Official Luthiers Forum!

Just finished my first build and interested in starting my second.

First of all thanks to all who advised me. I learned soo much on this first build. I made a L-00 with ovangol body, carpathian spruce top, deep body, 12 fret neck, and slotted headstock. Though it is still breaking in, I'm really happy with the sound, even though there are quite a few cosmetic mistakes, and the finish(sprayed waterbased lacquer) is far from professional.

I'll post pics soon.

Anyway, I have a quick question about my next plan. I want to build one based on a J-185 plan, but am using Indian Rosewood with a redwood top. I'm interested in making a guitar for fingerstyle playing, so I would like a very balanced sounding guitar. To do this I thought I would decrease the depth to 4 1/8". I also thought about slightly increasing the sound hole size to bring out a little more midrange.

My question is this: The plan calls for 5/16" bracing. Should I lighten it up? Maybe use 1/4" bracing? Any advice and opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.


Sean

_________________
change isn't synonymous with improvement
instagram.com/bucketguitars/

Todd,

I really appreciate the advice!! You helped me a couple times already, and I can't express how grateful I am. I thought the bracing plan seemed a little heavy. I actually went and looked again at Greven's jumbo, and I had it wrong. He does his at 4.25" not 4 1/8". I was thinking of doing it at that depth after his design. However, I'm going to take your advice on going 4 1/2". That would be only a 1/4" difference from the original Gibson. After my last build, I realize that sometimes less change is more.

Sean

_________________
change isn't synonymous with improvement
instagram.com/bucketguitars/