Official Luthiers Forum!

I've looked around at comments and posts regarding these LOs and I always see folks referring to ladder bracing. There may be other thoughts on that and I am probably missing a lot...like maybe the definition of "ladder bracing".

But when I look at the Guild plan #6 I don't see ladder but rather a modified fan. A cross brace above and below the sound hole, with reinforcements on either side that aren't really braces. Then a 2 of fan braces below, though the are much bigger. It looks very much like a classical, or at least along those same lines of thinking.

I can almost imagine some guy at Gibson saying "The heck with that X brace joint, let's do a fan, but we don't need all of those whimpy European things, just two Amerkin struts! And oh...put in this little support thingy brace to tighten things up 'round that tribble side."

Any thoughts?

All I know is that I've got some sapele I bought cheap and also some spruce tops, enough for just 3 builds. I've already made the X braced body and when I get the weather and the time I'm going to make a ladder braced one from the same stock according to the plans which I think I got from GAL which were themselves taken from a Gibson 1927 or something. The 3rd build will be experimental as I have an idea or two I want to try. It will also be good practice for thicknessing as I can't afford a sander thicknesser and can't seem to locate a friendly cabinet maker near me in the UK. Don't hold your breath waiting to see them, I've got some others to build.
When they're done I'll play them and see what they sound like.

My guess is that historically as steel strung guitars developed there was a lot of experimenting, and developments from Spanish fan bracing are not surprising. Isuspect that as the first steel strung guitars lifted the bridge the first reaction of the luthiers was just to put some big fat strengthening strips in place.

martin crossed that bridge about two decades earlier with fan bracing on the size 2.

they soon got over that....

currently my thoughts aren't worth much though.

As I recall from that plan and actual guitars of the period they used a sort of modified X. You cule call it something else but if you look for an x in it youll see it. Makes a distinctive sound.