Official Luthiers Forum!

I think many of you may agree, scalloped bracing is, well, just way more cool than tapered. It makes one feel more luthier like when carving. You get to pretend you are tuning the top to create the ultimate instrument for whatever the use may be. What I have a hard time with is where is the coolest place to put the peak? It's just guess work for me at this point. Heck, I'm not even sure what those peaks do! But no question they do look good.

OK seriously. I think I've only done one instrument with tapered and it was my worst effort. I may have left the top a little thick. It wasn't too bad if you played heavy handed. I also tucked the bottom ends of the X. First and only time I've done that. (probably the last) I have had good results with scallops and I will stick with that for now. I'd be happy to hear from anyone why I shouldn't. The question is, how to determine where to put the peaks. On the lower X I usually have a peak at the lower tone bar. I don't know why. Just cuz. The rest is just a big guess. I do look at pictures of other tops of more experienced builders and see what they do. Anyone have an idea of where to start with placing the peak and what happens if you move it around? What does it change?

Thanks,
Danny

The peak is the stiffest part of the brace. Changing the peak changes where the brace is stiffest.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Danny, I'm with you 100%. I too scallop my braces. Sure, it loosens the top giving it perhaps more bass but I really don't know. I do it for the same reasons as you. I'm looking forward to the replies.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

It's easier to get bassy tone with scallops on early builds. scallops can compensate for over-building, so it's often popular with the newer builders. Some prefer the sound of tapered bracing, me and my customers included.

My two cents.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Hey Pat, you got any pictures of your bracing?

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Old growth, shmold growth!

In my somewhat limited experience I offer this....

I feel that the scalloping lowers the frequency and allows more power to the midrange modes.
Or another way, tapering inhibits and raises them.
Tapered bracing seems to impart a more immediate but less complex sound than scalloped bracing. It's just a matter of what sound you prefer for what you want to play. It's a lot easier to do final voicing through the sound hole with scalloped....

That makes sense. Where would you think the stiffest part of the brace should be? On the X I make the low point at about the middle of the bridge plate. Usually take it down to about 1/4" in height. Seems to work so far. What about tone bars? I've done them different shapes with good results. I'm not sure why one would want a peak at the out board end of a tone bar to make that area stiffer. Looks nice though. The last 2 I did had Redwood tops and I did parallel to the bridge plate tone bars. Canadian tone bars. Sorry, I've only seen them on Larrivee and Morgan guitars. Peaked in the middle and tapered to the X. I was very happy with the results of both. Finger braces. Seems to me that putting a scallop on them is just silly. But I've done most with scallops. Still seems like mostly guess work. Maybe one might be better off to weigh all your bracing before you glue it on and them weigh all the shavings that are taken off, giving you an idea of how much brace mass is remaining.