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This will no doubt be a NSS moment for most of you, but to me, it is interesting.

I make a number of models based off of America’s favourite brand.

I have separate templates and brace layouts for five of their models. Some taken from plans, some taken off real life instruments.

I have always wondered how they compared to each other.

So I laid out the plans one over the other based on soundhole center location, and, with a few minor variations that could be put down to various elements, the patterns are a match.

The paper with dotted lines is my OM layout.


Here is a 14 fret 00 overlayed…







And a 000



And a 12 fret 00



Not pictured cause I didn’t take a picture, but a 12 fret dread also follows the same trend.

It seems that more or less the pattern is a universal one that fits all models. It seems reasonable to assume that minor variances can be put down to who made the drawing, or who was working that day and if they had beers at lunch like we definitely never did at the Portuguese Club on payday Friday’s.

Things that make you go hmm…

I think I remember some American Lutherie articles about Charles Fox that described how he went through a similar process of comparing just how different his various models really were. This resulted in his streamlining brace stock sizes and block sizes to be the same across several models.

The fact that all of the bracing patterns you overlaid show the same placement of the lower legs of the X brace over the ends of the bridge drives home the importance of that feature. When I draw a bracing pattern from scratch, I always make sure this happens.

Thanks for the interesting comparison!

Interesting, I never thought to compare the brace placement between different models although over the years I have pretty much standardized my brace stock and block sizes.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

It makes sense in a production shop: you can cut all the stock to the same sizes and reduce inventory.

That is indeed interesting, though when I think about it, I guess not surprising.

I have been using smaller soundholes and moving them a bit north. So, I lay out my bracing starting with the X catching the front corners of the bridge foortprint and a splay angle that looks right for the body width. Everything else is filled in from there. I do 12 and 14 fret necks on the same body length so my 12 fretters have the saddle further south. It would be interesting to lay the plans I have drawn up on top of each other and see how closely they match.

I'm interested in hearing how every one else has laid out their bracing patterns if not using a plan or measurements from existing guitars. And, how that ends up comparing to more standardized approaches.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Also worth noting, but not in this drawing, is that the bridge footprint compared to soundhole center/x joint only moved about 1/8” towards the tail on 12 fret models. I’ll post a pic later…

Assuming we are talking about 12 fret models that have a longer upper bout, it makes sense that there would be little variation in saddle placement from the soundhole center. I'm actually surprised that the difference isn't smaller (similar to the other variations you noted). I would expect that a, say, 12 fret OOO would have the same bridge location as a 14 fret OOO if measured from the tail; the 12th fret would be in the same location just less upper bout under one of the fretboards. I suppose "short scale" and "long scale" are a factor here as well.

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Yes, it is interesting to focus on the body shape differences between what folks consider a normal 14 fret body steel string versus a normal 12 fret body steel string. It probably consists of less scooching of the bridge location than some might realize; it is more about changes in the shape of the upper bout. A 12 fret, slope shoulder Martin dread has a lot more upper bout than a 14 fret flat shoulder dread. Maybe that is a "Captain Obvious" statement, but it is useful for me to think about it in that way.

Here’s the slope D…



And the dotted line is where the 12 fret bridges line up…