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My first had the normal wood side braces tucked up under the kerfing. My next couple I soaked cloth in HHG,what a mess and it doesn't look very good. SO has anyone seen or use a wood brace,but run it to the edges and butt the kerfing to the side braces? This is what I'm thinking of doing on this one. Clinton

I do mine that way. Just taper the ends so they are of less height than the linings and you'll be fine.
I make mine about .15 -.18 tall at the mid point and taper down from there so they're below the edge of the lining. They work fine and look good too.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Clinton, that is what Benedetto shows in his book. His spruce side braces are 3/32" thick and the width of two segments of kerfed lining. He butts the lining to the braces and then puts two segments of lining on each end of the brace. That way the kerfs are real even all the way around.
I hope this makes sense.

Long

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

The problem with ending the braces at the liner, rather than inletting them, is that any force pressing the side inward is concentrated at the end of the brace. A crack right along the liner is really hard to fix. This came from one of the folks who does restoration work for the Mwetropolitan Museum in NY, and has seen more than I.

You don't need to soak the cloth in hide glue. Paint a line of HHG across the side where you want the tape to go. Drop the piece of tape, cut to length so that it overlaps the side a bit, onto the glue. now paint some more glue onto the tape, so that the glue soaks through everywhere. Dab up the excess with a paper towel. This is neat, gets the tapes down solidly, and keeps the glue off your fingers.

[QUOTE=Bob Long] Clinton, that is what Benedetto shows in his book. His spruce side braces are 3/32" thick and the width of two segments of kerfed lining. He butts the lining to the braces and then puts two segments of lining on each end of the brace. That way the kerfs are real even all the way around.
I hope this makes sense.

Long[/QUOTE]

That's the way I do them too, although I'm still struggling with the "real even all the way around" part!

One more thing; the side braces are a few millimeters shorter than the height of the sides. That way, should the sides shrink with humidity, the braces will hopefully not push the plates out.

Here's an old picture:

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Wow, I'm glad I posted before doing them "my" way. I never thought of the braces pushing up against the plates. Thanks guys! Yeah, I was submerging the tape, sqeezing the excess with my fingers and fumbling to get the tape on straight without getting glue all over the place. I should of taken pictures, you guys would of gotten a big laugh. What a mess! I do go back with shellac though.And I do like installing the linings right over top of the tape, kind of ties it all together. Clinton