Forums

To brace or not to brace

Posted by Jon on May 7, 2020 at 2:25pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

i’m in the process of making a box out of maple and walnut. It’s about 16“ x 10“ by about 3 inches deep. I made the top and bottom out of maple; two pieces glued together in the center. They’re about 3 to 4 mm thick. I’m going to use a through neck on it. The thing I’m debating is whether I should brace the top and back at all.I don’t know if that’ll help the sound or not. I’ve looked up a lot of information about bracing on acoustic guitars and the patterns they use, etc. But the one major difference is they don’t have a through neck to take all the tension away. So I’m not sure if there’s really even any benefit to bracing the top and back with the through neck. That’s what I’m looking for opinions on. Did any of you ever build your own large sized box and use a through neck? If you did, did you brace it or not? 

looking forward to hearing your ideas. I’m really psyched about building this thing and I’m not at all worried about the time or effort to put in the bracing. I’d love to try it. But I just don’t know if it’s gonna make it sound any better or not. Will it sound better without the bracing or with it? Anyway that’s what I’m trying to figure out. Thanks

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • Taffy Evans June 28, 2020 at 12:02am

    Hi Jon, that turned out real nice, well done.
    Taff

  • Jon June 27, 2020 at 12:20pm

    This thing is a monster but it sounds good and was really fun to make :-)

    • Rough Cut Guitars > Jon June 27, 2020 at 2:51pm

      Good for you Jon! Looks gorgeous! Anxious to hear it.

  • Jon June 25, 2020 at 4:14pm

    Thanks Tom, checked out your site. You do some nice work!

  • Jon June 25, 2020 at 4:06pm

    Thanks Brian6324759268?profile=RESIZE_710x

  • BrianQ. June 25, 2020 at 1:28pm

    I’ve always done it using this simple method, never had any problems, You can also click HTML Editor right before you post?

    6318545461?profile=RESIZE_710x

  • Jon June 25, 2020 at 1:20pm

    Thank you:) Any advice on how to make the pictures show up right in the post instead of having to click a little attachment to see them? I did it before but I can’t remember how :-)

  • BrianQ. June 25, 2020 at 1:16pm

    6318260083?profile=RESIZE_710x

  • Jon June 25, 2020 at 1:07pm

    8B5CE741-C355-4E4F-A843-9A4F9454432F.jpeg

    CBCA82B1-E617-40CD-B0DA-945D1FDC1549.jpeg

  • Rough Cut Guitars June 4, 2020 at 4:53pm

    Hey Jon, Late to the party, but I thin all of my tops - even paper ones - and brace 'em. You're right that the thru-neck takes a lot of the tension, but remember that there are anywhere from 50 to 70 lbs of string pressure pressing down and a good amount of it on the saddle. Check out the demos on my Youtube channel (Rough Cut Guitars) from 2016 on - they're all braced compare to those before - definitely makes a difference in projection. You might also be interested in a 2-part post on my first mortise and tenon neck join. First part is up on this forum and the second one coming soon.

This reply was deleted.