BYO - the top

crookedpinky

I just checked with the RF Charles Selmer book and it seems that originals had a continuous reinforcing strip joining the two halfs of the top, so they must have cut notches in the transverse braces before gluing them on.

jared

There are always lots of ways to do things, but I would say it makes much more sense to notch out the reinforcing strip if you use one at all. That is certainly the standard practice with lateral back braces so I see no reason to change that for the top. If there is a good, clean glue joint, that glue plus those lateral braces are holding that joint together very tightly. Other than extreme humidity change or some kind of impact, there are few forces in the top trying to spilt it along the grain. The main forces are pushing down on the bridge and the fingerboard pushing down on the top by means of the lever action of the neck. The strength and springiness of the lateral braces is reduced, even if very slightly, by notching. There are already notches for the cross braces under the bridge feet so to weaken the lateral brace further with another notches between those doesn't make sense to me.

Bones

Yeah I agree with Jared that is why I don't notch my lateral braces. The laterals already perform the secondary function of reinforcing the center seam in those locations and it seems structurally WAY superior to not notch them. Conversely, there doesn't seem to be any downside structurally to interrupting the seam reinforcement strip at each brace since those particular areas are already super strong with the lateral brace. Plus notching the lateral braces to fit precisely over the reinforcement strip would be a real PITA and fussy/fiddly but cutting the strips is trivial.

bluemoves

can anyone confirm the thickness of the little rectangle of wood that forms the support behind the rosette/soundhole please? - would it impede resonance significantly if too thick?

crookedpinky

On the subject of notching the transverse braces I just checked my Godefroy Marejoules guitars and there is no reinforcement strip beneath the joint of the two top halfs.

Bones

Sorry for the late reply. I looked on the Charle plans but no dimension on that thickness. I'm guessing pretty thin maybe like .06-.09"??? I have only made D holes so I have not crossed that proverbial bridge yet.

jared

Bones has it right. 2mm or a bit more. It is not a critical sound-influencing component in my view, though of course everything and anything could change the sound at some level. I would be surprised if anyone has made a particular study of the sonic effects of this wee patch. The end of your fingerboard is just on the other side and that is a pretty heavy chunk of wood in comparison, so no need to worry too much about impeding vibrations. Some pickups clip on there (Peche a la Mouche etc) so it doesn't hurt to account for some small future wear and tear at that spot. Also consider that the hardwood fingerboard and softwood top will expand/contract at different rates so it might even provide a little insurance against a split long the end of the fingerboard. Depending on how deep your rosette inlay goes, it may also be a useful reinforcement for that as well.

Bones

Also not sure what the grain direction is but I'm guessing perpendicular or diagonal to the center seam???