Sexauer '21

[Carpinteria]

Your craftsmanship always impresses me, especially at the cutaway point. It’s flat out perfect. Beautiful work. Dave

[Bruce Sexauer]

Thanks for the craftsmanship comment. I have worked hard to develop that skill . . . it is not what makes my guitars special, but does help sell them.

Today I made a BRW bridge and glued in onto the all-myrtle CN.

[TomB'sox]

Very pretty bridge for sure and the contrast looks really nice on the myrtle!

[Bruce Sexauer]

The all-Myrtle Couch Noodler is done. I plan to keep it for Woodstock, but you are welcome to drop by and play it if you like. Here is a link to its' page, and a pretty picture:

[iim7V7IM7]

Beautiful Bruce…

[Rwpierce]

Absolutely gorgeous guitar Bruce. How does she sound?

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by Rwpierce

Absolutely gorgeous guitar Bruce. How does she sound?

I wrote a decent sound description for Rob in Messenger, and maybe I will succeed at pasting it here:

I glued the bridge on on Saturday morning, and did the stringing and set-up in the afternoon but didn’t add tension as the bridge wasn’t ready. I brought it to tension on Sunday morning and took it to a luncheon at local guitar player/customer Richard Saslow’s place, which was also attended by Howard and Helen Klepper. The guitar was less than an hour old, and held up to comparisons we made quite well. Yesterday it was noticeably better, which is normal, and today I haven’t played it yet. All hardwood guitars, of which I have made about a half dozen (mostly Koa, plus one Walnut and one Catalpa), sound like guitars but have a distinct character. The Myrtle back and side guitars I’ve made sound exceptionally beautiful, and I made this CN because I hoped/wanted/expected it to sound distinctly prettier than my other hardwood efforts. I think it is successful. It is as loud as any other guitar and also has the balance I have come to expect. The tone is focused and has full spectrum overtones, it is the opposite of washed out. The sound is beautiful and has no harshness at all despite being on the brighter side of the spectrum to my ear. By that I mean rich and vibrant. There is a glowing tonal core in every note, something I strive for. Bottom line is: I am quite pleased, and sitting around playing it, and even singing with it, is very satisfying. I fully expect it to develop in the right direction as it ages, but if it didn’t change at all it would remain a very interesting guitar. Like any of my other hardwood guitars, and unlike many non-Sexauer hardwood guitars I’ve played, this could be my only guitar.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I have embarked on the next segment of my story, an FT-15.5 in Myrtle and Adirondack commissioned by my "new" customer, Carlos Alves. If you are having trouble finding my work on the after-market, he had a lot to do with that

The plates are joined and templated:

[Calves2997]

I see the beginning of something incredible here!

[Dustinfurlow]

Goodness, that Couch noodler be such a treat to play!

[Bruce Sexauer]

Here's the rosette for #313, Carlos' FT-15.5-C currently under construction. For those of you new to my "system", FT is Flat top, 15.5 is the width of the lower bout in inches, and C is cutaway. This rosette occupies the same aesthetic space as Martin's style 28 (at least in my mind), but uses wood instead of plastic, and I am taking some liberties on this one with color.

[Richard Mott]

Absolutely beautiful rosette!

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by Richard Mott

Absolutely beautiful rosette!

When the finish goes on, the extreme flame in the koa and the maple will pop. This truly excellent set of American Red Spruce shows almost no medullary display, but I hope that is also an illusion that the finish will debunk.

[Bruce Sexauer]

The top of the FT-15.5 is braced and the sides are bent. Here is the first side, which fits exceptionally well. That is a good thing as bilateral symmetry can be be a bit elusive when one chooses not to use molds.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I have spent years extolling the virtues of moldiness construction, and a couple of people have tried it out, but mostly I hear folks say it is too advanced a technique. What is really happening, is that the industry is invested in in selling that system's tooling and fixturing, and most methods of work we are exposed to use the mold assembly system, a system that was developed for production work and is well suited to factories employing workers of limited skill.

While molds work well enough for repetitive builds, they are not flexible, and get in the way of change, and therefore growth. My entire career has been about building better guitars, not production, and incremental change is a major key to success. My system allows me to build one size/shape/type of guitar as easily as another, and it is far from more difficult as compared to mold construction; it is simpler, easier, and potentially faster, once understood.

This picture can give some insight into my system. The sides are being clamped to the blocks and the peone have just been placed to hold them to the top. The blue claps around the edges are all that holds the sides in place until the peone are in. Peone are individual blocks of spruce that are hand placed using HHG. there are typically about 130 of them in a given guitar and they take a bit under 2 hours to install.They'd be quicker, but must be fit around the brace ends where encountered.