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Hi Folks, I am working on an OM with Sinker Redwood top and Black Walnut back and sides. Does anyone have opinions of how tall/thick braces should be working with the redwood? I was planing on going with traditional bracing (with some Adirondack Spruce I have) and traditional sizes, at least traditional in relation to Grellier's OM plans. This guitar will be primarily a fingerstyle player. Thanks for your input. I am always indebted to you all.

Hi Nathan,
What you have proposed seems like a reasonable plan. Redwood tends to be "splitty" so it takes more care in it's handling, and to me has a little more "slippery" surface, so a freshly prepared gluing surface might be a good idea. I don't have a lot of experience with redwood, and none with "sinker"redwood, so hopefully those who have will chime in.

I've built with one sinker redwood top. I used red spruce braces sized the same as I would for a spruce top. Don't recall if the bracing ended up lighter after voicing. Glued on in the normal manner although I always run a scraper over the surfaces before I glue.

I suppose I should have added that the guitar is about 3 years old now, it sounds good and everything has held together well. There's a bunch of photos in this 2016 challenge thread:
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10145&t=47893

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Nathan,
I've built several OMs and am happy with the results I'm getting from X-braces that are .250 x .550-.650. However, the one guitar I've made with sinker redwood telegraphed the bracing quite noticeably, which has not happened with any of the spruces I've used. If using redwood again, I'd try using slightly wider braces, so the Grellier width (.313) seems okay to me. All wood is unique and my sample size is exactly one, so ... don't forget the grain of salt.

Redwood will show a scratch or ding if you look at it sideways. I suggest protecting the top with poster board or such and working it as little as possible throughout the build process.

_________________
George :-)

I have heard that Redwood is splintery and have applied a 1lb cut of shellac to the piece before I cut the rosette channel or the guitar shape. Since this is my first serious build (done some repair and octave mandolin build) I'll have to glean as much as I can, regarding voicing the top, from this forum and Youtube. Any advice there is also appreciated. Thanks!

On average you can expect redwood to be much like spruce and you would Use similar dimensions to the braces as for, say, sitka. However, there seems to be a lot more variation between pieces of redwood than there you find with other soundboard timbers. This is why I say “on average” - but you met some pieces which are not so average. Take it down to about 3mm and see how floppy it feels. Regarding the Grellier OM plans - I have seen some comments that it might have the bracing a bit on the heavy side. But I have not used it myself so what I am reporting is hearsay.

Redwood is not so much splintery as "splitty" - it likes to split along the grain and will do so at the least provocation.