Official Luthiers Forum!

Just throwing it out there, has anyone used anything besides Spruce for their back braces? I have a really nice piece of Douglas Fir with almost perfect vertical grain that has a bell like tap tone. I have used Douglas fir before but I was wondering if that is a guitar making no-no according to some authority. I have some mahogany that I could use, but it seems to have a dead, deep, and not very resonant tone to it. On a back am I looking for brighter tones to help transmit vibrations back to the soundboard faster and more efficiently? If I am, the Douglas Fir seems to be the more energetic choice. The tap tone of the Fir is very similar to the spruce bracing blank. Just wondering what anyone thinks? Oh, and the back is Bubinga if that makes a difference. The bubinga has a lower tone, but is resonant as hell.

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I use DF regularly for back braces (and top braces too sometimes.) No problems.
Test a few braces to see how it responds to stress. The main concern people have with DF is that is tends to explode rather than crack like spruce might. If it is able to take some stress without popping in half, then why not use it?

Dave

Brian: I've only ever used spruce and mahogany but don't see any reason that douglas fir would not work.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I would cut some spruce and fir strips, and flex them to see which is stronger.
I don't think the tap tone of the back braces would have much to do with the tone of the box.
I like a back that flexes, to act as an air pump to throw the sound out of the hole.
Still trying to figure the whole thing out though.

I've used it for back braces as well, quite successfully.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

That does it for me. I just braced the new bubinga I picked up with four strips of Douglas Fir, 5/16" wide and 3/4" tall. I ran a cutoff from the top of a soundboard as the center seam reinforcement, perpendicular grain, and I put a 1/4" deflection over 16" on the braces. It's a hefty little curve, and the bubinga looks great. I'm not going to do a center seam inlay on the back because the wood really lined up nice, and I think it takes away from the look. The OM top I have been working on will be going on this back/sides, and I hope between the slimmer bracing style and nicer wood that I get a good sound. My daily player guitar is a bubinga dreadnought I made a few years ago, and the tone the Bubinga has is nice and resonant.

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not to be contradictory but I'm not sure about that "sound pump" concept making a difference anymore. I used to believe it but now think maybe it's not important at all, since for one the guitar's back must be dampened by a player's body. Resonance and vibration seem to play more important roles (?), but I'm just speculating and I could be wrong.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Not much is nicer than a nice piece of straight grained clear doug fir.

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

Slightly O.T. but, I've been remodelling our 40 year old house and almost all of the framing is doug fir. the nicest 2x4's I've ever seen, and they ring like a bell. I've been wanting to use some for a guitar but haven't.....yet.

Good luck.

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Horton, MI

Hey Nick,
I play lap steel, with the soundhole facing me,
and when I move my leg to the tail,
makes a huge difference.
Some day I'd like to make a box with a stiff back,
and check that out,
but for now......

If you play sitting down, it is possible to prevent damping the back by placing the guitar out on the knee. It is standard technique for classical guitar players.
I have used both Doug fir and hemlock for back bracing. They work fine.

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John

...and fingerpickers of SS guitars when they are not "couching".
Matter of fact, anything works. I use spruce/hardwood (lately Wenge)/spruce. It's all a matter of size...thickness/height/X-section.
Larsons even used metal laminated bracing. Mario and a few others use CF lam.
This stuff is not as mystical as some make it out to be...you just have to figure out what you want and then figure out how to use it.
That's all....

Thanks again for the good ideas. I have almost always used Douglas Fir for my braces, mainly because I can get a piece that's big enough to brace 10 guitars out of for about $5 from the store I get my wood from. I figured I would ask just in case I was missing the boat and unknowingly robbing my guitars of tone. I did a pseudo-scientific flex test with the fir and it seems to hold up just as good as the Spruce, and maybe even a bit stronger. I wish I could find a place that would sell Sitka by the board foot so I wouldn't have to keep getting suckered into spending $5 per top to buy a stew-mac or grizzly blank. If I could get Sitka like I get Fir, I would do the whole darn thing like that. lol I haven't worked up the testicular fortitude to try them out on a soundboard yet, but for the price I get Fir for, I just may try it soon.

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