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I am building a LMI dread kit. The bracing materials included in the kit are not what I expected. I am not complaining, but I do have a couple of questions. The plans show two tall, or "parabolic-ish" braces for the back's upper bout (3/8" x 5/8"). No problem. There is plenty of material there to radius them to fit the 15' radius back. The two braces in the lower bout concern me. The plan shows two flat braces (each 3/4" x 1/4") and includes a note "See optional profile above," referring to the tall braces in the upper bout. If I radius the 3/4" x 1/4" braces, they will be so thin that they will not offer much to the rigidity of the back. LMI sent enough spruce to easily make two more of the 3/8" x 5/8" arched braces to use in place of the 3/4" x 1/4" braces. Any suggestions?

Also, the finger braces for the front are not parabolic-ish. After I match up all of the braces that came with the kit, the only braces left to be finger braces are rectangular with a rounded top. Should I try reshaping them to follow the same basic shape as the X - bracing (although smaller)?

Thanks for the help.

Don't worry about the low flat back braces they will work just fine, in fact, I prefer them on my dred builds. The finger braces most always need to be final shaped. Got any pics?

I'm using low flat lower braces in all of my builds these days. I 'tune' the resonant modes of the back and top using Chladni patterns before gluing them to the rim. I found I was taking a lot of wood off the lower back braces to get them to work the way I wanted, and they were looking pretty puny, so I widened them. Voila: Martin bracing!