Notches in rims for brace ends

[Jon Snider]

I’m getting ready to attach the backs to the rims. I’ve seen two ways to cut the notches in the rims, one which preserves the side material and another where the notch goes all the way across so that the brace end is exposed (until binding is done).

I’ve read that the first way, assuming one leaves the brace end a little short of touching the remaining side material, might limit any wood motion and pushing out the bindings.

Would appreciate any advice

Thanks much

Jon

[Alan Carruth]

Yes; leaving a small gap at the ends does limit the amount the brace ends will push out the binding and the sides. This is a very common problem on old guitars. Admittedly, you won't have to deal with it, no matter how good your warranty is, but still.

[Jon Snider]

Thanks Alan.

[Darrel Friesen]

I feather mine to nothing on the ends similar to some Martins. Probably because I'm lazy, but works well for me and saves notching.

[Alan Carruth]

Top braces below the bridge can probably be feathered out to nothing, but the ones above the bridge are under some download, and I feel they need to be left with some height at the ends, and inlet into the liners.

Gibson used to feather them all down to nothing at the very end, but they had a little height where they went under the liners. They seem to have relied on the brace end to crush the liner a little bit as things got glued up. They used spruce for both the liners and braces, and sometimes the liners were harder, and crushed the brace end instead. This produced a stress riser at that point, and the braces would peel up.

If you do feather the braces down make sure the slope at the end is not too steep, so it concentrates the force.