Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi

Anybody got any neat tricks for making a great joint where the x brace crosses over.

Mark mine with pencil then carefully cut the notch .Mine are ok but could be better.
There must be a better way

Cheers

I cut them slightly undersized with the table saw then clean up with a XActo blade and chisel for a tight fit. Takes longer to talk about then it does to do it.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Tablesaw, set your angle, sneak up on your cut perfect every time.

I Mark with a pencil, cut slightly undersized with a razor saw. Then I final fit with a file for width and a chisel for depth.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I made a little miter box for a razor saw. I mark the depth of cut and then chisel out the notch at the bottom and it is a press fit.

Yeah I like to get that joint nice and tight -- I use a razor saw and this tool:

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/Xb ... guide.html

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

linen patch .... white glue .... multitude of sins ....

I have a router jig that allows me to rout the notches at the angle I want. For 1/4" braces I would use a 1/4" bit and thickness the braces to a couple of thousands over. I then sand the notch area with a wood block until I get a squeak fit.

Got the jig idea from Charlie Hoffman.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

You could do what most manufacturers do. Don't worry about it and cover up the mess with some cloth and glue.

Sorry, not helpful.


One trick:
what ever you use to cut the notch, it's easier to take thin plane shavings off the side of the brace than adjust the notch size. Yes I know some will protest it could throw your chladni patterns way out of wack. Just don't tell them you do it that way.

Oops, Mr. Kennedy already mentioned it.

Spell check suggests chlamydia is what I'm looking for when I write Chladni. Fun with algorithms!

Chlamydia is actually mentioned in the now out of print book- Safe Sex With Your Guitar

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Same here, but I don't even use a jig. This is how I've been doing it since Guitar #1. I got the idea from Lance.

Similar to others. I cut just inside line with hand saw then refine with a chisel and file. Usually takes just a few minutes.

If I were building a bunch and/or had an extra laminate trimmer that didn't stay set up for other things I'd probably do it like James and Terence.
As is, it would take me longer to pull a router from a jig and set it up than doing it by hand.

Sorry, nothing us for to add here. I'd just like to quote this.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

I struggled with this at first as well. The solution I came up with was to use my table saw with a dado set to cut the notches and then to use my thickness sander to gradually reduce the width of the braces until the notches fit together perfectly.

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George :-)

Same as George, but the braces are batch sanded to .254, then dadoed at just over .250, braces are very tight.

I just follow the marking and cutting procedure outlined in the Cumpiano book. Works great every time. I have moved beyond that book in many ways, but I still like the sequence the book outlines for bracing.

I use this one.

One is seldom a problem. With a few, things can get interesting...

Done with a table router fixture to get the angle and an indexing pin to get the spacing, all 12 sticks together. The bit is sized to the brace width. Rout to a hair over half way depth. Turn half the sticks over and slot them into the other half of the sticks.

Can be done on a table saw using a very similar fixture, but getting the right kerf width for your selected brace width is more problematical (and typically more expensive). X-bracing can be done exactly the same way. Just stop after one cut, as per Terence above.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Trevor, I know you are very knowledgeable, but I don't get this bracing scheme... seems like the top wouldn't be able to move at all... ...nice jointing BTW.

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

It's similar to the system used on Smallman type classical guitars - a very thin top with a light-weight lattice to support it. I used that system in this instance because the owner wanted a loud koa guitar and the only way to get near was to make a top with the same mass and stiffness as a spruce top. Because koa is quite a lot denser than spruce the only way to get the mass down is to go thin, then the bracing follows to get the strength and stiffness back whilst keeping the overall mass low. It worked very well. More info in this OLF thread here.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

yep ... two Freud diablos, plus a Forrest blade stiffener and then Lee Valley dado shims (the really tough but thin plastic ones, in 5 thou increments) to get the sizing right (my X braces are all .280 or so) - test on scrap .. set your mitre gauge to the desired angle and blade height to a touch over half way ... cut away ... once you know the correct dado spacers needed, cutting the notch takes about 2 minutes including setup/blade change ....

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Single edge razor blade squeezed into the brace to cut the sides of the notch, the a narrow chisel to cut the bottom of the notch.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I tried a couple of ways; for me the table saw method works best. There's a nice video tutorial here, thanks to Chris Paulick:

viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=23633

As Chris mentions in the comments below the video, you can nibble with a saw blade rather than use a dado set, and that's what I do. Doesn't take long, though you have to smooth the bottom of the slots a little bit.

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

Pre-dado system. Dado better.

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=45045&p=595810&hilit=Stick+with+lump#p595810