Sexauer FT-L00-C

A fabulous Brazilian rosewood small-body flattop.

December 4, 2024

Northern California luthier Bruce Sexauer has been building stringed instruments for more than 50 years. Though he has also built archtop and electric guitars, violins (check out his demo of two of his violins!), dulcimers, and other instruments, Bruce is best-known for his exquisite flattop steel-string guitars. We’ve demoed numerous Sexauer guitars here at Peghead Nation, and the latest instrument that Bruce had us check out is an FT-L00-C built with a German spruce top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides. In this video, I demo the guitar in our studio.

The guitar’s model name may make you suspect that it’s related to vintage L-00-style guitars, and although it has a cutaway, the body’s shape and size are indeed inspired by those instruments. In addition to a 13-fret neck joint, the guitar has a small soundport in the upper bout and features cream-of-the-crop materials, including a gorgeous set of Brazilian rosewood that Bruce had in his stash for more than 40 years. Besides being a stunning set in its own right, in 1999, Bruce used a set from the same log to build his first prototype of a Schoenberg guitar (Bruce has been one of several luthiers who builds guitars branded as Schoenbergs, which are built according to Eric Schoenberg’s specs). Because of the width of the set, Bruce made the back of this guitar a four-piece, accenting the seams with thin strips of maple. The guitar also has flamed koa body binding, wood purfling, a wood rosette, and a “firestripe” pickguard.

The first thing you’ll notice when you pick up the FT-L00-C is its light weight. Bruce’s master list of instruments says that the guitar (serial # 3390524) features a “super light build,” and Bruce says that he thicknessed the back and sides wood years ago when he was building in a lighter style than he usually does today. He decided to return to that approach with this FT-L00-C by shaping the bracing more delicately and reducing weight wherever possible. The result is an amazingly responsive instrument that has an extraordinary level of tonal richness and complexity when played with a soft touch. Playing fingerstyle in DGDGCD tuning, I was knocked out by the great tone that poured out of the instrument with little effort, and it also has plenty of headroom for more aggressive fingerstyle playing or restrained strumming.

As a solo builder with one of the more impressive stashes of first-rate tonewoods in the biz, Bruce is able to split his time between building instruments according to customer’s wishes and giving his muse free reign. This FT-L00-C is an example of the latter, and since it was built without an order, it’s bound to find a home with a very lucky guitarist.

Bruce Sexauer FT-L00-C Specs