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I am starting a slope dread and an OM with adirondack tops. Can someone suggest a reasonable average thickness to take adi down to? Also.I've been reading of people using 1/4 inch braces. Is this with adi or is it safe with sitka too?
Thanks

Thickness depends upon how stiff your top is...I've used Adi from .105" ro .115".

I use Adi bracing at .250" routinely. I have never used Sitka bracing so I can't comment.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

1/4" bracing on an OM with Sitka is pretty common. Some build with 5/16".

Ditto what JJ said - Again......

Often, not always, Adi is one of the stiffer top woods. So if you do not do deflection testing be sure to flex the top in your hands and take advantage of the opportunity to get a feel for how much flex it has regardless of what thickness you end up at.

The last couple Adi tops that I used were .100 and .090 respectively BUT they were very stiff and I had deflection data from other tops on completed guitars to compare them with. So I am not recommending these thicknesses for your tops and think that JJ's thicknesses are a better guide if we can't know how stiff the tops are.

1/4" width braces are fine unless you are going to use fairly heavy gage strings.

Thank you gentleman for your replies. I guess I'll try .105 and see how it works!

.105 should be cool. Remember too that you will lose a few thou during final sanding.

Sorry to be a nag.....

Are the 1/4 Braces for Drednoughts? OM and Dred are diffferent sizes, just want to make sure this is straight.

I just thinned some braces to .300 but the other sides were .310 and I missed it. Im having trouble thinning braces consistently with the plane, it could be the blade though.It may be slightly curved as it does a great job thinning tops, but not jointing them.
I want perfect consistency on the braces so I can do comparisons. I may have to start running them through the thickness sander.

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

Some here may have a build methodology that allows them to use 1/4" braces on dreads. My great and wisely profound reason for sticking with 5/16" braces for dreads is simple:

1. D35's were built with 1/4" top braces.
2. The rest of Martin's line typically used 5/16" braces on their dreads.
3. I don't care for D35's.

That's as complex as my reasoning gets. Works for me, though.

However the OM's I'm building now I'm using 1/4" top braces on. I imagine I'll continue to on smaller bodied instruments.

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Wes McMillian
Santo, TX
http://www.wesmcmillian.com