Official Luthiers Forum!

I read some of the previous posts regarding the proper handling of bracewood and I'm still a little confused. I have been buying Sitka spruce bracewood blanks from LMI and they are almost always very tight grained and perfectly (or very close to it) quartered. Can I just take the blanks to the bandsaw and cut widths to use for my braces or should I be splitting them in some way?

In some of the previous posts that I have read, there is mention of splitting "perpendicular" to the grain. In my head, I see this as trying to split ACROSS the grain, which doesn't make any sense to me. Is there a diagram or picture tutorial somewhere that shows clearly how to properly split a bracewood blank?

Thanks,
Chuck

Here's a helpful article. http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/General ... unout.html

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Jeremy Douglas

Jeremy,
Thanks for the link. That cleared it up for me. I split one of the blanks as shown in the article and it split very evenly so I'm encouraged as to the quality of the stock - at least that one blank.

Chuck

I have bought bracewood from at least 5 different reputable suppliers and have found some with no runout and some with significant runout. I now split everything myself to be sure.

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David White, Toronto

"All my favourite singers can't sing."

I got a piece of Adi bracewood from a company recently that had an appalling amount of run-out. At $8 though, it wasn't worth shipping back. Their sitka, on the other hand, has been very nice. Anyway...I won't be ordering adi bracewood from them again.

Flori did you try contacting the supplier? Don't know if it was me or not but one thing is certain. I would have replaced it without having to ship the other one back.
Every bushel has a few bad apples.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

It wasn't you Bob. No worries! Though I probably will be ordering from you next time.

For anyone else thinking of ordering from Bob, he's been great to me -- especially when UPS decides to destroy nice wood.

I also order split billets . I have seen many martins with flat sawn , runout , everything you would think would not be good , the guitars were stable and great sounding. I agree that splitting is a pain but it will control the runout. If it you got that from me , as with all my products let me know . We want every customer to be happy.
Like Bob said . sometimes things do happen
john
blues creek guitars

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Adi?.....Nope, not me....I don't do Adi!....But as others have said, I am sure that whoever you got it from will want to make it right. If not right away then for sure on your next order if they other goodies you like. Me, I saw all of my bracewood from split billets. as well. So just ensure that your supplier is either sawing from split billets (rather than just quartered blocks or something larger like that) or just get billets and split yourself.

Shane

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Canada

The description on the LMI web site states "At present, we are supplying pieces sawn from billets so that a plane is established for cutting braces". That doesn't say "split" billets so I have to assume that there is a good chance of runout if I simply saw the blank into 3/8" (for example) thick pieces. I'm on a really tight budget so I want to get the most out of the blanks that I can, but I certainly don't want to compromise the quality of the guitar.

Thanks for all of your input.

Chuck

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

The description on the LMI web site states "At present, we are supplying pieces sawn from billets so that a plane is established for cutting braces". That doesn't say "split" billets so I have to assume that there is a good chance of runout if I simply saw the blank into 3/8" (for example) thick pieces. I'm on a really tight budget so I want to get the most out of the blanks that I can, but I certainly don't want to compromise the quality of the guitar.

Thanks for all of your input.

Chuck

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

While were on it, what degree of run out is acceptable?

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Jeremy Douglas

I have been sawing braces from red spruce 2x4's and got some good advice about reading the runout. On the quartered face it is obvious, you want the grain line to be as straight as possible the whole length. On a squared off bracing billet look at the flatsawn side. Usually a few of the top grains run off to the side and show as "cathedrals", or the loping V shaped look of flatsawn wood. Draw a line connecting the points of the v's and that is your "runout" line on that face. By using that line and the grain lines on the quartered face you should be able to have a good visual guide to the growth pattern of the wood. On a really nice bracewoood blank though you will have no flatsawn grain on the side because the top grain is truly straight. Usually this will mean that the side grain is straight also but in this case I split anyway. If the blank is not perfectly quartered then this is the easiest way to tell as you will have an actual grain line on the flatter face and that tells you for sure. These are good tricks but do not replace splitting which is the best way to go. If you find that your blank is very straight from the visual aids it will still split straight also. It is a good trick though to determine how good a blank is before purchasing.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Chuck, you'd make a good detective.