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Josh -

If you'd be willing to share some more about your lattice bracing design - with some photos, perhaps? - I'd be very interested and grateful.

Todd

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Me too!

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Todd

I've been away from the forum for a day or two and just saw your post. I will see if I can round up some pictures and get some info up tomorrow.

Now where did I put those pictures...(josh goes off to sort through a stack of unlabbled CDs, two computer, 3 digital camera cards and a jumpdrive)..I know they are around here somwhere.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Well after a little looking around I managed to come up with a bunch of pictures of my bracing pattern and how it has evolved to what I am using now.

Todd
I thought you might like a bit of background. I took Sergie’s course 2 ? years ago with the intention of pursuing a career in luthierie (I was 19 at the time and just turned 22 last month). I had a minimal amount of woodworking experience before I took the course. I came home and spent 4-5 months building my shop purchasing tools. My shop is one room 14’ x 16’. I build entirely by hand pretty much just as we were taught to do on the course. I now do some things differntly from what Sergie taught, but it is still hand work. I don’t have any more tools than Sergie does and even a few less (I build without a jointer or a table saw, just haven’t had the money to afford them). The only fancy jig I really use is the binding setup from www.guitarjigs.com, which is what you probably used on the course. I have now built part-time for the past 2 years. So far I have only built steelstring guitars and guitar/bouzoukis. I plan to try classicals in the coming year

When it came time to design our bracing patters Sergie took us through the pros and cons of the different designs. I really liked the ideas behind the lattice type pattern so I decided to give it a try. This is a picture of the design I came up with on the course.

My first top


I was really happy with the sound that the guitar had when it was done. It had a crisp and even tone with good sustain. So I came home and decided to keep working with the same design. I braced a few guitars pretty much identical to my first one.

After a while I began to experiment a bit with the angle of the braces. For a While I built with all the braces at 90 degree angles. I think I remember reading that Grit Laskin uses a 90 angle on his X brace so I thought I would try it.

It looked something like this.


These guitars sounded good so I built a few like this. About 10 months ago I took one of my guitars around to a few of the high-end guitar shops in the area to get some opinions. One repairman I showed it to thought that my bracing was a lot heavier than it needed to be and he encouraged me to try lightening the pattern. He showed me inside a bunch of vintage Martin and Gibson guitars so I could see what some lighter designs looked like. A lot of those old guitars are braced a lot lighter than I would have imagined. So I went home and decided to give a lighter pattern a try.

This is what I came up with.


Wow! What a difference it made. The guitar had all the great tonal characteristics of my previous ones only magnified. The guitar was a lot more lively. More volume, sustain and a sweater tone than my previous guitars.

Another luthier suggested that I might try scalloping the braces when they intersect one another. I thought I might as well give it a try.

And this is what my current pattern looks like.




I’m not really sure that this can be called a lattice pattern any more. It is probably more of a double X design. The dimensions for the smaller braces are as follows. 8mm x 4.5mm for the taller which runs on the bass side of the top. The smaller brace is 5mm x 4.5mm and runs on the treble side (sorry to all you who work with inches). I also widened the angle of the X to about 100 if I remember right. This guitar is not finished but I am hoping to have it done by the end of the month. The box is now bound and ready to go, I just have to make the neck. As I tap the top it sure sounds like it is going to be one sweet guitar.

So Todd you might want to try lightening the pattern a bit. I was apprehensive at fist because I designed the original pattern under Sergie’s guidance. But after examining a lot of vintage guitars and other designs I feel that this design is structurally sound.

Let me know if you have some questions.

Josh

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Hey Josh, thanks for posting, I have been interested in this for a while. I asked Joshia about it, and she said they just play it by ear. I wanted something a little more concrete, so this helps a bit. Again, thanks

Terry

I'm certainly no expert when it comes to this. I'm sure Sergie and Joshia know more than I ever will when it comes to guitar building. All the de Jonges' build beutiful instruments! This has been what I have come up with after some experimentation on my own. And I'm sure I will continue to play with the design.

Josh

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Hey Josh,

Thanks! That's a lot of great food for thought.

I'd be interested to hear if other experienced builders on the forum here have a gut feeling about whether your recent design has enough strength to prevent undue or premature bellying of the top below the bridge. Anyone care to comment? (I hope you don't mind my posing that question, Josh.)

Todd

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

That is sweet Josh. Some day I'll have to try that.

Not at all Todd.

In fact I meant to pose that question as part of my post. I'm open to comments and criticism regarding my design. The one I did about 5 months ago with the lighter pattern is holding up fine. I realize that 5 months isn't long enough to know anything for sure. I guess I will have to wait and see.

Josh

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com