ToddStock wrote:
Does a OOO really need four back braces? Martin uses four on all steel strings, but Jim Warwick and others go with three on smaller bodies. While the #1 brace plays a big role in stiffening up the 'box' to keep the neck block from rotating, it seems as though the others can be shifted as necessary - particularly the waist, with the narrower span and stiffening from the linings.
I use four, but only because mine are pretty light to start with.
One of the great classical makers--Hernandez y Aguado iirc--tried using three back braces for a while and found a marked improvement in sound when they went to four (I think this is in the Courtnall book, but I haven't checked). I'm dubious that the four brace back was just a matter of one guy doing it and everyone else following suit. Getting by with fewer parts and less work isn't a novel idea.
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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.comWhen all else fails, clean the shop.
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It's a part of the instrument, and just never occurred to me as something to hide. Aside from Ovations or pressed back Guilds, they're visible in about every other flat top made, and I've never heard anyone bothered by it.
