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You steel string guys, out there on the edge ...

In the world I'm used to (classical and flamenco), where weight can be everything, UTB's sometimes get higher towards the side, not tapered down.

At any rate OP was concerned about the taper overlapping the fretboard edge. My suggestion (if it had been correctly worded originally) would be to eliminate the concern by eliminating the taper.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I put two pairs of CF buttress rods from the top of the neck block to the waist of my cutaways a la Rick Turner. One set runs parallel to the soundboard and the others are angled down to meet the waist near the back of the instrument. These all but negate the need for the UTB - I still put a small horizontal UTB in, although I'm not sure it's needed. Yes, on the cutaway side, they almost touch the sidewall of the instrument.

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Here's a good picture from Jim Olson's website showing what he does (I do the same thing).

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But I think the problem here is not the shortened brace above the UTB (the popsicle stick replacement) but the fact that the cutaway is so deep that it takes out the UTB, which is complete in the picture here.

I have to say that I really like the really deep florentine cutaways - I have a picture on my shop wall of one of Ervin Somogyi's guitars, which to me are the best looking cutaways. I'd like to give one a try - if I ever find the time to build a steel string again.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu