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At this point in my hobbyist 'career' I've done more re-tops then I care too and as I am faced with another one I got to thinking. Hesh is big on serviceability and so am I but is re-topping a cause for serviceability? If you fit the brace ends into the linings well it seems to me that a drop of glue there is not really necessary. I use the Grevin method of routing off the top leaving the bindings in place and then fitting in a new top. Routing it off flush to the linings makes for easy top removal but then those brace ends are stuck in place and have to be knocked out. If they were not glued in then the top would lift right out.

I should mention that I reuse these tops on smaller guitars. The reasons why I have retopped in the past was due to customer concerns of cosmetic flaws, runout and so on and also when I damaged the edge when doing the binding.

Anyway, just thinking out loud...

I put a dab a glue in the pocket to deny the brace the opportunity to peel from the end…

With tops only the upper bout brace ends are glued and tucked into the linings, eg. upper x-brace and upper transverse brace. The lower bout brace ends are not tucked into the linings
With backs all ladder brace ends are glued and tucked.

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That’s a good point right there!

Yeah that's the way I do most. I have one model that has tucked in X-Brace in the lower bout but the rest are feathered to zero with the linings running over the paper thin tail. But I am just wondering if it's necessary to glue in the tucked in parts. I guess it's a good idea to do that.

I have tried both ways . Honestly I no longer tuck them in , simply because its easier and i havent seen the value in doing so.... but thats just me

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Martin glues in the 2 X braces and the transverse I do the same and yes glue them any braces not glue into the kerfing should be faded to the top a lip is a stress riser and will pop the ends

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
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A blast from the past and another world heard from:
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/for ... p?t=523671

Make sure that your upper transverse brace and the upper arms of your x-brace go into the linings. Failure to do so is just asking for trouble down the line. The other braces are optional.

If they tuck into the lining they get glued.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

What Steve Smith said.

Any brace that can't be thinned down to practically nothing at the end should be tucked in. If it does thin down enough to avoid the stress riser it needs to taper over a fair distance.

Gibson used to use a sander to take the braces down to nothing at the very end. They still had some small height where they hit the liners, though, and rather than notch the liners they seem to have counted on the brace crushing the liner at that spot. The problem was that they used spruce for both the liners and braces, and given the variability of the wood often enough the liners crushed the braces, rather than the other way around. The braces would start to peel loose at the edge of the liners, particularly the UTB. People would come by with them showing rising action and other signs of stress, and when I'd look inside the UTB was just gone. When asked about it they'd say: "Oh yeah; I wondered what that stick was that was rattling around inside. I tossed it out..".

+1