Build Thread: Sexauer JB-16 Pernambuco/Italian Spruce

[Bruce Sexauer]

I am making braces now. Here's a couple of hints about how I shape the gluing surface:


This is both of the X braces:

[needspeed]

Originally Posted by Leftyprs

I'm more than good with the 2 I have now, but I do have another 8 sets of Pernambuco, so you never know...

How old are these guitars and how do you think that age has changed their coloring if at all. They are both beautiful I might add.........Steve

Bruce I thought we were using knotty pine for the bracing???????

[Leftyprs]

Originally Posted by needspeed

How old are these guitars and how do you think that age has changed their coloring if at all. Also did you source the P-Wood for both??? They are both beautiful I might add.........Steve

Steve, Bruce finished the JB-15L in late May 2012, and Howard finished up my OO sometime in late July 2012. I don't think either one of these guitars has changed color much if at all, but they are not yet a year old. I believe Pernambuco in general has a tendency to darken towards deeper golds, browns and reds over time. I'm sure the type of finish used, along with the amount of sunlight the instrument is exposed to etc... play a big role in how quickly and to what degree this happens.

[needspeed]

One week and we are already bracing the top. Bruce will brace the back and put the second tier of top bracing on tomorrow.......Steve

[needspeed]

Originally Posted by Leftyprs

Steve, Bruce finished the JB-15L in late May 2012, and Howard finished up my OO sometime in late July 2012. I don't think either one of these guitars has changed color much if at all, but they are not yet a year old. I believe Pernambuco in general has a tendency to darken towards deeper golds, browns and reds over time. I'm sure the type of finish used, along with the amount of sunlight the instrument is exposed to etc... play a big role in how quickly and to what degree this happens.

Well we will meet back here in 5 years and see if anything has happened by then

Top Bracing tier 1 glued up:

[Bruce Sexauer]

My guitars don't spend a lot of time in the sun, but so far I have not seen a dramatic change in the color of Pernambuco under varnish in the nearly ten years I've been using it.

Here's some scraped fresh yesterday, and very unlikely to see a lot of sun in the next few years:

[needspeed]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

My guitars don't spend a lot of time in the sun, but so far I have not seen a dramatic change in the color of Pernambuco under varnish in the nearly ten years I've been using it.

Here's some scraped fresh yesterday, and very unlikely to see a lot of sun in the next few years:

That is only because this is the inside of the guitar...... .........Steve

Back Bracing:





Top Bracing Tier 2 going in:

[Bruce Sexauer]

I'll be counting on you, Steve, to make sure it stays on the inside of the guitar!

[Bruce Sexauer]

The end of the week finds the guitar at this point:

Second tier (of three) of braces in and shaped:


And the back is complete except for the label, once I take it out of the go-bar deck in which the center support is being glued:

[needspeed]

Back is complete, top is getting final bracing. Bruce is working on the neck and tail blocks and bending the sides..........Steve

[Bruce Sexauer]

Made the blocks as Steve has expectations to meet! These are little sculptures to me. In making them I use no templates of fixtures more sophisticated than the work platform that came with my Delta 6 x 48 sander, which I take great care to adjust to be exactly 90 degrees to the belt.

[needspeed]

Sides in the bender......Smells so good

[Bruce Sexauer]

35.7 % of my secrets laid bare!

[needspeed]

Head and tail blocks going in. Next Bruce will put in the cutaway. He does not use forms to make his sides but bends them to shape and then fits them to the top using peone blocks instead of kerfing strips........Steve







Here is the cutaway side (cutaway itself is in the middle) which is test fit and not glued.

[tjp]

Bruce, your builds are my favorites to follow. Simple, clean and elegant.

It looks like the tone bars on this one are scalloped differently, I'd almost call them tapered. Is there a reason for that that you're willing to share, and while your sharing, are you willing to talk about how you tune the tops/backs? There was a thread about wolf notes and the relationship of top and back frequencies last week, and it sort of left me wondering "I wonder how Bruce handles that?".