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I've just asked an oud luthier to buy a spruce top (I think he will give me a Turkish one) but he has no spruce for braces, and the available braces are the Swedish wood.
RE: Can I use Swedish wood for fan b... (in reply to Ahmed Flamenco)
Ahmed. What you show us is pine. Dont use it. Use spruce. That is important.
A turkish soundboard... I have some of those. They are good, but very stiff and heavy. I normally end up around 2 - 2.1mm thickness. They sound great. A big robust tone. Very traditional flamenco
If you are lucky, you can get enough wood for the braces from the soundboard cut-offs.
And this norwegian wood. It smells strange when you burn it?
RE: Can I use Swedish wood for fan b... (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
The problem that in my country(Egypt) spruce and cedar are not too much because we don't have guitar luthiers but oud luthiers , and most of them use that Swedish pine for the sound board and braces,the few who use spruce or cedar don't use spruce or cedar braces.So making a guitar in these situations is really challenging.
And now if I'm not lucky and the soundboard wasn't thick enough to get braces from its cutt-offs , what kind of other types of wood should I look for for the braces?
RE: Can I use Swedish wood for fan b... (in reply to Ahmed Flamenco)
I don't disagree with Anders that spruce or cedar would be preferred but the top bracing is just that "bracing" any cured fairly light weight and hopefully stiff wood will work. Find some pieces that seem to fit the descriptions, try bending them in both directions and see if they snap, set them in the sun and see if they warp or twist. If they pass these tests you can probably use them but you'll have to guess at the proper dimension which is no big deal since that's what all of use do regularly.
RE: Can I use Swedish wood for fan b... (in reply to Ahmed Flamenco)
John is right, but try to see if there´s wood enough from the soundboard cut offs. Very few soundboard blanks are thinner than 4mm. And take your time. There will always be a solution.
Posts: 124
Joined: Oct. 22 2012
From: Huntersville, North Carolina, USA
RE: Can I use Swedish wood for fan b... (in reply to Ahmed Flamenco)
I just recently salvaged the soundboard from an old piano (120 years old) that was being disassembled. No one wanted the piano and no one wanted to haul it away.
The wood I believe, is Adirondack red spruce. It should make good horizontal braces, but the grain is wide and may not work so well for fan bracing.
Also I hear Murakami has a new novel currently being translated into English, you know, to tide us over until the next bracing comment ;)
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I prefer my flamenco guitar spicy, doesn't have to be fast, should have some meat on the bones, can be raw or well done, as long as it doesn't sound like it's turning green on an elevator floor.
RE: Can I use Swedish wood for fan b... (in reply to Ahmed Flamenco)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Ahmed Flamenco
I've just asked an oud luthier to buy a spruce top (I think he will give me a Turkish one) but he has no spruce for braces, and the available braces are the Swedish wood.
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