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Hi Folks;
Having broken a cranky Sapeli side trying to bend it into a fairly extreme ventian cutaway, I decided to turn it into a florentine. So... the rim is all glued up & i'm checking out the top bracing pattern against the rim assembly... You know what I'm gonna say next, dontcha? Since the cutaway is quite deep, there's no way to put in a straight upper transverse brace.
I've thought of a few ways to deal with this, but any suggestions will be gratefully accepted.
I could laminate up a brace which will go straight across, touching the heel block extension & then curve away to miss the cutaway section of the side, leaving enough room for linings.
Or... It wouldn't be difficult to lam up a brace which would follow the curve of the cutaway & serve double duty as solid lining & UTB. Does this sound practical?
Or... could I just shape the end of the brace to the cutaway & support it with the kerfed linings???
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
TIA,   Dan

Daniel, I just tilt mine to miss the cutaway. Hopefully I understood your question. Who says it has to go straight across?

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Duh... That might work. I'll go check it out on the pattern. Thanks Bruce.

You just have to tilt your head the right way and it's straight again Bruce

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Hey Dan,

Here is shot of the top I did, it is ventian but the principle should be the same for a florentine. The x braces and the the braces that touch them at the ends are notched into the linings and the others fall short. I actually trimmed the fnger braces to nothing before they reached the linings. I hope this picture will help out a bit!



Shane

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Canada

Good luck Daniel.

Hey, Thanks guys.
Shane, my cutaway is much deeper than yours & the issue is I can't put the utb across straight without it passing through the soundhole area.
I don't use a graft like yours anymore... I use an extension on the top portion of the heel block instead.
For this guit, i will have to trim some of the extension away & put the brace in at an angle. (or something else more creative... Not completely decided yet.)
Thanks for all your input guys!
Regards,   Dan

Daniel, your idea of a solid lining and UTB sounds really good, do you have pics of that extreme cutaway? A 1/2 UTB, fitted snugly between, the linings on the other side and the heel block could maybe do it with a smaller UTB at an angle of your choosing inside the cutaway ? Don't know much here but you seem to have a lot of answers inide your question!

Good luck

When I do cutaways, I dont change the top bracing at all ... what is the need to ???? The strongest part of the guitar top is where the top meets the sides ...so ... just make your bracing plan as is, and trim, scallop and notch the brace and linings where ever they meet, cutaway or not. The UTB is there to take the downward torque of the neck. The shorter it is, the faster it gets to the edges, thus the stronger it is. Larrivee has been doing it this way for decades. I will however tilt the first brace ont he back, because it usually ends up very close to grazing the linings. Here I just avoid that scenario by angling it away inward. You can see this in the brazilian zoot post near the bottom where I show the innards of the back.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks a bunch Tony. I played around with ideas last night & came to pretty much the same conclusion. The trick is to spread the load to the sides... Doesn't matter where the side is.
Serge; thanks for the encouragement & suggestion!

No problem Daniel, whatever you decide to do, i'd like to hear about it, it might serve me too one day, stiil just a newb with an old man status!

Tony; I checked out the Braz Zoot pic. Perfect solution, thanks again. P.S. That is a very cool guitar!

Sweet looking top Shane! Very neat, clean, and "Lance-ish"!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

Yep Danial nailed it. Infact because the span is shorter a lighter Transvers brace can be used. But no big deal if you use your standard. The only thing I would wach out for is that the full fretboard extension is cover with full heigth of the brace you can start your taper after that.MichaelP38826.5713657407

Good point Michael; There's gonna be a very short "scooped" section on the cutaway end of this brace.