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  #1  
Old 04-21-2018, 07:11 PM
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Default Sexauer '18 (chapter 2)

I am hoping that since I have started a new thread to follow Sexauer '18, the mods won't actually close the old thread, which stands at 299 posts right now, for a while. If you want to go back and see what the next few posts are about, you can find the last page of that thread HERE.

I am currently working a JB-15 made from Italian Spruce over Brazilian Rosewood, and I am just getting to attaching the sides to the top. They call this sort of guitar a cutaway model, but oddly, the cutaway is the first part of the sides to go in rather than the last, as the name suggests.



That last pic was this morning, this afternoon I have put on the rest of the sides and installed the ribbon reinforcement, which I Imagine to be Dragons footprints:


And the linings go in:
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Last edited by Bruce Sexauer; 04-21-2018 at 07:55 PM.
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Old 04-22-2018, 03:57 AM
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Dragons feet eh! Now that’s interesting.

Looking good Bruce. Looking at the first pic I thought the little corner support thingy on the lower side of the cutaway looked like the angle was wonky. But then quickly realized that was the special shape of your Florentine. Ha!
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Old 04-22-2018, 08:06 AM
IBKuz IBKuz is offline
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Default Build question

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Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer View Post
Bruce, is your clamping caul dished shaped or do you build an actual "flat top" acoustic? I believe you have clarified this before but I have forgotten the answer.

Dragon foot prints indeed, I will be interested to hear this guitar roar when completed
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Old 04-22-2018, 08:24 AM
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I have two questions, so when the sides are attached to the top, you use the individual peone (sp?) and glue to the top and sides one at a time, get that. But for the back to be glued to the sides you use a regular lining that you are gluing to the sides with all the clamps? Is that a solid lining or does it have kerfing? I tried to see a single space in the clamps to answer my own question, but alas, could not find one.

Second question, do you use the tape instead of wood for the side reinforcement because it is quicker or to save weight, or both or for some other reason I am too ignorant to elucidate?
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Old 04-22-2018, 10:42 AM
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Oh goodie, answerable questions!

This being an asymmetrical guitar, looking for order in a partial view of the inside is going to be a bit disorienting, I’d think.

I am building this guitar on a 42’ radius dish. The braces are pre-radiused before glueing, but not all are the same radius as the dish.

The back lining is pretty conventional by modern standards. It could be solid or kerfed or reverse kerfed, and the process would be much the same. As it happens, I am using Cuban cedar kerfed linings from Kerfing Tom Peterson, one of the original partners in LMI. Each spring clamp pins down 2 segments of lining. I am not a fan of reversed linings, and in fact consider them to be the result of a popular misunderstanding regarding how a guitar really functions. I could write a book on this, but not now.

Wooden side reinforcement strips are another poorly thought out yet current popular guitar construction feature. The sides do not need to be reinforced. If they take a blow hard enough to crack them, the reinforcement strip is often knocked loose, and even if no blows occurs, they often fall out on their own due to being glued on cross grain. If they are merely loose and not yet off, they can be a difficult to locate source of internal buzzing. I see plenty of negative and no positive for them. The ribbons I use are traditional in the Martin way. They are not intended to add strength (where none is desired) but rather to limit the extent of a crack in the case of abuse. Basically, should a crack occur, the ribbon keeps it from being able to open and travel around the entire side.

There are those who feel that the sides of a guitar cannot be too rigid, but needless to say, I am not among them. It is not worth going to war over, and who would want to go to war with Australia, anyway?
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Old 04-22-2018, 07:01 PM
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Today I made a half page ad for the Bluegrass Breakdown Schedule issue which will be in everyone's hands at the CBA Father's Day Bluegrass Festival. It's a bluegrass crowd that I am playing to, and so I made this picture:



I referred to this as " The evolution of "M"". Perhaps I have been too obscure . . . It is the headstock of my most recent style 18 dread and it really can make most Martins seem like outdated thinking. It has turned out to be challenging to get many hardcore Bluegassers to pick up a guitar w/o Martin on the headstock.
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Old 04-23-2018, 06:22 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer View Post
It has turned out to be challenging to get many hardcore Bluegassers to pick up a guitar w/o Martin on the headstock.
True that ... Welcome to the tradition of "Headstock Shoppers".
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Old 04-23-2018, 05:26 PM
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I do try to be somewhat discrete with the identity of my patrons until such time as they indicate a willingness to be known. Ben has proclaimed his willingness to be known. Easier for me! Ben McKee is the same guy that bought my Pear 0 last year. His band-mate, Wayne Sermon, bought my personal JB-15 on the same day, and while the Pear 0 is holding up it's end well enough as a Parlor guitar, Wayne's guitar is a full on performance machine, and Ben has longed for a piece of that pie. As it happens, Wayne also has an order on the books, and will be interesting to see what he in longing for. Rumor has it that it could be nylon strung, we'll see soon enough as he is next.

I expect to close Ben's JB-15 today, and here it is before final clean-up:



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Old 04-23-2018, 05:32 PM
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You are a busy guy Bruce. When you get old, you may want to slow down a bit . Thanks for answering my questions above...I guess I could have waited until the clamps were off and I could have answered one of them myself, but patience is lost on me....
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Old 04-23-2018, 06:40 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TomB'sox View Post
You are a busy guy Bruce. When you get old, you may want to slow down a bit . Thanks for answering my questions above...I guess I could have waited until the clamps were off and I could have answered one of them myself, but patience is lost on me....
Then again, Tom, if you hadn't asked, there was no guarantee I'd'a posted that shot.

I have not really taken the time to show off the sides on this one, and they are really very nice, as you'll see in time. Meanwhile, here is a glimpse including a bit of their landscaping:



And, yes, I closed her up:

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Old 04-23-2018, 06:48 PM
Stevied63 Stevied63 is offline
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That wood looks gorgeous!
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Old 04-23-2018, 07:22 PM
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That wood looks gorgeous!
Wait'll I clean the heat guck off of it! Thank you.
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Old 04-23-2018, 07:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer View Post
...It has turned out to be challenging to get many hardcore Bluegassers to pick up a guitar w/o Martin on the headstock.
Bruce...ahem...I know a guy who knows a guy who can get some decals...
Just sayin...



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Old 04-23-2018, 07:57 PM
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The next time I am in Petaluma to visit my sister I would certainly like to stop by to meet you. If you would be willing. My only claim to fame is I made the fiddles that the acclaimed American traditional fiddler, Dan Gellert, plays.
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Old 04-23-2018, 11:59 PM
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The next time I am in Petaluma to visit my sister I would certainly like to stop by to meet you. If you would be willing. My only claim to fame is I made the fiddles that the acclaimed American traditional fiddler, Dan Gellert, plays.
I look forward to the moment! I hope you’ll have a fiddle from your own hand with you.
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