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I'm starting another build for a grandson, a parlor guitar using the Antes plan (LMII). I understand it is considered overbuilt per the braces. The plan shows 5/16" x 1/2" for most of them, not scalloped. What's the recommendation, 1/4"? or ?

I'm using Cedar for the top, Afromosia for b&s and neck and Manzanita for bridge, fingerboard and trim.

Thanks for any advice.

Carl

I would go with 1/4 inch leaving the upper legs of the X the full 1/2 inch and begin tapering the lower legs when they pass over the corners of the bridge to nothing at the ends (near the sides) Cedar is usually less stiff across the grain, so I might adjust the angle of the tone bar some and leave it full height and un-scalloped .

Pay attention to the lower leg/tone bar. I think the original Antes plan is drawn as if looking at a closed box, not as if laying on your bench, braces up. It makes it look like the bar is on wrong side.

1/4” or even 3/16” braces.
1/2” high X on cedar would be about right if not a little tall.

dl

The thickness of the top and the height of the braces is more important then the width in terms of 'overbuiltedness.' It depends on a lot of things. There are big parlor guitars and very small ones too. I am building a very small parlor guitar now that will have only one lower tone bar and one finger brace. I also do deflection and using a standard red brick, about 2,500 grams placed on the bridge patch and measuring at the X center the top deflects a full .4in. I like 5/16th in for the X braces, especially on cedar. 1/2in tall sounds reasonable.

It's really difficult to give you advice becasue so much depends on the properties of the top wood you are using. In general though plans are indeed over built. If you want to get more bass response out of it then consider scalloping the braces. If you want a nice punch to the tone then just taper them.

I have built three guitars from the Antes plans, one was pretty heavily scalloped and two were not. The other big difference was that one I blindly followed the plans (which means I built a lefty). They are slightly different wood combinations so a direct comparison isn't fair. This one was played at the Steel String Listening session at the GAL conference a few years back - several people commented that they liked the sound and one person sitting in the very back of the hall commented on its projection.



This guitar has a fairly stiff Lutz top at about 0.110 and it is 24.5 scale instead of whatever Antes shows (24?).

Here is what I made a few years back. The widths of the braces are:
Upper Face Brace: 8 mm
X brace: 7 mm
others: 6 mm

Heights are marked on the photo.

Hope this help.

Edit: cannot find how to post a picture!
OK file was too big!