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I am building a 10-string bouzouki (cittern?), and I am unsure about what bracing pattern to use for the top.

The instrument has a floating bridge, drop shaped body, WRC top (about 3 mm) and a 15' cylindrical top radius.

A plan that I found uses three transverse braces with the bridge falling right between two of them. An X makes more sense to me, but that doesn't seem to be traditional for floating bridges.

Opinions, please?

Thanks,
Sondre

Never built a bouzouki but I would think that the plan takes account of the bracing style.
"An X makes more sense to me" - well, OK, but are you intending changing anything else to account for any bracing change?
The top thickness/radius difference between ladder braced guitars and X braced guitars can be quite dramatic.

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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.

A flat top bouzouki body is so quick to make why not build one of each and see what you think? You can leave them both in the white. You really don't even need to install the bindings until you decide which one you prefer. I'd consider a bolt-on neck just to keep the project even more simple. You can then easily move the neck to the other box.

On my archtop oval sound hole zouki/octave mandolin (I know...different animal) I started with an X-brace and found it made the top far too stiff. I finally landed on what Gi*son did 100 years ago and installed a small transverse brace just south of the sound hole in order to keep the top from cracking at the sound hole.

Best, M

Try it and see what it's like. The bouzouki market is very small. As a result, the standard of most bouzoukis out there isn't that high. Sonically, or workmanship wise. It isn't hard to come up with something better. Centre your experiments around the sound first, then start thinking about other things.

Nigel
http://www.nkforsterguitars.com/instrum ... -bouzouki/

The traditional design uses ladder bracing. And that gives it part of it's characteristic sound. But X braced models are out there....

Here is something to think about.. Done well - ladder bracing does not give up anything to other bracing schemes. It is in no way "inferior"..

I would strongly suggest Graham McDonald's Bouzouki Book. It has plans for multiple types of bracing in flat top and carved top designs, different neck joints, and a wealth of knowledge about choosing between the options. Clear instructions, useful pictures and copyable/printable plans to download.


You can order it from Amazon, or at Graham's Website:
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/bouzoukibook.html

I build "drop" shaped octave mandolins and citterns with a strongly arched top, a 1" high floating bridge and X bracing. The X bracing is relatively tall at the X and tapers away toward the edges. They have a strong attack and good headroom and reasonably good sustain. I don't want them to sound like a guitar.

Thanks for the input! That book looks interesting

I was thinking that an X would be better than only transverse braces for distributing load from the bridge across the whole body. But I guess a ladder with longitudinal braces would work well too. Regardless of the pattern I end up with, I was planning to just shave the braces until I reach the desired main top frequency.

The whole neck and sides are the same piece of wood, so building two bodies is not really an option..

I'll probably try an X pattern. I'm building for myself, so it's not a big deal if I mess up.

Thanks,
Sondre

Simple X-brace on mine. I don't have a lot to compare it to, but it sounds good to my ears. My band mate loves to hear the last note ring out seemingly forever.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

I've made a few flat top X braced pear shaped 8 and 10 strings. The X brace just seems the obvious way to support the bridge pressure. This one had the two tone bars because that was what I was used to doing on guitars. Subsequent instruments have had a double X - I haven't noticed any difference in the sound. I build the front to a 15ft radius. I made this one to be tuned C G d g c' but the owner has had the bottom pair all the way down to F. This was the first one, there's a bit of a story as to how I came to make it, a sound clip and a video here: https://ianchisholm.co.uk/instruments/baritone-cittern/

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"There is hope in honest error .... ". Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
http://www.ianchisholm.co.uk

Thanks for that link Ian, What a beast, sounds and sustains great.

_________________
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.

It always helps to get an instrument into the hands of a good player!

_________________
"There is hope in honest error .... ". Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
http://www.ianchisholm.co.uk

Sondre

The sound holes are fairly small and the bodies are fairly shallow... Unless you have the hands of a garden gnome - you will have a hard time getting in there to make any adjustments once it's built...

This is a place where you probably want to make sure you are pretty close out of the gate before you close the box..