Official Luthiers Forum!

This is for OM, addi bracing.
Could someone please give me the final thickness for:
Macassar Ebony b/s and
Englemann top?
For fingerstyle guit.
Thanks loads,

Without handling the wood, it's anyone's guess.

Many folk go .080 to .100 for backs

.070 to .090 inches for sides

Tops well, somewhere around .110"

A lot of times tops vary up to .015"

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Bruce hit right on!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

You are all wonderful.
Hey Bruce, great to gear from you. The Maccasar I have handled is much the same--stiff, stiff, stiff
Thanks so much,

Do you think that sitka or englemann braces would be more appropriate for the eng. top?

Bob, I'm sure Sitka or Englemann or Cedar or Mahogany braces would all work. However, I'm sold on Adirondack...... for now.

Good luck with your guitar. Don't look back, something may be gaining on you.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Doubling a braces height cubes its strength - or look at it this way - a 1% increase in height is about a 3% increase in strength. Depending on stiffness, your top might go as low as 95-100 - I could never say without flexing it, but I pretty much never go below those numbers for something 000/OM sized. Once its all built, you need to see how stiff it is around the bridge area by pushing down with you thumb, and then possibly thin the edges to loosen it up a bit, but leave the middle stiffer - thats where your highs will come from.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

To me using the species of braces as the top is not an issue. Rather the stiffest braces I get my hands on is what I look for. Braces add to tone via their stiffness, shape and mass

For a long time I always thought that the thinner and lighter the bracing
the better. Theoretically, at least I thought, was the point that the top
would explode if any more wood was removed. So I always strived to
make the bracing lighter and lighter. Over time though, I began to realize
that lighter and thinner has its' limits. Once the bracing and top reach a
certain point, then lighter and thinner will actually degrade the sound of
the instrument. So how do you know how far to take it? I wish I could give
you a definitive answer. I don't think there is one. So much is dependent
on the top wood; its' quarter and stiffness matter so much. The point of
all of this rambling is to be thinking of the top and braces as a unit; not
individually. And more importantly, the optimum point is NOT where any
more wood taken would result in the top exploding. It is somewhere quite
far from that point. The more you build, the better you will get at gauging
that point.

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Sylvan
http://www.wellsguitars.com