Holy Braces Batman!!

I got a lot done today. I now have almost all of the braces glued in. The only ones missing are the three little ones around the sound hole. These three little guys a called the "sound hole braces" although nobody can tell me why. Anyway, I still have to measure and cut those, but the rest of the braces are in. I even started shaping some. Shaping the braces is what gives the guitar its sound. It balances the treble, mid-range and bass. How? Hell if I know. It has something to do with the shape of the braces. I did a lot of reading on the shape of the braces. I could have gone with any number of shapes, but I chose a scalloped brace pattern. The early guitars made by the C.F. Martin Company have scalloped braces and they sound pretty damn good. The people at Martin know a little more than I about building guitars, so I will follow their lead. Ken Cierpilowski at Kenneth Michael Guitars has drawn a scalloped pattern onto the braces supplied with my kit. I am using those lines as a guideline. Ken told me to do what I like with the braces, keeping in mind they need to support the top. So I followed close to his lines but changed a few things here and there with the shape of the braces. Nothing major. A slightly higher peak on one brace, and a slightly different taper into the valleys and the end of the braces. Mostly because I liked how my way looked vs. the pencil lines Ken had. Nothing personal Ken.



Here I have started to shape the bass braces. They are also called the lower face braces.












Here is a closer shot of my rough shaping work. Trust me, they get better!! I am saving the shavings so I can make it look like I did more carving than actually took place. Plus it makes me feel like I really did something when there is a big pile of shavings.I know...I have issues. Really though, I did not save them.

WARNING:ACTION SHOT!!!

Here I am shaping the braces with a small block plane. I took this myself. Nice camera work, eh?
I would have asked my wife to take some action shots, but she was busy taking care of our child. Evidently, you need to feed them even if you are shaping braces. I on the other hand, skipped a meal. I am clearly more manly than my two year old. Plus, I can really afford to skip a few meals if you know what I mean.







Here is a close up of the braces after sanding the lower face braces. I also roughed out the scallops on the X-brace. That will look nicer in a day or two as well.
As you can see, its really beginning to look like something. I don't know what, but something!
OK...it looks like a part of a guitar that most people never see. Really it does!
The shape of the small braces that but into the X-brace is different than suggested by Ken. Not intentionally, I just shaped them from memory instead of looking at the picture first. I have been slowly making them closer to a traditional shape.
The more weight on the sound board, the more you deaden the sound since it can not vibrate as easily. Thus, you must reduce the size of the braces as much as possible without compromising the strength of the board to the point that it collapses when you string up the guitar. I am leaving my braces on the heavy side, but still lighter than most any factory produced guitar. At least that is what I am telling myself. I am going to send Ken a picture of the carved braces when I get closer to what I will call their final shape and ask his opinion. I will then ask anyone who will look at them and has any guitar building experience. Then I will take all of that input, get totally confused, drink half a bottle of Grey Goose and cry like a baby in the fetal position for several hours. After that, I may take peyote and ask my "Spirit Guide" to help me shape the braces to perfection. See the picture of my "Spirit Guide."
OK...its Native American Barbie, but I couldn't find any good pictures of Native Americans that were public domain. I really did not look that hard. I am just as good at finding peyote by the way. I also think a Spirit Guide might be an animal, not a Barbie doll. Whatever. I just need to carve these braces correctly.