Sexauer '22

[hubcapsc]

Good luck on all that. I hope it turns out as good as it looks. I played a really
bland worn looking D-28 recently that gave me the D-28 bug... it's really something
seeing a D-28(ish) guitar getting built out of the best wood...

-Mike

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

I am building this to wow them at the CBA Father’s Day Festival. They are a tough group to impress as they are EXTREMELY Martin centric. After years of trying to crack that tiny local market, the last couple of years found me placing a few of my dreads in the local scene. The trick has been to get local players to even pick up my work. I feel a bit like Charley Brown dealing with Lucy’s football but this might be the year.

It’ll be another 6 weeks till I’ll know the guitar is as good as I expect it to be. If a buyer shows up before then, I won’t quite have time to make another before the show, so delivery will be creative time-wise.

I have the second coat of varnish on today.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I have made quite a few of the little sculptures we call a "volute" in the Martin vernacular. They are never quite the same and perfect proportion is elusive. For my taste, this latest one is close to my ideal.

[Bruce Sexauer]

How exciting it is to be building my bliss! The D has its 3rd coat, and the Pernambuco L00 is only 2/3rds of the way through the curing process, so I have started another guitar. This is the guitar I THOUGHT I was going to build for the Pear 000 customer, but the wood had some risk as I'd never used it, and the only set of this wood was slightly too narrow for the size she chose.

So: German spruce over California Olive in the L00 format. I've hd the spruce for 10+ years and Martin Guhl, from whom I acquired it, told me it had been warehoused in Europe for at least 30, possibly 50 years. When cut, it didn't make a high enough grade to export, so the story goes, but by todays standards this is great stuff, having only a bit more color than some like. I am not "some", and here we go. The Olive came from the estate of my late peer Michael Hemken, and judging by its condition, it was cut some time ago. It is near perfect quarter at the tail end, and only a bit off at the neck end. The back and sides are consecutive slices, so what we call "Flitch Matched". Beautiful material.

[Richard Mott]

That olive wood is outstanding!

[Guitars44me]

“Building my Bliss”.

Beautiful stuff!!!

Go Bruce, go

Paul

[Treenewt]

I am so loving this thread

[sakar12]

I love the "color" of that top. I think it's gorgeous.

[Bruce Sexauer]

The "Creamy White" top preference is a fad that is is fading over the last few years, which pleases me no end. It is a lot more satisfying aesthetically, for me, to build with "character" tops like this one and the one on the Dread in my finish room at the moment.

[Carpinteria]

That olive wood set is spectacular. I’ve never seen it before. I’m eager to see how you frame it with purfling and binding. Dave

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

The "Creamy White" top preference is a fad that is is fading over the last few years, which pleases me no end. It is a lot more satisfying aesthetically, for me, to build with "character" tops like this one and the one on the Dread in my finish room at the moment.

I wholeheartedly agree.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by Carpinteria

That olive wood set is spectacular. I’ve never seen it before. I’m eager to see how you frame it with purfling and binding. Dave

I have made the binding, and I don't know what kind of wood it is! It is olive colored (the fruit) and has yellow/green pores. Might be Ipe or Green Heart or ????. Super hard and heavy. The purfling will be a delicate version of my standard b/maple/b all around. There will be pictures.

[Tim McKnight]

That's a beautiful set of Olive wood Bruce. Are you enjoying the olive aroma in your shop? I vividly remember the two Olive guitars I built and how the wonderful scent of olives wafted and lingered in the shop.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by Tim McKnight

That's a beautiful set of Olive wood Bruce. Are you enjoying the olive aroma in your shop? I vividly remember the two Olive guitars I built and how the wonderful scent of olives wafted and lingered in the shop.

Virtually every visitor to me shop mentions the smell of the place as wonderful and in many cases nostalgic. Sadly, I am unable to share in their observation. I blame this on my several years of using epoxy as a surfboard maker and then nitro cellulose lacquer in the period where I strayed from oil varnish. Although I can lo longer smell Brazilian rosewood, I can still discern D. Tucurensis pretty easily. My Olive does not seem to have an aroma.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Coming along:

[tadol]

Beautiful! And I like your Ukraine clamps - :-)