How to Cut Bracings

Most guitars have bracing inside them.

When building an acoustic guitar, you need to cut and carve spruce bracing to bolster rigidity for the soundboard and back wood of the guitar. Most acoustic guitar braces are manufactured out of spruce billets that measure approximately 20 inches in length, 3/4 inches wide and approximately 2 inches tall.

Things You'll Need

• Spruce billet strips
• Ruler
• Handsaw

Instructions

Classical Acoustic Guitar

1. Place five pieces of spruce across the profiled back wood or top wood and space them evenly apart. Position the strips on their 3/4-inch edge

2. Place a mark at each end of each brace inward approximately 1 inch inward from the sides

3. Mark each brace so you know where it goes when you go to glue them.

4. Cut each brace to size with a handsaw. Use the marks as locators of where to cut.

Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar

1. Position the bracing with one end in the upper, left corner of the profiled back or top and the other end of the bracing in the lower, right corner.

2. Cut a piece of bracing in half with the handsaw and then place the bracing so it intersects with the first piece of bracing to create an X. The cut pieces of bracing must touch the uncut piece of bracing to create a tight, X-shaped bracing.

3. Place a mark at the end of each bracing approximately 1-inch inward from the edges.

4. Place a third bracing across the bracings on the lower half of the X and a fourth piece across the bracings at the upper half of the X. Make the ends of the cross bracing where they touch the X bracing.

5. Mark each piece of bracing so you know where they go and then cut the bracing at each marked location with the handsaw.

References

• “The Luthier’s Acoustic Guitar Making Handbook”; Chris Wynne; 2002