Sexauer/2020 (Chapter 2)

[Guitars44me]

Originally Posted by cigarfan

That is some really pretty Mahogany! Beautiful guitar Bruce!

Yep! Beautiful Mahogany for sure! And I would enjoy the story of the violin you are making, even if I can't play one!

Salud

Paul

[mhw48]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

EDITED TO SAY: I MEAN "GEEKS" IN THE BEST WAY, IN CASE SOME OF YOU ARE IN DENIAL.

We wear the badge proudly! 🤣

[jmat]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

The FT-000C for Jmat went out FedEx yesterday to arrive Thursday. John may have something to say shortly thereafter, or not; we'll see.

The guitar arrived! I will post a better response and hopefully some sound clips in a bit. For now: This guitar is a masterpiece. I realize that is a highly emotive word on a forum where such sentiment is often expressed. But I am unconcerned as it is the right word. I am so thrilled, I had been thinking about this tone for years but it was hard to describe, elusive, an idea. But an idea with substance and history, I played a 1939 D18 thirty years back that I could not afford and found haunting. It was the guitar or rent for a couple years. But no matter as it turns out, Bruce found the tone floating in the ether. Pick the words: musical, clarity, balanced, beautiful. They are all correct. There are these fat present trebles ringing over a warm woody base. I thought this would be more of a “pick” guitar and this is only partly true. I am mostly a flesh and nail player and had been pulled into the rosewood current as the fingerstyle tonewood of choice. But life has a few pleasant surprises yet.

I will post more in the next few weeks.

[iim7V7IM7]

Originally Posted by jmat

The guitar arrived! I will post a better response and hopefully some sound clips in a bit. For now: This guitar is a masterpiece. I realize that is a highly emotive word on a forum where such sentiment is often expressed. But I am unconcerned as it is the right word. I am so thrilled, I had been thinking about this tone for years but it was hard to describe, elusive, an idea. But an idea with substance and history, I played a 1939 D18 thirty years back that I could not afford and found haunting. It was the guitar or rent for a couple years. But no matter as it turns out, Bruce found the tone floating in the ether. Pick the words: musical, clarity, balanced, beautiful. They are all correct. There are these fat present trebles ringing over a warm woody base. I thought this would be more of a “pick” guitar and this is only partly true. I am mostly a flesh and nail player and had been pulled into the rosewood current as the fingerstyle tonewood of choice. But life has a few pleasant surprises yet.

I will post more in the next few weeks.

Fantastic news... (congrats)

[Rwpierce]

Congratulations, sounds like love at first strum, much the same way I felt when I received my new build from Bruce.

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by jmat

The guitar arrived! I will post a better response and hopefully some sound clips in a bit. For now: This guitar is a masterpiece. I realize that is a highly emotive word on a forum where such sentiment is often expressed. But I am unconcerned as it is the right word. I am so thrilled, I had been thinking about this tone for years but it was hard to describe, elusive, an idea. But an idea with substance and history, I played a 1939 D18 thirty years back that I could not afford and found haunting. It was the guitar or rent for a couple years. But no matter as it turns out, Bruce found the tone floating in the ether. Pick the words: musical, clarity, balanced, beautiful. They are all correct. There are these fat present trebles ringing over a warm woody base. I thought this would be more of a “pick” guitar and this is only partly true. I am mostly a flesh and nail player and had been pulled into the rosewood current as the fingerstyle tonewood of choice. But life has a few pleasant surprises yet.

I will post more in the next few weeks.

I am not a psychic nor psychiatrist, but I think he likes it!

[jmat]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

Fantastic news... (congrats)

Thanks Bob!

Originally Posted by Rwpierce

Congratulations, sounds like love at first strum, much the same way I felt when I received my new build from Bruce.

That was the P-OM? That looked awesome! One of us needs a road trip...

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

I am not a psychic nor psychiatrist, but I think he likes it!

Roger that!

[Bruce Sexauer]

This was my 4th guitar for Jmat. He’s been to my shop twice and played every relevant guitar on hand, after which we discussed them. His description of the desired tone helps, no doubt, but when couched in the context of the above experience, we had a chance. All I had to do was have enough experience as a luthier to be able to build a guitar that would make the sound I imagined he was describing. . . or be very, very lucky.

Thanks for the chance.

[Bruce Sexauer]

The Mill Valley maple:



And the Oregon Engelmann:

[Bebo]

Bruce, how different do you finish a violin compared to a guitar?

[jmat]

Interesting, that is unlike other Engelmann I have seen, darker and wider grained. Looks good to me Bruce.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by Bebo

Bruce, how different do you finish a violin compared to a guitar?

The woods used have less pore structure than typical guitar wood, so less coats are needed. I brush instead of spraying. I use a softer varnish. There’s more, and when I get to the process I’ll pay attention for you.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by jmat

Interesting, that is unlike other Engelmann I have seen, darker and wider grained. Looks good to me Bruce.

I built a pair of OM’s in 2011 that used spruce similar in visual character to This violin. One is Adi and the other is Engelmann. I took these guitars to an NCAL meeting at Ervin Somogyi’s shop and passed them around while asking the group to ascertain which was which spruce. The overwhelming consensus was that the the Engelmann was the Adi. The guitars were extremely similar tonally, but the Engelmann had more color. Yet another example of hearing with the eyes.

[BradHall]

Bruce,
I know your guitar shapes and build processes are uniquely your own. Is this the case with your violins also? Of do you adhere to a traditional shape and process?
And thanks for posting this.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Although many of my guitars do use my own templates, another many of my guitars are very close to Martin or Gibson templates. And, excepting my asymmetrical work, all of my guitars fall within conservative template parameters.

The same is true of my violins. While they have been made to several different templates, all fall within the conservative parameters of the Cremonese era masters. A more experienced and/or better trained violin maker might argue the point, however.