Sexauer/'15, (chapter 2)

[Steve Kinnaird]

+1 on that beautiful headstock.
What tuners will go on this one? Looks like just enough curvature in the sides to make 3 on a plate impossible?

Steve

[Bruce Sexauer]

Thank you Steve, Louis, Mark, and Brian, most recently.

I will use the Schertler single machine again on this one. As time passes, I am getting over the fact that they are not absolutely traditional looking for open backs, and am being seduced by their smooth accuracy. I have used at least a dozen sets now, and have not had a single glitch in function or ease of installation, which is more than I can say for any other tuner I've used in the last 20 years. The design is hard to fault aesthetically aside from NOT being a butter-bean style as it is utterly conservative, as well as being no bigger than necessary given the wonderfully light weight aluminum main plate. Besides, I have a set or two on hand.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I have two coat of varnish on the FT-15-D and took it out into the sun today for pics that actually have enough light.







More interesting, perhaps, is the new build I started today.

[iim7V7IM7]

Likem both!

[Rico59]

Uh-oh--an archtop!

[Bruce Sexauer]

Oh Yeah, an archtop!

[tadol]

Sweeeet! Maple b&s, or do you a bigger surprise?

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by tadol

Sweeeet! Maple b&s, or do you a bigger surprise?

Not Wenge, I'll conjecture. I sure do have a lot of excellent Big Leaf Maple billets on hand . . .

[printer2]

I'll be watching and learning. A couple of nice blocks of spruce came in the mail last week, won't be building with it for a long while but could not pass it up. Which has me wondering. Bruce I know you like your European Spruce for your flattops, is that what you are using on this one?

[Berf]

Oh Yeah, an archtop!

Not perhaps destined for the land of the long-white cloud again?? Look after those wrists.

Cheers, berf

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by printer2

I'll be watching and learning. A couple of nice blocks of spruce came in the mail last week, won't be building with it for a long while but could not pass it up. Which has me wondering. Bruce I know you like your European Spruce for your flattops, is that what you are using on this one?

All of my fiddles are Euro, but I've never had a piece big enough for a carved guitar. I bought a bunch of billets from Bruce Harvie about 25 years ago, and I'm still working through them. They were mixed Engelmann and Sitka, and not labeled as to which was which. I think the current one is Sitka, but I am not enough of an expert to have certainty. I thought it was Engelmann when I chose it yesterday, but now I am gluing in the braces, so I know it better.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I have a modern idea for the sound holes that cost me a little sleep last night. I will sketch first, I hope.

[iim7V7IM7]

Movin right along!

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

I have a modern idea for the sound holes that cost me a little sleep last night. I will sketch first, I hope.

[Bruce Sexauer]

ff hole:

[tadol]

Very nice - I look forward to how you carry that aesthetic through the rest of the details! I gotta come see this before it gets closed up!