explanation, but suffice to say that there were times in American history where men who constructed terms like "Mulatto" or "Octaroon" did so for reasons of oppression and power maintenance, as opposed to scientific genealogy descriptors.

Sorry but it's just true that some parts of our language carry unfortunate historical weight. Personally, if I were in NYC, I'd never utter the term aloud on the streets, if that helps to understand.

oldtimeblues · #12 02-10-2016, 07:32 AM

it would be like calling a crossover a halfbreed

Dave T · #13 02-10-2016, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

It does mean that, it's just antiquated, some people are offended by it.

Does this PC crap have to be introduced here, when all Bruce is talking about is a guitar?

Dave

Norman2 · #14 02-10-2016, 09:48 AM

Hi, Unfortunately in today's world it is important.
Norman2

Bruce Sexauer · #15 02-10-2016, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave T

Does this PC crap have to be introduced here, when all Bruce is talking about is a guitar?

Dave

I did ask. I think will stay with the title on this one, despite the possibility of offending someone. For one thing, it is the title of the piece, not the name of a model, and for another, it is written in ink on the "foot" of the neck.