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As I mentioned during the latest roundtable, I'm working on a GS Mini. Of course, I'll call mine something like a SS Jr....

I seems that small guitars have become very popular. The major manufacturers are making "mini" or "jr." guitars It appears that the GS Mini may be the best of these new small guitars (never mind that there has alway been parlor guitars). The Mini has a 23.5" scale length, so I can simply take a 24.9" (Martin short scale) fingerboard and cut it off at the first fret. If I had an outline of the body I wouldn't need a plan, but since I didn't have access to one I bought a plan from GenOne Luthier Supply. https://genone-luthier-supply.com/colle ... l-download

I wanted to get opinions on the bracing in this plan from you guys. The plan calls for 4 finger braces, but an L-00 only has two, so I'm wondering if I should only use one finger brace on each side of the x-brace or use 2 on each side. I want to get as much tone out of this thing as I can. Any thought's or comments?

[BTW-Notice how close the x-brace is to the soundhole... Looks like extreme forward shifting...]

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

This could work into a fun discussion. In my way of thinking, what’s important is that the vibration of the strings moves as much of the top as possible. That means the top has to be both light and stiff in a large area around the bridge. The exact bracing details don’t matter much as long as you achieve a top where no vibration that gets to the bridge is wasted in small local vibrations that don’t move the whole top. I like to have a stiff top, a stiff bridgeplate, and tight bracing. Sometimes on my small guitars I use one finger brace in each side, sometimes I use two. I can’t tell you why I do it differently on different guitars. It’s all about stiffness in the area around the bridge and not necessarily about bracing designs. Looks like a fun guitar. Enjoy.

One other thing, when I make my smallest one, I still use a 24.9 scale—the player doesn’t have to relearn finger position, and with a standard set of strings, the intonation (and harmonics as you move up the fingerboard) work better.

I’ve always liked David’s plans, he’s the owner of Genone. The plans have always seemed to me to be on the conservative side in terms of construction. I know he has measured a lot of instruments to inform the plans. In comparison, I’m finishing a 00 from the GAL plan and, like you mentioned, it’s just a single finger brace.

Slightly unrelated - when I first started building I called David because I was going to be in the Atlanta area. He was so gracious and gave me a tour of his shop and showed me some instruments he had in progress. I remember being so impressed. My son was about 6 at the time so it must have been 2014.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Keep in mind that when Gibson was making the L-00, it was the cheapest of their guitars built during the Depression, which might be why the bracing (some had one tone bar IIRC) is basic. Pure conjecture on my part.

Also, the GS Mini short scale length means that there's considerably less string tension on the top and the body is on the small side, so it could probably be built pretty light.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I just don't want it to be over braced. Medium gauge strings would help compensate for the short scale length. I have built L-00's with the single finger brace on each side and I’ve been happy with the tone. Some Gibson L-00’s that I have seen have been over braced…

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Vintage or newer?

Pat

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Pat

If you consider what each finger brace contributes to the overall mass of the top structure, I wouldn’t worry about it that much. I don’t think a finger brace will be a make or break decider. That said, I’m still trying to figure out what finger braces actually do…

L 00 can use a single tone and finger brace

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Here's a pic of bracing on a similar sizes (13 5/8" wide) L-0 I made, sounds pretty fine.
Tone bar bracing style "borrowed" from Bruce Sexauer.
His lower bout was 14 1/4", and he used 4 finger braces (which I skipped because of my smaller width)- his original post/thread is here http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=53104
I think the tone bars make more contribution to the sound of a guitar than the finger braces.
I call this 1 1/2 tone bars
Definitely going to build another of these.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.