Official Luthiers Forum!

Actually , while I totally agree about the glue surface area , Todd Stock had pointed that out a few posts ago. I have seen thinner braces but that was on a classical. I don't think you want to go thinner that 1/4 inch. There is a balance involved here. You can over loosen the top and at that point you will ruin the instrument. You also can ad a few different glue choices. I do use mostly tite bond , but you can add HHG and fish glue , white glue etc. One more point is gluing technique. Be clean and precise on gluing for best results. Bad glue joints do more harm than good.
The "headroom" of a guitar is that envelope that lets you have a range of playability before the tone and voice break up . If you build a guitar too light you can't play it hard . The tone will break down as you overload the top with the stress of the strings. There is much going on from the saddle. Too heavy of a guitar and it will be dead . I would rather over brace it than under brace as you can always lighten it but once the wood is off , it can't be put back on.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

If you look at the pics on David's site, you'll see that the T brace is in fact, glued such that it provides easy voicing options.

I've used I beam braces on my last several banduras and that definitely eliminates any tuning possibilities. Fortunately for me, I wouldn't know where to begin when it comes to tuning braces . I beaming the brace dropped the mass by about 25%

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Andy Birko wrote:
" I beaming the brace dropped the mass by about 25%"

The mass of the brace, right? All of the braces together are seldom as much as 25% of the total weight of the top. 25% of 25% is, um, (push buttons)6.25% of the total weight of the top; say 11-12 grams. You could save that much weight by using rosewood instead of ebony for the bridge. You've also done a lot of extra work and relinquished the chance to tune the braces significantly. I dunno...

If I had any idea how to tune a bandura brace I wouldn't be I beaming them. I'm too scared though as there's lots of down force on a bandura top and I'm afraid that thinning parts of the bracing may end up with a too weak top.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com