Small body acoustic - bracing.

[Bob_H]

Morning

I am wanting to build a small body acoustic, primarily for unamplified use. As an old fellow with a bad back, I find the small bodied guitars much easier to handle.

I built a Martin Style 5 type guitar, based on the Scott Antes plans, that I am pretty happy with, as long as I use G to G tuning. I would like something with more neck, eg joining at 15th fret similar to Maton Mini, which would be happier with E to E tuning, and am starting to draw up plans based around the Maton Mini dimensions. I note that this is a pretty old idea and plenty of builders here have covered this territory in the past.

I am pretty comfortable with most of the design elements but remain puzzled about bracing. I understand that Maton use a double x bracing pattern on their mini's but I also understand that the unamplified performance is underwhelming. Would I be better off using the Antes bracing pattern (a single x with long and short fingers)? Any suggestions welcome.

[lamanoditrento]

My instinct is that a sparse lattice or double x are going to be over braced for a small body. Also the more frets to the body, the more neckward the bridge location is going and less efficient the sound board. If you want a 15 fret, you might also be consider moving the soundhole north and also possibly the waist. You may end up with something looking a bit like a mini grand symphony...

[yakka]

12 FRETS TO BODY, CUTAWAY IF YOU WANT TO PLAY HIGHER ON THE FRET BOARD AND DO NOT LET THE X BRACES INTO THE SIDES IN THE LOWER BOUT BUT FINISH THEM SHORT OF THE KERFING, THIS MENTIONED 2 TIMES IN GORE GILET BOOKS AND ALSO SEEN ON THEIR X BRACE PLAN FOR J 45

[Bob_H]

My instinct is that a sparse lattice or double x are going to be over braced for a small body. Also the more frets to the body, the more neckward the bridge location is going and less efficient the sound board. If you want a 15 fret, you might also be consider moving the soundhole north and also possibly the waist. You may end up with something looking a bit like a mini grand symphony...

I was worried about over bracing contributing to less lively sound. I might look at a few more parlour sized guitar plans (OOO and the like with 24" + scale lengths) for some ideas for longer scale lengths and small body sizes