Official Luthiers Forum!

I was looking at a picture of a top,
,

that uses a similar bracing to the one Im working on right now and noticed a hole in the utb that looks to be there to give access to the truss rod.
My brace is 16mm high, does this brace need such a hole in order to adjust the truss rod?

Thanks,
Devin

It does if you want to be able to EASILY adjust your truss rod.
Unless, you designed it for adjustment at the other end.

That said, make sure you also put some sort of cutout in the popsicle brace behind the utb to leave room for the wrench to reach the truss nut.
AND, make sure that when you rout for the truss that you do so with a wedge so that the slot is deeper at the heel end than the nut end. Otherwise you could end up with the top of the truss nut being hindered by the top. Trust me, you don't want to fix that one after you're ready to attach the neck.

IF you've already put the top on and haven't drilled the hole (like I did once), the world hasn't ended. I've used a good, sharp, drill bit wrapped in a stiff tape to make it big enough to grip and drilled a hole with my fingers alone. Then reamed it out with bigger and bigger bits until the desired size was aquired.

Good luck.

Dave

Dave,
I have attached the brace to the top already, I guess a long bit is in order.

thanks,
Devin

Some companies make a curved adjustment tool that fits around the brace so they don't have to cut a hole through a critical support beam right at the point where the guitar is trying to fold in half from the string tension.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Ball-ended hex wrenches are readily available, which allow you to work at an angle. That's what I did on my first, and it's not a problem. I'm assuming of course that there's an Allen-head on the truss rod.

I don't believe a hole there is an issue if it's close to the top, away from the bottom of the brace.

Pat

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

I've seen more Martins needing neck resets after 15 years than Gibsons, since Martin started installing truss rods, for what that's worth.

Structurally the closer the hole in the brace is to the soundboard, the stiffer the brace will remain.

I don't cut holes in my transverse braces, as it bears the most load, which is why it is the stiffest brace in the guitar as well, other opinions may differ.

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Old growth, shmold growth!