Gibson J185 back brace heights--Anyone have the answer?

[Dan Bombliss]

This plan print out states 3/4"x 3/4". I know not to measure plans for dimension. It is typed up right on there, that that is the height/width of those 2 braces. There's no error on my part on this one, which is what fires me up.

[Jim_H]

I did some quick searches over at the OLF re: Antes plans.

One thing I think I've learned is that just about every printed plan you can buy is overbraced as drawn. I guess this is just to get you to a starting point.

Re: the Antes Jumbo specifically, someone posted a thread re: a LMI Jumbo Kit that came with plans, and he asked about the same thing. Unfortunately, no one answered him

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/view ... back+brace

[Dan Bombliss]

The way I had learned to brace and voice involved gluing square blocks of braces on, already finished out to the desired width. And then shaping them, and tapping on the plate to see how it responds to the adjustments, and flexing it to see how it feels. And then repeat until satisfied. With 2 braces oversized in width, not alot I can do there.

Like I said it will work, and I know it will work because dreads with similar bracing work. I can go a little taller than those if I need, if I feel it's not stable enough, but it will be ok.

[Jim_H]

I agree, you'll be fine.

As someone suggested, you can easily replace those braces. You could either plane them off or heat them off (just be careful not to heat the back seam and open it up). It's an opportunity to learn a repair process before getting too far in, and you won't have to worry about regretting it later.