Official Luthiers Forum!

A while back there were folks who were looking for J-185 plans. I noticed that LMI is carrying such a plan. Not sure how long they have been listing it but it is there now.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

They've had them on there for quite some time I think. Just checked my email confirmation from
when I purchased some stuff from them and they've had them on there since at least 11/11/2010.

The plans are great; very detailed. The plans also give an outline to an alternative bridge design
(similar to the J-200) which I thought was nice!

I guess this was an unnecessary post from me but I've held off from not posting for a while so
thought it was time I gave my 2cents!

Lewis

I see that it's a Scott Antes plan that is "inspired" by the Gibson J-185. Caveat emptor.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Howard: Do I hear you say he may over brace a tad in the plans...????
Tom

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I haven't seen these plans. His plans for some other guitars are reputed to call for overbracing, and not to be historically accurate. And so far as I can tell, no one has ever reported seeing or hearing a guitar that he built.

Perhaps it's a great plan. But I would not just assume so.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

The bracing on the back on the lower bout do seem rather excessive. At 19mm x 19mm (3/4 x 3/4) they definitely seem overkill.

Im not too sure what the original bracing is like on the J-185 though. I can imagine it to be fairly hefty though for being a Jumbo(ish) guitar. The top bracing doesn't seem too bad. The X-Bracing is around 8mm x 17.5mm (5/16 x 1/16) which appears to be fairly standard. I could be wrong with my limited knowledge.

I guess you would lighten or shape the bracing depending on the wood though. At least I would anyway.

When I come to finally build from the plans I probably won't be using the two lower bout back bracing dimensions. Ill probably go for a tall pyramid type bracing. Although I did do a 3/4" wide lower bout back braces for my Martin 000-16m albeit not as tall and it sounds great.

Lewis