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Me three. I like gluing them on square (rectangular) and carving them after gluing on, mostly using the little finger planes.

I use them as well. Having built 3 F5 mandolins, they are among my favorite tools. So I'm installing them square shaping with finger planes and chisels.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I do both, some before, some after gluing. For steel strings, I shape them after gluing. On my classicals, I shape very low bracing in a fixture, where the brace stock sits in a small rebate on the edge of a piece of 3/4" pine or fir, with mall pins at either end to keep the brace from sliding. Then, when I glue the brace on, I don' t have to do as much fiddling on a 2mm tall brace while trying to protect the top. Some of these low braces depend on pre-stressing in a dish (as opposed to depending on the stiffness) to get the desired dome. I use a small squirrel-tail plane with a very sharp blade and a fine set to the iron.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com