Wood braces on a guitar top or back plate act in a similar manner to those wood beams that support the floor of your house or roof. We are just working on a much smaller scale. Proportionally though, the bracing for a guitar top plate takes much more stress than that of the home structure. Everything has to be perfectly made and installed to work properly. In addition to that, different kinds of brace wood give you different units of strength. We explore those units in this technical article on guitar brace strength.
Deflection in bracing is similar to the deflection that we experience every day in the floors of our homes and office. You may not be able to see it clearly or feel it, but rest assured, it is there. The about of deflection is the actual amount of bend that your braces will experience as you apply tension on them from the strings. Find out how to minimize this deflection in this article.
Stress Placed On Bracing Source: General Information Brace Strength Analysis: In this article we will be making an analysis of the strength of wood and how it relates to brace dimensions and structural integrity. We will be using some structural engineering formulas to some degree, so it may come a bit confusing, but hang in [...]
Hand Splitting Guitar Braces is an age old art. It involves splitting the wood to eliminate run-out. Learn how to do it in this article. Also find out what tools to use and all the necessary steps required to produce run-out free, great quality brace wood.
Guitar Back with Bracing Source: Guitar Building Articles/The Guitar Back Tools and Materials Required: Go Board Gluing Tool Titebond II or III for Domestic Hardwood 2-Part Epoxy for Exotic Hardwoods 1/2″ Chisel for Glue Cleanup Acetone for Epoxy Cleanup Rubber Gloves for Acetone Respirator for Acetone Cotton Cloth The biggest trick in bracing the Back [...]
If you have been around the acoustic guitar community for very long you have no doubt heard of scalloped bracing. Brace scalloping is usually a topic of lively discussion between luthiers. Some swear by it and some swear at it. Personally I fee that it lends itself to producing a fine-sounding instrument. Brace Scalloping – [...]
Kasha/Schneider Fan Bracing Diagram Source: Guitar Plans The Post Modern Classical Guitar – The Kasha/Schneider Bracing: So for a long time many luthiers stagnated on one of the variations of bracing that existed. Sure they experimented, but usually this meant moving the fan bracing around or trying different patterns based on discoveries of Torres, Ramirez, [...]
Ramirez Fan Bracing Diagram Source: Guitar Plans // Ultimate Guitar OnLine on Facebook The Modern Classical Guitar – The Ramirez Brothers: After Antonio de Torres died in 1892 he had left no pupils or immediate successors in the guitar making business. He did, however make Madrid, Spain the Mecca of classical guitar construction. From the [...]
Torres Fan Bracing Diagram Source: Guitar Plans // Ultimate Guitar OnLine on Facebook The Modern Classical Guitar: While there were many forms of the guitar that preceded his fine work, Spaniard Antonio de Torres is noted for making the most advances on the classical guitar and the results of his work are largely represented in [...]
