Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi All,

Have not posted here in a while, but my CNC machine was busy cranking out an Archtop....Integrated braces and all...

more pics here...

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=38625

My wishes to everyone for the holidays, and a happy and healthy new year!

_________________
-CyborgCNC
http://www.cncguitar.com
https://www.facebook.com/CncGuitar

It's sure a beautiful guitar. I love archtops and I like this sort of coloration in the finish, too. But please monitor your top constantly for a couple of years as it settles in. I fear that your integral braces are not providing much strength. They might be contributing mass and some distribution of energy (for lack of a better term) from the bridge, but your ex-brace scheme results in lots of short, cross grain all along the braces. Ideally, the grain in your bracing would be running straight with no run-out the entire length of the brace. I believe this integral bracing concept would work a lot better for you with parallel braces carved exactly in line with the top's grain--and that assumes a perfectly quartered top with closely spaced grain. However, if you notice the top starting to sag and "cave in" under the bridge, you still have an option. With some difficulty, you could remove the back, shave your integral braces off and replace them with straight grain braces. No one pulls a back if it can be avoided, but this would be preferable to allowing the top to cave and crack. Good luck with it. Your guitars certainly look beautiful.
Patrick

Yeap..know what you mean.....but I could not detect any differences in the deflection of the top....now that is not to say that over time, like you state, there might be something there....will keep monitoring it for sure...

Yes, Parallel bracing (integral) is something I will try next, and we will see as well....

Anyway, enjoying playing the guitar so far, and I still need to fine tune the action....overall, I am very satisfied with the results, and once tuned all around, should be very easy to keep reproducing....the beauty of CNC!

_________________
-CyborgCNC
http://www.cncguitar.com
https://www.facebook.com/CncGuitar