Official Luthiers Forum!

Should I be concerned about matching brace wood to top wood. I'm just starting a Martin "O" 12 for which I've purchased some Western Red Cedar + I'm using Claro Walnut B&S's. I don't have quite enough spruce for a complete set of braces & will need to order some...should I just get WRC instead.

Tansu welcome to the OLF!

No need to match brace wood to the top or back wood but you could if you wanted to. Remember that spruce will have the best strength to weight numbers so if it were me I would use spruce.

I don't know if you are working off a plan but if you did not use spruce you may want to consider changing the dimensions of your braces to reflect the strength of the material used.

Hesh, Thanks for the welcome & the advice. Chancing the numbers would be over my head right now, but since this will be my 2nd. "O" I know what I did on the 1st.... except this time I'll try scalloping. You bring up another question. I was going to thin the top to .125" & tapering to the outside a bit. In your opinion is this OK for WRC. Remember I'm a novice

Some classical builders use WRC for tone bars, for a steel string red or sitka spruce would be much better. WRC is very light but split prone. .125 sounds thick for an 0 size, how well quartered and stiff is your top?

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

"how well quartered and stiff is your top"?

Laurent, That”s a good question, I”m only just starting to really appreciate this stuff. If you mean by “How well quartered” How vertical the grain lines appear
They are 90* to the face. As for stiffness - I don’t know! I will soon have to build a gizmo to measure this. What I have now is two pieces (9" X 23-1/2" x 1/8").
....What would you suggest? I really appreciate this help.

Seems a waste to use such a large piece for a 0…
I like to leave WRC about 10% thicker than spruce, so between .100 and .115 would be in the ballpark for a 0. I use short braces and tend to leave my tops a little on the thick side. Perhaps you could thin it further down if you decide to use tall bracing, I wouldn't.
As for stiffness you have to exercise your judgment, gently flexing the plates across and along the grain, and of course it also depends on how thick they are now.

_________________
Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/