Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi folks, I'm new on board, looking forward to all the great things going on here.

I'm building a series of 6 grand concert guitars from Grenadillo, Palo Escito, and Sapele. Somone suggested experimenting early before you get too busy with commissions. I'm considering lattice bracing shortly. I've seen pix on Sergei and Joshia DeJonge's sites. Joshia said they just experiment. Any input would be fun for all.

Regarding tongue support, I just glued up this "A" frame fingerboard tongue support. I considered single and double shoulder support braces, paddle bracing, and a couple others. Again, input would be great. Thanks. This is a GREAT place to sharpen our edges!

Lattice bracing intruiges me, but I'll leave the stress of playing with too many additional lap joints until later. I'll be trying out some symmetrical bracing on my next few (not sure whether to 'go Larrivee', be inspired by Petros, or what quite yet).

I've used 'A' bracing in conjunction with a 'tounge' extension of the headblock on both boxes I've built so far, inletting the 'A' into the headblock extension. Shamelessly copied this from Al Carruth, and I'll continue doing it. Hank Mauel also does a version of the 'tounge' thing, see the article he's got in the tips and tricks section on making it. I find it gives me a nice, stable, rigid upper bout area, supports the fingerboard fully (the tounge's wider than the board, and tapered so it doesn't 'follow' any grain lines in the top), no 'popsicle brace' to mess about with. Works for me!

Also, isn't Martin doing 'A' bracing above the soundhole these days? I seem to recall a shot of it at Frets.com..

so, has anyone got pictures of lattice or symetrical bracing that they'd like to contibute for show and tell?

I don't know about lattice bracing but I rather like these bracing patterns. These are patterns a friend of mine uses almost exclusively, the AX pattern is very similar to what a lot of people are using including me, the AXX bracing is a variation on lattice and is used in various brace thicknesses on larger bodies SJ upwards, and 12 strings. With very light braces I rather like the AXX pattern. and am going to try it on my next 000 or OM.


AX bracing


AXX bracing

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