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Hi folks! Posting some pictures of my latest builds. You know, you finish up your bracing and you kind of want to show it to people. Any comments or criticisms are welcome.

These are builds #6 and #7 for me. Used a 50' radius. Modeled after Taylor GS; after doing some research I was surprised to find they don't scallop the lower tone bar, so that what I've done here.

Thanks! - Bill

Does Taylor use their new top bracing on this model? Does anyone use it?

Ed

Oh the V class? I haven't been following it closely, but doing a search looks like it's only GA models (x14).

Should work except I would leave the ends of the top brace a lot thicker. It is basically a support beam and needs sturdy anchoring points.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Thanks! Will take a closer look at that for the next one..

Looking good Bill. I usually like to have the top of the peak of the lower X-braces and the tone bars to be about 3 inches from the edge of the soundboard (for scalloped bracing). Yours appear to be farther away than that... on the other hand, with parabolic bracing, there is no peak... Others may want to chime in.

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

I noticed that too, but I think it's a typical feature of Taylor scalloped braces to have that x-brace peak positioned around the tail edge of the bridge plate like Bill has it rather than closer to the x-brace ends like on Martin style x-braces. At least that's what I've noticed in photos of Taylor top bracing.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I have worked on a bunch of LoPrinzi guitars and they all have a long taper on the lower X and lower face braces. These are old guitars and sound good so I don’t think there is a problem with a long taper at all and I do it to some degree.

Theoretically it may free up the edges of the lower bout a bit and be structurally OK if not overdone.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Hey guys, thanks for the comments. Yes, I'm replicating what I found looking at Taylor bracing. The peaks are roughly at the end of the bridge plate, roughly 5 inches from the intersection of the X braces. I recognized this was different than other plans and pictures of bracing I've seen, but intentionally and knowingly did it like this.

I'm admittedly still at the stage of "copy what you like" with my builds. I hope that along the way I gain some knowledge and intuition about the effect of these design choices. Yeah, I do imagine that there may be some loosening up of the perimeter by keeping the peaks up a little higher... perhaps.

Thanks guys, I appreciate talking through this stuff with folks that have given it some thought.

I recommend to you the Gore/Gilet books.

Ah, thanks! I've looked these up before; they look interesting, if expensive and involved to acquire. Would you prioritize this set over the Somogyi set?
I'm an engineer, so an engineering mindset appeals to me.

Gore/Gilet first.

Yeah, the G/G books are much more informative than the other. Yes, they're expensive, but they'd be a bargain at thrice the price.

. . . particularly for an engineer. Math out the wazoo. That's not a criticism of the Gore/Gilet books; just an observation. I kept up for a while but then gave up and started skipping to the end of each section of the design book. But the build book is chock full of great (and more accessible) information.

Thanks guys - will check them out. I appreciate the recommendations and inputs.