With a break like this with plenty of surface area, I would just glue it without any additional supports. My glue of choice is hot hide glue, but there will be lots of opinions on that and many option…
I think that's a good move. One thing I might do to kick things of is to hit the area with some ultra thin master glue so it wicks under the area and prevents more chipping from potentially delaminate…
Hi guys, I finally managed to sort the problem out. Seens like was a simple issue that I cant see in that moment. I took the whole bridge apart and did a complete setup from scratch. I read somewhere…
This is precisely why Leo Fender developed the insideless guitar. A compromised neck block is super hard to come back from and when I see something like this, it leads me to believe that it's the tip…
Chris, can I add this for the council of elders show ? Also, we are going to have @member on pretty soon to talk about a job about this dramastic. Here's a link to the live show co…
I am just a hobbyist so anything I told would be just a guess, but Beau Hannum has a video on just that subject on his YouTube channel. So does Red Tree Collective
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Hi Gerry. On a personal note, I don't suppose you're the same Gerry Gentry who attended Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville in the early 1980s, are you? If so, I did too, but we didn't know each other well.
As for your question, you may have already made your decisions and moved on with your build by now, but I'll go ahead and reply anyway.
I finished that same SM 000 kit last fall, and it turned out fantastic...one of my favorite guitars I've built (I've just built five...two kits and three from scratch). It has a very loud, balanced sound, and is very playable. FYI, my kit was Pau Ferro B&S, and a torrified Sitka Spruce top, and I did a French polish (Royal Lac) finish. So, I don't know how all of that is different from yours, and how it all affects the sound. But in answer to your question, I just followed the SM instructions pretty exactly...I didn't carve the braces in any way, other than to lower the ends, as instructed, in order to notch them into the sides. (And BTW, I notched them all the way through the sides, as in the instructions, not just through the linings to meet the sides, but I did cut a couple of notches a little low, so I had to hide my mistake when the binding didn't quite cover the notches in a couple of places...so be careful with that...lesson learned).
Anyway, that's my experience...bottom line being that the guitar turned out great, without any special additional carving to the back braces...but, again, my particular woods, and my finish, may be part of how well it turned out.
Best of luck!
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There's nothing "wrong" with what you have pictured but it lacks some finesse. There are soooo many variables in play to worry about for a first build. If you want to practice some skills in this step, I would concentrate on working on some finessing to the shape of the two larger 3/4" braces to make a school bus shaped top. There are varying opinions on the scallop of the ends of bracing. If you have a favorite builder I would look up what they do and try and replicate it. I would recommend Bruce Sexauers work. He uses a ladder braced back and was quite prolific in journaling on Acoustic Guitar Forum and Martin Guitar Forum. Just Google "Bruce Sexauer back bracing" and you should find some images to reference. Good luck with the build.
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Thanks Anthony. I like the finessing method at this stage of my learning curve. I've had to re-set my attention to the tiniest of details. The smallest little gap or misalignment shows up.
I've used an IBEX plane to do some shaping and thinning on the back braces and will probably hold it there but I will definitely reasearch Bruce Sexauers' work.
Regards,
Gerry
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I don't build Martin style guitars as a rule so this is ignorable but per Trevor Gore, the strongest/lightest brace is tent shaped, flat sides and pointy at the top. So you could take a lot of meat out of those top two braces where they are rounded over.
Is that traditional how thick those bottom two braces are?
Depends on whether you are building a live back (perhaps woodier) or a dead back (perhaps louder and more powerful) instrument though. If the latter, it doesn't really matter a whole lot.
And of course, if your intention is just to build a Martin copy, you could just look at a Martin and see what they are doing.
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Thanks for the insight Paul. For this one I'm just going to follow along with what I've been provided (I think) by Stewmac and see what comes of it. I am doing some refinements on the build when I think my skill set allows. Not intending to build a Martin copy but I think the Stewmac parts are closely patterned after Martin.
I'm not a fan of hard angles and hard edges so I'm doing lots of smoothing and a little bit of re-shaping on the back braces, at least on the first pass that I finished this morning. I did taper the ends down to about 2mm and will notch them into the sides.
Regards,
Gerry
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I'm planning to notch them into the sides.
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Those look like they are already scalloped, so you probably don't need to do more.
Are you planning on notching the braces into the sides/lining, or stopping them short? Notching is more work, but if done precisely will help you keep everything nicely aligned as you glue up the back. If you elect to notch, let me know and I'll spell out the technique for you if you'd like.
If you are stopping them short, 1.5 to 2 mm is fine.