Official Luthiers Forum!

I had to remove the braces of my top because the top has warped with the bracing on. The top is stickered and weighted to see if I can get them to un-warp but I broke the X brace in the process of removing them. I glued it back together but I wasn't sure if that was good enough and no one sells spruce in Taiwan so I found some cypress that has a straight and tight grain and split the board and is making some braces that follows the split. It probably won't sound the same but it's the only material that is suitable I can find here. Has anyone made bracing out of cypress and can someone comment on this?

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Tai Fu,

I've never heard of anyone using cypress for bracing.

I've read reports of people using Western Red cedar, Douglas fir (aka
Oregon pine), redwood, and Port Orford cedar for soundboard bracing,
besides the various spruces. But never cypress.

I'd be happy to mail you a few pieces of Engelmann spruce brace stock
if you think it would get through Customs there. I can easily spare enough
to get you through your project. Send me a PM if you want to follow up.

Eric