Official Luthiers Forum!

I see in piano and harp building it is common to dry the soundboard in a hot box before attaching the braces. You can also see Jonny Kinkead possibly doing something similar in the build series linked below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAV9U3WzzP8
Dan's Acoustic Guitar Build Part 1/5 With Master Luthier Jonny Kinkead

Does anyone building here have an intentional heated drying session before gluing the braces?

Thanks,

Chuck

Hard to find with no reference in your post to specific time /part - ?/5 no.
I bake my tops (and bracing) in a hot box (95-100 deg C 1.5 hrs) and leave them to re-acclimatize them before jointing the top and bracing it to pre-shrink and condition them (quite a common practice - taylor etc.), but would hesitate to heat the soundboard in a hot box before bracing because of the glue joint.
I've heard Martin used to keep their tops in a warm area (attic?) before bracing if that helps.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thanks.

Kinkead video part 1 of 5 around 12:02.

In a drying cabinet he says, looks like he's using a domestic a domestic air conditioner, maybe to feed dry air (which will be warm) into the drying cabinet.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I have used an oven before but if you keep your wood in your controlled shop you should not have an issue with it imho.

I bake all my tops just to get put them through the first cycle of shrinkage and let them acclimate before gluing on the braces. A world-class classical builder I know dries his tops to 3% and glues his braces with the tops still at 3%. When they acclimate to his shop humidity, they expand, forcing a dome.

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

Pat, does he brace the top in a flat condition? Interesting.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Jim,

Couldn't tell you. If I get a chance, I'll ask him next time I see him.

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

Thanks!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Thanks all.

Bracing in extremely low RH has been done by piano manufacturers, violin makers, mando makers and guitar makers. It's another approach to producing instruments that can withstand RH swings to a greater degree, hopefully. We think it's helpful but it's not anything new it's been done for a very long time and likely was done before we had machines to manipulate our environments by batching work and jobs for seasonal opportunities when the RH is right.