Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey all, thought of an interesting topic - has anyone ever tried mixing top brace species? Say, mahogany x-brace and spruce tone bars. Or vice-versa or any other combination thereof? Could one reasonably expect to influence the tone in that way?

Slow work day, these are the kinds of things i think of

thanks,

adam

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"Everyone wants to BE something, but nobody wants to BECOME something" - William Cumpiano

Sure... Why not? Different braces may serve different purposes... and other materials may work fine so long as you integrate them into the "System" in a sensible way.

My Ditson has a Santos Mahogany UTB and white spruce bracing.
This was recommended by the master builder working with me on it... He likes a Mahogany UTB to give it a little extra strength in that area.... and he gave me the brace blank to glue in. Only found out it was Santos (Balsamo) after a while because of the wonderful smell.

Love that smell.... I am going to try and find some of that stuff and glue a little piece inside my guitars from now on.

My Retopped Esteban Dred has White spruce bracing and a Sitka UTB.
Why?.... Because the 1st UTB blank I made was too small.. and I was down south at Home and all I could find in the construction dumpster across the street that was good enough was a Sitka 2x6.... so Sitka it was.

Thanks

John

Mix em? You bet... I do it on every top I build. Another way of voicing the top besides whacking away with the chisel.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Thanks guys! I guess it would be good to know what each brace in the system is responsible for, tone and structure wise. Anyone know of a handy reference for this? Not even sure what to search on for that...

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"Everyone wants to BE something, but nobody wants to BECOME something" - William Cumpiano

Adam,

The trouble with a question like "What does each brace do?" depends on how you build and the overall system with the top wood.

My current mental model has various bracing schemes falling somewhere in a continuum between "Independent, Unconnected braces" and "Fully integrated Matrix".... You have Ladder bracing on one end -- which requires a fairly thick top to run properly, Fans and X in the middle, then Double tops and Lattice on the other end which require a fairly thin top to run properly...

So take "Finger" braces for example. On an overbraced, extra thick heavily domed factory guitar top... They may not do anything in particular except stop long grain cracks... but on a light, live, thin top with smaller braces -- they are important structural components that help keep the top from buckling.

Good luck

John

As Tim stated it's another way to fine tune .
I use red cedar for non structural braces in steels and for fans in classicals .
I use Port Orford Cedar as well.
They weigh less and that helps allot.

I use Lutz for all other braces except I use Sp. Cedar for most backs
even for steels.


Mike

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Mike Collins

As Tim stated it's another way to fine tune .
I use red cedar for non structural braces in steels and for fans in classicals .
I use Port Orford Cedar as well.
They weigh less and that helps allot.

I use Lutz for all other braces except I use Sp. Cedar for most backs
even for steels.


Mike

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Mike Collins