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Hello all, first post here to the forums.
Fairly soon I'm going to be starting up a Selmer-Maccaferri style guitar, and I was thinking about doing some changes to the bracing, by the way, anyone who is any more experienced in these guitars is welcomed to, if not encouraged, to participate in discussion. My theory was to add two finger braces to secure the angle of the pliage.
I like a lot of builders who dome the top, but I much prefer the asthetic of the old Neapolitan mandolins where the fulcrum edge in the top is a lot more pronounced.

My concern is that it could be too much bracing where the bridge lies and kills the vibration of the top, or that it becomes much more prone to structural problems in the future. Thoughts?

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Do you have a sketch of what you are talking about?

I built them with the pliage built into the top rims just like the mandolins that you are talking about. Most are built flat where the pliage sticks up and above the flat rims. I read an article somewhere that Macaferri wanted them built like the mando's but it was too difficult on the production line. So building the canted top into the rims helps it structurally I think.

The way I look at it is this, you don't really want top vibrations in a Selmer. That might sound odd but a good responsive top is more for sustain, overtones and responsiveness. You want these suckers to just be loud. Make a note, project it and get it out of the way fast for the next note.

Michael Collins who literally wrote the book used to post in here. IF you don't have his book I would suggest getting it. The Charles plans are good but I would brace them lighter then that.

Beware of my hideous drawing, but this is the gist of it. The idea is that I take the to short longitudinal braces and cut the top's abgle into them, or because that the bridge primarily sits on thise two braces, add two more just a bit behind, thus, in theory, eliminating most possibilities of losing the top's geometry

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Also, while I was unfortunate to find out that the book has been out of print for some time, I do have the DVD's of the same series

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Oh that's too bad the book is out of print but I'm sure the DVD's will help, those I don't have but the book was excellent. But anyway, sure, if you need to angle them then do it. The pliage starts right at the cross brace but the tips of those little finger braces might need to be fit in with the angle as you mention. In the image I post below for example you can see the burn marks where the pliage starts. To be clear the burn mark is 1in wide so the line starts on the forward side of that, it's obscured by the shadow in this image.. That's a well defined straight line which the cross brace is right on top of. But the little finger braces are notched into that brace and even extend past the pliage so yes you need to account for that angle. IT's what I don anyway, seems to make sense.

FWIW I have a selmer maccaferi 1972 built by michael dunn of vancouver bc . He has extensive experience building macaferris . You might want to contact him on FB . He is still playing jazz gtr