Official Luthiers Forum!

I figured after all your support that I would post a followup. I picked up Mayes' DVD set in the swap meet and decided that it was time that I pull them out for a viewing. John, thank you for the great DVDs! I learned some things that I had not thought of, for one, that is isn't exactly a right way to brace. I was concerned because one of my XBraces was a little off, but I think it will be fine. I started off tapping and I got a thud. My braces probably too thick, 6/16ths at the base of the joint and are 3/4 of an inch tall. This is as a result of building them too small last time and having to take them off.  I will probably put a taper on the Xbraces starting about 2/3 of the way from the end of the Xbrace to the joint and then see if I can remove a little off the sides as well. I probably should have gone for scalloped bracing, but here I am. I do think that I will put in the bridge plate first next time and see if that makes it easier. Dad has most of my powertools so I can't do that one until I get my bandsaw or at least scroll saw back.

Full Size image

Here is the other thing on my work bench.

for future refferance:

The X, finger and tonebars do look too thick (appear to be at least 3/8" thick) 3/8 thick on a Dread X brace is fine and the height is not an issue in fact tall braces allow you to brace thinners, but the tonebars and finger braces can be a good bet less thick. Maybe 5/16" or 1/4". In fact tall braces allow you to brace thinners.

My big concern is the upper transverse brace. I appears to be 3/8" thick also. This brace need to be stout, 1/2" or even 5/8". This brace resists the downward force of the fretboard extension. This is one of the two areas where the major loading on the top accrue. 3/8" may work since you have a fairly beefy upper transverse graft as well but will be at the minimal end of desired thickness for this brace.

Jared-
Glad to hear you are 'back at it' in the shop.

re:bracing- I'm no expert, (and you can find lots of pics of braced tops around the OLF to refer to) but I agree with you that your bracing looks a bit on the heavy side in the picture.
You would have to make the bracing really light to get serious structural problems in your guitar, I think, so you should not be afraid to lighten things up quite a bit. You can certainly remove wood from the sides of the braces without much problem (not knife-edged, but thin), and the height can taper a lot as well.
Just for interest, here's a pic of the bracing on a spruce-top OM I built a few months ago- it sounds fine and hasn't exploded! (medium strings, and I like a 'bit' of doming/belly in the top)



Keep us posted with more progress shots!

BTW, you should ask Santa for a small (Japanese-style) handsaw if you don't own one already- great for bridgeplates and such.

Cheers

John

Jared-
Note-
I was using a different bracing arrangement above the soundhole, so you should follow Michael's advice about the upper transverse brace, not imitate the one in my pic.

Cheers

John

John the sound hole stiffners on yours adds a lot of strength to the UT brace on yours