‘I reach into your heart and I grab the guitar that’s in there:’ Petaluman makes music, by hand

Petaluma has become a hub for luthiers, makers of stringed instruments.|

Petaluma is known for its agriculture, a booming industry that’s in part buoyed by Sonoma County’s mild climate. A lesser-known byproduct of the temperate conditions are musical instruments, making the city an ideal place for a bevy of artisans.

“We live in paradise for musical instrument making,” said esteemed west Petaluma guitar maker Bruce Sexauer said as he stood inside his home studio, where the temperature was 70 degrees with 33 percent humidity last month. “There’s a corridor from San Luis Obispo and it actually runs up all the way to approximately Vancouver, British Columbia. There’s a corridor a ridge or two in from the sea that’s humidity and temperature perfect for musical instrument making and I’m right in it, so as a result, I don’t have to control my environment here at all – I can build year round, it’s wonderful.”

Sonoma County has long been a hub for stringed musical instrument building, known in the industry as lutherie, said Chris Herrod, the sales manager of Windsor-based Luthiers Mercantile International Inc. The sector boomed in the 1990s, took a hit during the recession in 2008 and is reemerging as a viable trade for professionals and a tempting craft for do-it-yourself hobbyists tapping into a wealth of online wisdom, he said.

But, like many cities in the Bay Area, skyrocketing housing prices are pushing some of those artisans out of Sonoma County and Petaluma. Still, several well-known makers, such as Sexauer and his Sexauer Handmade Guitars and Imported String Basses business, still have a stronghold in the niche market.

“People that are interested in guitars really do put a lot of attention on the instruments,” said Herrod, who has worked at the business for 21 of the 40 years it’s been in operation. “What may seem like an inconsequential difference to an outsider are really huge to guitar people: the size, shape of neck, types of woods and the certain nuances of sound and playability are little variables that are common place to guitar nuts.”

For Sexauer, those details are a fine art – one he says he’s still perfecting after more than five decades.

In 1968, Sexauer wanted to be a rock star. He was inspired by acclaimed blues guitarist Buddy Guy, but with $200 to his name and bills to pay, buying an instrument to fuel his fame was out of reach, so he made his own.

Since his first experimentation into making an electric guitar, he’s created more than 600 instruments, though no two are the same, the 71-year-old musician said. Each high-end instrument is a prototype, made in a style he described as “cutting-edge traditional.” His average guitar sale is now $15,000, he said.

As a thin film of dust swirled in the weak spring sunlight that broke through the clouds and meandered into the window of his shop, he examined a recently-cut piece of wood that would soon become the body of a guitar. Around him, violins, guitars, tools and piles of wood lined shelves and workbenches in a scene of organized chaos.

It takes about 150 hours the build each of his instruments, and he’s dabbled with other varieties, including ukuleles and violins. He seeks out exotic imported wood, or cuts his own around the region, he said.

He’s made instruments for bands such as “Imagine Dragons,” and guitarists like Joe Satriani from his custom-built 900-square-foot shop in Petaluma, he said. But, many of his clients are medical professionals, he said.

“How I kind of think of it is, I reach into you, I reach into your heart and I grab the guitar that’s in there and I tear it out,” he said. “It’s a way of looking at what I do. I like to think there’s an ideal guitar that lurks inside of everyone but the thing is, I used to say that more than I do now because at this point I’ve reached into somebody’s hearts and pulled several guitars out for quite a few people. To say there is the perfect and ideal guitar is tough.”

It’s a labor of love for Sexauer.

“It’s highly creative and a lot of fun for me,” he said. “This is fairly unbelievable, 52 years and I’m still excited about it … It’s something that I know how to do but because I’m prototyping it’s new and I never really know what my result is going to be. I’ve gotten better my whole life – that’s the thing, I’m still getting better, judging by my results. The guitars sound better, the craftsmanship is better, my reputation is better so far.”

For Barry Grzebik, a Petaluma luthier who has been building electric and acoustic guitars for about a decade and runs Grez Guitars, it’s all about the music.

“It’s the absolutely beautiful wood and seeing people making music on something I created – it doesn’t get much better than that. It started out as lumber and now it’s a musical instrument that sounds beautiful … that’s what it’s all about,” he said.

The 47-year-old musician came from a career building loudspeakers for concerts, and transformed those skills into guitar building, he said. It takes between 50 and 150 hours to produce a guitar, and he makes about 20 a year, including some template models. He’s made guitars for the likes of Gary Vogensen, formerly of New Riders of the Purple Sage, and jazz player Tim Lerch.

For Geoff Luttrell, a Petaluma resident who founded San Francisco Guitar Works in 2001 and opened a smaller scale guitar repair business in Petaluma in 2013, it’s important to pass on the instrument building craft.

His business mostly focuses on repair work, but he leads workshops including guitar building from his home workspace in west Petaluma, and though he no longer actively builds, he savors the opportunity to teach others about the art and hopes to expand his Petaluma facility.

“Guitar building is definitely a thing people are excited about,” he said.

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