Official Luthiers Forum!

Been thinking it might knock a few minutes off the job.

The instructions say to leave braces a 1/4" high, which seems very wasteful, both in materials and the time required to make a second cut getting the height trimmed.

Anybody rocking said device?

The Luthier Tools thingamajig? I have one. I don't leave them that proud. The top of my brace is just proud of the jig in the center. I don't want to shave that much down, but more importantly, I want my X-brace joint perfectly centered in each arm.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes. It works great. Probably one of the biggest time savers I've invested in my shop. Just put the brace in the jig and rip it on the table saw. boom. done. next brace. boom. done. etc...

Link:
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com/products/p6.html

I use one and do it the same as Gil.
Press the brace in and with my table saw set up, I just rip the excess off.

_________________
Support the OLF! Bookmark our STEWMAC link Today!
Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Ok, I'll bite...

I also use the brace maker from Luther supplies, the sponsor here. It works excellent.

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I have one and it works. But then I always hit the gluing surface with a sharp block plane, I made a little jig (shooting board) and its just as fast and more fun to shape them with the block plane

And if you build traditional Martin style guitars the shooting board will handle the 3/4 back braces easily.

Plane or jointer will be my preference...

I think this is original DIY brace contour gadget

http://liutaiomottola.com/Tools/BraceArchJig.htm

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Sorry, Luthier Suppliers. I got the name wrong. Blame it on Chipotle.

A little something for those of you with OCD (or worse, CDO where the letters are in alphabetical order). When you bend a batten around 3 points you don't get a consistent curve - it has flat spots near the end. Here is how to easily solve this and the article mentioned has the proper offsets for common radii:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 172644427/

As usual with Flickr, hold your mouse on the text below the title and you will see any description that is there. Then click on any picture to start the sequence from that point.

Ed

Ive never had problems with the arc being flat at the edges of the bracemaker jig. It's usually right on, or if slightly off I just give it a few strokes on the radius dish with sandpaper.

Well for better or worse I pulled the trigger. We'll see what the results are...

Thanks for all the good comments! You are forgiven James, I love Chipotle too! After selling these jigs since 2005, I've only had a few complaints. The original jig was designed by Dana Bourgeois, and John Mayes modified it, then we worked with John to modify it even more. Hope you enjoy it!
Tracy

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Me too! If it even takes off ten minutes, it's worth it...

Here's my brace maker:


And the accompanying blog entry: http://glennaycockwoodworking.blogspot. ... pound.html

I just clamp my brace over the edge of an exactly radiused piece of plywood and then use a pattern router bit against the plywood to rout of the overhanging brace material which puts the exact radius on the bottom of the brace.

I did that for a while, in fact spent a great deal of time making router table brace shaping jigs, but I got too much chatter on the bottom of the braces.

Well well, works a treat! This is one of those things that I obviously should have had yeas ago!