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My understanding is that solid wood brace material (as is bridge material) is often chosen due to its ringing/tone quality. Is my understanding correct? If so, is the ringing/tone quality of a laminate brace considered at all, be it CF/spruce laminate or rosewood/spruce laminate or whatever laminate? Are both solid wood and laminate braces tested/sampled for tone before gluing them on the top? In general, how does laminating a brace affect musicality properties of the brace? (I can see how reducing the bracing weight while keeping the same stiffness would change the top's voicing/musicality.)

Ed

I don't pick bracing stock by sound , I will tap it as that will tell you if there are hidden cracks. Thud sounding may mean cracks and ringing is a good sign in that you have a solid piece. Other than that I use deflection testing to select my tops and bracing, Laminating will make the bracing stock , stronger thus you can shape them so they are lighter . This is one of the big advantage of laminating , You can influence the weight to strength ratio.
To be honest depending on the materials you have you can see a few advatages , first it will be stiffer , and stronger. You can also make them lighter and with it being 2 pieces or more , that will make them more stable and consistient. The only down side is the gluing process. You need to have a good technique.
Mario should chime in, he uses them and I am sure can enlighten us better than I . I don't think you can tell much by tapping on a piece of wood as until it is a guitar and the stresses of the guitar are applied , you won't know. After building 100 of them I used to think tapping was vital but some of my best sounding guitars were made from dead tap toned tops. Some of the builders that I know and are very successful agree that you can't tell more than if the wood had a crack or structural problem.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Ed: One of the main reasons to use braces laminated with CF is for the memory factor.Wooden braces over time will take on the shape they are forced to bend to due to string pressure.CF will not do this,and helps to keep the braces in thier original configeration.
Tom

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