Soundboard Bracing

The top or the soundboard is, from my perspective, the most important part of the guitar. I source all my tops from B.C. in Canada, where I am lucky enough to make an annual trip to. I like being able to go through a large stack of tops and find the ones must suited to what I want to build. I am also always experimenting with different top thickness and bracing patterns.

I am making two OM sized guitars, one with Englemann and one with Sitka spruce. The Englemann I get is more flexible and more elastic feeling than the Sitka, which is stiffer and, to my hand, more brittle feeling. I’ve made the Englemann relatively thin, to make the most of the elasticity of the piece, and braced it with a double X pattern. The Englemanns braces are shaped with a straight taper to try and make the most of the flexibility and elasticity of the top, this is braced more towards overtones and finger style playing. The Sitka is relatively thick and using a similar double X pattern. The braces on the Sitka are shaped in a way similar to the way my friend and mentor Alex Bishop shapes his folk style guitars. Alex’s folk style guitars always have a pleasing rumble to them, while remaining articulate. The Sitka is braced a little more toward fundamental tones.

The Parlor guitar is using a X and fan braced hybrid style. The main X is at a very narrow angle. I have done this to keep the bridge as close as possible to the center of the X brace, as this is the stiffest part of the top and where I want the string pressure to be centered. I like the fan brace idea because it should resist bellying below the bridge. This is the first time I have tried this style and am excited to hear how it sounds.