Can you assess this?

[tippie53]

I am with RD on this on bracing. I found that often the overly symmetrical braces tend to limit things . while I can not say this for certain , I feel that in nature randomness seems to be more the rule but Humans want to imply symmetry. A guitar , should take the energy of the strings and make convert this to different wavelengths so we can create notes.
As Rick points out , the braces are there not just to support a top but to help the top vibrate and distribute that energy. If you make the braces symmetrical you tend to lock into certain wavelengths and stop some of the randomness. I tried a few tops and found them to be less pleasing to me and went back to the basic X braces . It is a system that works well .
My 2cents

[kencierp]

I believe that Batson guitars have an arched top style bridge with a tail piece -- if memory serves some reviewers state they (Batson's) are not as loud at convectional steel string flat top guitars and sound more like an "F" hole jazz guitar. The entire design is a little far out there. I have yet to take an "inside" look at a Lowden --- but you can be sure I'll be doing some reverse engineering (copying!) Those I've heard, to me just seem to have it all. They also have pin-less bridges. Variables -- what's a guitar maker to do?

[deadedith]

John - what is the 'wierdest' top bracing you've tried and had some success with?

[deadedith]

Careful what you wish for, Kencierp :-)
Lowden Jumbo with - get this - AXx bracing

[kencierp]

No bridge plate -- pin-less bridge -- get some dims and get'er going -- but make sure you look inside an actual instrument for yourself -- first!

[deadedith]

I would have to purchase an extra tree just for the bracing. :-)

[deadedith]

Lowden 'dolphin' bracing.

[kencierp]

Just a note about Lowden's -- if you feel compelled to play or listen to one of these be aware that at some point there were and maybe still is a line of factory made "Lowden" guitars -- obviously these are not the same as the one's coming out of George Lowden's shop. BTW, one of the course corrections Gibson made when they abandoned the J200 double X was to use tall 1/4" bracing not unlike the Dolphin Lowden above.

[deadedith]

I was wondering if that was 1/4" bracing, thanks.
Lowden's interweb page is very interesting - very traditional, he depends more on skilled craftsmen and hand tools than any other 'production' outfit I know about. And they hand rub their satin finishes.
That top a-bracing looks like a painful process, though. :-)

[Darryl Young]

I've not compared one vs. two tone bars. A few years ago, I started using one finger brace on the bass side of my 000's and the usual two on the treble. My thought was that might give a little more bass and probably wouldn't hurt. I liked the results of the first three or four, so have continued to use that asymmetric design. Whether it really helps or not is anyone's guess. But there's a lot of real estate below the bridge on a 12-fret 000 so I continue to use two tone bars, though frequently pared down to little more than twigs.

As far as little guitars go, I'd say that either a couple of really dinky finger braces or just one. On my Parlor (0 size), I use one finger on each side and one tone bar. My thinking would go something like this: there's not much room for cracks and such on the sides of a 00 so one finger would probably be fine. If the wood had good cross-grain stiffness, I might go with one tone bar. If it was a bit floppy (thin or just soft spruce) or if headroom (volume) was important to the player, I'd go with two -- and shave them 'way down if it seemed too tight.

I too think that finger braces can easily be overdone. The area near the rim and especially near the waist is inheritantly stiff due to the proximity of the side and lining. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me to add a lot of additional stiffness to this area. Also, I want to scoop the finger braces fairly low where they join the X brace......don't want too add to much localized stiffness is my thought.

I don't know what to speculate about 1 tone bar vs 2. At any rate, the lower tone bar can be less stiff than the upper.......and likely shorter as well. I made my lower tone bar on my 000 less tall and reduced the height of the lower peak significantly compared to the upper tone bar. On the next build, I'll probably try eliminating the lower peak of the bottom tone bar altogether.

RD, where you use 1 finger brace, do you leave it at the same angle or angle it more where it covers more of the area covered by 2 finger braces?