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I'm building a guitar that is more on the lines of a cross between an electric and acoustic guitar. Think Taylor's T5, kind of.
What I'm doing is hollowing out an electric style body, like this.



The shape is basically an L-00. What I've done is hollow out the guitar to a depth of 1 and 1/4"(total body depth is 1 and 9/16").
My plan is to brace the top the way an L-00 is braced(I realize I could probably run just two parallel braces on the top, but this will be practice for stepping out into acoustic building as well. Two birds with one stone, so to speak). I'll use the Fishman Powerjack preamp and a Soundboard transducer(SBT). There will be no sound hole. Since I don't expect to get a lot of unplugged acoustic tone from this, I'm hoping the lack of a sound hole will let me get just a bit more volume from the instrument through an amp or PA before feedback rears it's ugly head.
My questions are as follows.
Firstly, I've just received the top wood from Stew Mac. I'm in Virginia, Stew Mac is in Ohio. How long would you recommend I let the top acclimate to my weather/humidity conditions before working it?
Secondly, does anyone have a decent drawing/plan of an L-00 bracing pattern they can post as a PDF or email to me?
Thirdly, I've read several discussions on this board regarding most plans being a little on the heavy side as far as bracing dimensions are concerned. Can you give me a few starting guidelines, especially for the X bracing?
Thanks for any help you can give.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Weigh the top with a resonably accurate scale. When the weight stays constant from day to day the top is aclimated.
I can't answer your question about plans, but.....is the scale length the same as a L00? Is it a 14 frets to the body neck? If not a plan won't do you much good.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Hey Mike,

Cool looking build.
Google Grellier for some nice L-00 plans (public domain).

GAL has L-00 plans. Plan #55...

http://www.luth.org/plans/archtop.htm#plan55

Thanks, guys. Just what I needed.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

+1 for the Grellier plans. They are nicely done and are free in either PDF or DXF format. Here's a link: http://www.grellier.fr/plans.php?lang=en

Yep. Exactly what I needed. The only problem I had was that when I tried to download them, they came up as "file damaged", and would not come up in Adobe. However, if I simply left clicked on them, let them load up on the website, and saved them then, they downloaded just fine. The only one I'm having trouble with is the OM. The page does not want to load it up.
Oh well, two outta three ain't bad{hey, ain't that a song?).

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Cool axe, Mike!
Woody, brilliant way to see if wood is stabilized!

Thanks, Alan. And yeah, that's something I'll remember, Woody. Thanks.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

If you don't have an accurate scale or a moisture meter, you can still determine when thin wood is acclimated to the environment. Just lay it flat with the top side exposed to the air. If the exposed side becomes concave, the wood is losing moisture to the surrounding air. If it becomes convex, it is gaining moisture. Flip the wood over and it should curl the other way. Keep flipping it until it remains flat, at which point it is in equilibrium with the surrounding air.

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John

Thanks, John. Can't get more simple than that. Sounds like a plan.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.