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Hi All,

I've got a chance to pick up a couple of inexpensive brace billets, but they are only 16" long. I don't have a set of dread plans here. Will these be long enough to handle the X brace on a standard braced and/or forward shifted braced dread? If not, what's the minimum length I need?

Thanks

Depends on grain orientation. Are they perfectly quartered, with no runout? Have they been split into those dimensions already?
And are they cheap? I get a lot of scrap from my brace stock, when splitting them by hand, so much so that I only buy scrap spruce that looks good at my local lumberyard (they sell scrap blocks, etc.)

Yep, they are pretty much perfectly quartered, not all but most. Runout doesn't appear to be a problem either. Only issue is max length is 16" as they are already cut, so I need to know if the length will work. I seem to recall X-braces need to be 18" minimum on a dread (to allow for some overlap on the rim), but I don't have a way to confirm.

Yep. Just checked the Antes plan that I have - requires just over 17 inches in length - 18 for comfort. Not long enough. Still, if you're building more than one guitar and it's nice brace stock, I'd pick it up anyway at the right proce.

Yep. Just checked the Antes plan that I have - requires just over 17 inches in length - 18 for comfort. Not long enough. Still, if you're building more than one guitar and it's nice brace stock, I'd pick it up anyway at the right price.

You could always use it for the shorter braces instead of cutting up your longer stock.

Thanks Guys. I appreciate your checking the plan for me.