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I have a set of nice looking mango that includes a mango top to match the back and I want to build a cutaway 00 out of it. This will be my first cutaway and my first hardwood top. I know a lot of people will frown on the idea, but I just wanna try something new! Anyway, I have a plan for a 00 already but it's obviously for a soft wood soundboard. Can anyone say how I might alter the bracing to get a good sound out of the instrument? I gather that it will naturally have a good high end, but will need to be changed to get a good low end. Is simply lightening the bracing the answer? I wont be starting this project for a couple of weeks, but I like to get any questions answered before I get there. Any help is much appreciated!

Ellison: Besides the answers you get here,you may find some help at the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum. Bruce Sexauer has shown a bunch of photos of a guitar made totally from Catalpa except for bindings ,rosette,headplate etc..This is a hardwood and Bruce shows the bracing he used on that top.Look in The Log Cabin for...Catalpa: a one wood guitar project. Good luck in your search.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

There is also a thread on the Acoustic Guitar Forum under the custom shop about that same build. It is called Catalpe spec build or something of that nature

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--Kyle Burner--

Another thread on AGF: http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172877
Woody Brackett's koa topper, which has a photo of the voiced top on page 3. Bracing looks quite light to me.

I saw Bruce's Catalpa guitar last weekend at our Annual NCAL (Northern California Luthiers) BBQ at Kenny Hill's place. It wasn't strung up though, so we couldn't hear it, sadly. It looked pretty good and when tapped at the bridge, had a good drum response, which in my limited experience, as well as according to Bruce, is an indication that it's going to sound good when strung. Bruce doesn't work to measurements, but he did say that he'd left the top a bit on the heavy side and the bracing was normal.

HTH,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Go slightly thinner on the top than you would for a spruce top to get an equivalent stiffness then brace as normal.

I do not know mango, but I've built both with mahogany and koa tops. Most hardwoods are much stiffer accross the grain, but weaker along the grain than softwoods, and that's definitely the case with koa and mahogany. Select the set that is lightest and stronger along the grain for the top if you can.
I brace the same as for a spruce top, however I keep the top a bit thicker than normal, roughly in the order of 5%.

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

This ^^

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Hmm, makes me wonder if fan bracing a hardwood top steel string would sound good. If the wood is naturally stiff across the grain, brace it so you're only really stiffening along grain. Maybe do an offset soundhole so the fans can reach all the way to the upper transverse brace, rather than the classical style with a lower cross strut cutting the vibrating area down.

Quite a few builders use a hybrid bracing system with x-braces and fan braces going down from the bridgeplate. Obviously changing those parameters, and the soundhole location, will alter the top's response and bring it further from the Martin/Gibson paradigm.

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

So it sounds like there are a lot of different angles I could take here. It seems to me that the safest thing would to brace the top the same as I would with spruce, taking into account that I may have to carve the bracing slightly different. I'm no expert in voicing and judging taptones, but I can tell that I'm getting better build by build. I'm a completely self taught builder but I have extensive musical training and I think of myself as having a good ear for music and quality musical instruments. I'm thinking that now it may be a good idea to get a dvd on guitar voicing. Can anyone recommend one? I've seen that Kent Everett and John Mayes both have videos that look like they would be good.

Oh and thanks for the referrals to the other two forums and the Catalpa thread. Some great info there! I'm about to go register on both sites when I'm done here.