Official Luthiers Forum!

I have built two Irish Bouzoukis using the hybrid X bracing. Has anyone used this bracing on a steel string acoustic guitar?...one of the members of a local band brought a twelve string guitar ,converted into a four course Irish Bouzouki , for me to set up.... The neck was a mess ...someone filed down all the frets below the 14 fret to practically nothing...I fixed it as best I could and put it back in playing condition....We discussed making an Irish Bouzouki with a OM guitar body....I am wondering if I should use the hybrid x bracing or standard guitar bracing ....Would there be any advantage to using the lattice bracing?...The bridge will be a glued on bridge.....Any thoughts on this.....Larry

What the hell is "hybrid" X bracing?

Larry,

Do you mean one of these?

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

I built a guitar-cittern last year (inspired by Dave White's Bealtine) and it's still going strong. I designed the bracing bearing in mind it'll need slightly less tension than a 12 stringer, and used standard X bracing.

And yup, it sounds like a cittern, albeit with more sustain, which is exactly what I wanted.

I think something to also bear in mind is the neck- and am very pleased with how the neck of the cittern is bearing up under the pressure, with carbon fibre lengths installed either side of the 2 way truss rod.

Sam...What are the dimensions of your CF rods? Do you and David use the flying butress CF rods as well?

We want to see some pics! If it's the one I remember, it also has some unique and beautiful Celtic carvings very tastefully adorning the body.

Oh...and BTW...David and Sam...how about another soundclip!

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

I should have taken some pics before I installed the top...sorry

Graham McDonalds, "The Bouzouki Book", describes this hybrid X lattice bracing...
The lattice is made from 3 x 6mm spruce at 40mm centers, measured from the brace intersection and running parallel to the X braces...The lattice ends are tapered away to nothing 35mm from the linings..

Dave .....Very nice Bouzouki ....Bet it sounds fantastic

I think you mean something like this...
This is one I built a couple of years ago. It is a cedar/koa. The sound is fantastic, but it doesn't sound like a traditional bouzouki. It is more like a 12 string guitar sound, very shimery, with very bright highs, and sustain that goes on forever! I'll have to record it and let you hear for yourself. The bracing pattern I got from Graham directly, and then I modified it slightly. I pretty much built it like a regular guitar, reverse kerfed linings, bolt on butt joint, the works. Anyway, hope this helps.

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Thanks Tracy...Thats exactly what I am looking to build....I see that you are using the 17 fret as the neck bolt on position..26" scale???..Are the body lengths of your guitar/bouzouki the same as the standard bouzouki?....Everything ,to me,looks the same as the Graham McDonald bouzouki except that you have added the upper bout....The sound of these bouzoukis are outstanding...and the sustain does seem to go on forever.......Thanks for the pics....Larry

Larry,
This is Graham's model 2 bouzouki. The plans for this shape were not in the book, so I asked that he send me the shape, and he actually drew the bracing pattern on the shape for me. However, I did not use it exactly like it was drawn. Very minor changes, but it still worked great. This is a 25.4" scale, just because I'm a guitar player and wanted to play the bouzouki like a guitar. So I just kept a scale I was comfortable with. It worked very well. I think the body is a little bigger than a standard bouzouki, but you can get more information on the dimensions from Grahams website. Thanks for the kind words!

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com