Kim - I'll let you know when it's ready. You are always welcome down at Geelong - just give me a call.
The bracing around the top is certainly stronger on this one due to the A brace but the transverse braces themselves are wider and not as tall as the first one. I did the A brace after having another look at Dave White's bracing method.
The first Weiss has been strung up for a week and there's absolutely no deformation in the top at this point, which is a bit disappointing. Not even any pull up in the lower bout. Probably means it's overbraced but it sounds fine to my ears so I'll keep experimenting. I have tucked the lower legs of the X-braces in these two. On the next one I'll leave them untucked and observe and listen to what happens. I also haven't scalloped the braces. (which I'll also do on the next one) I reckon I'll build half a dozen before a get a handle on how they're supposed to be built (and then play/observe for a few years to see if they fall apart
) They are really quick to construct given there is no neck to carve and you don't have to frig around with frets and actions. If I had two go-bar decks I reckon I could knock one up in under a week (no finish though)
Those two Celery tops are from the same family Christian. I'd usually think it'd make a better back and side set than a top. It's just a bit too heavy but since Weissenborn tops were traditionally made from hardwoods I thought it may just work. I know Maton have tried it for tops and were unimpressed (but they were interested in seeing the acoustic I'm planning to build with it.)
Nick - considering the size of these things the soundboard is quite thin. Around 2.4-2.5mm. The oversized/wide bridge plate is to counter the rotational forces of the bridge which is a bit more than a standard acoustic. The strings on my first one sit 17mm from the soundboard. A lot of the early Weissenborns self destructed due to stresses in this area and apparently some of the new Chinese copies have tried to emulate the early designs
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I use that wide bridge plate in all my instruments now so I can light things up in other areas, particularly the lower bout. And the lattice bracing in the lower bout spreads the stiffness evenly across the area, much more so than the standard, diagonal Martin style braces. I'm not saying it's any better - It's just that I'm getting the results that I like to hear from it. I really don't think there is too much wrong with that big bridge plate as it adds some mass and maybe some inertia in the centre of the vibrating plate and allows me to free up around the edges a little more. I've been influenced by Jim Olson and Ervin Somogyi in this respect. And certainly I pinched the lattice idea from Ervin. I like to strengthen everything up in that area from the bridge to the fingerboard (the corridor of uncertainty) so I can go light up on other areas that will make more of a difference i.e. south of the soundhole.
This all makes sense on the Weissenborn as well given the higher action and potentially 15-60 string guages.
Hope that mindless rambling made some sense
Regards
...better make time to do some reading!).