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It's spruce (Euro I think) and I've had it kicking around for a long time. It wasn't until I surfaced one side of it just now that I realised that it wasn't as straight grained as I thought (and that it had a knot in it). Some of the braces need to be almost the full length of this piece. It's about an inch thick. I also just realised that it may have runout too . What do you think?

Click on the photos for a better image.

Hi Dave,

It's nicer than a lot of the braces in my "factory" guitars that I bought before I started building, but I wouldn't risk it....just too much work in my eyes. But I'm not much of a risk taker though either

Laurie

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Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

Thanks Laurie. I was pretty doubtful, which is why I asked. I was beginning to think that the 60-odd people who had looked at this thread just didn't care.

Actually, I have some mahogany I could use for back braces. I can't remember what the general opinion is of mahogany for braces. (?)

David, I also wouldn't use this wood for braces, I'm very fussy about my braces and use the wedges left over from making violin tops, so it's premium wood. As for mahogany for back braces, yes of course you can use it, in fact it's my standard wood for back braces.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Thanks for your reply Colin, it's really good to hear from you. Would you have a suggestion as to where to order bracewood? That's all I seem to need at the moment. I suppose, with the state of the £ at the moment, I ought to try to get some from the UK. (Trouble is, half my pension comes from the UK too! )

David you can often get good brace wood from Madinter, I most often get mine from David Dyke he has wedges from the violin trade as well. Best to talk to David himself and tell him you want a wedge of Euro for braces. Tell him you want the same stuff he supplies to me

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I would say that first, go ahead and split it, see if the runout lets you get usable size pieces, then if the weight and stiffness are acceptable to your previous experience, use it regardless of grain looks. If it is not extremely stiff you could still use it for back braces, if you like the ideea of a more flexible back...

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Build log

David, another thought, give Martin Guhl at Eurospruce a call (or e-mail) Martin produces some of the best Euro spruce tops I have ever seen, he will most likely be able to get you some cracking brace wood as well.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Thanks for the input Alex.

Colin, I've already called David Dyke who was very helpful. He even offered to trim the waste off to keep the cost of postage down as much as possible, as the postage will probably cost more than the wood. He'll give me a price tomorrow. I will also have a look at Martin Guhl.