Cloth Patch over X-Brace

[Stray Feathers]

John, what do you mean by "fail"? I thought the role of the cloth or wood cap was to add rigidity to the x-joint (along with a tightly-fitted and glued notched joint), but you say the joint is meant to move. I'm a bit confused . . . Bruce W.

[tippie53]

if you make the joint too tight the braces will spring. I allow then to be clean but not too tight for glue. A brace on a guitar to is not a floor joint. Your braces while structural also must let the top move. Just for giggles take a top and brace it tight to loose , you will see where the vibrations are most efficient. The cloth top make the braces contiguous. Figure a few thousandths for the glue to work. Too tight and the glue is scraped out. Too loose and glue is a filler. Find the sweet spot