Cross bracing

I usually make the cross bracing used for strengthening the back of guitars and ukuleles out of quarter or rift sawn Honduras mahogany. The bottom of the back cross brace is arched to impart an arch to the back. They are also tapered in height, wider at the bottom than the top.

After first dimensioning the mahogany brace using the bandsaw and drum sander, i shape the arch on the bottom using a drill press, a template jig, and a small microplane rotary shaper with a template follower. In the first photo, you can see the jig and cutter. The square brace is placed on top of the jig and against the stop, and the jig is passed by the cutting head. The follower on the bottom of the microplane rotary shaper follows the curve of the jig. One of the benefits of the microplane is that it produces shavings rather than dust, and is therefore relatively clean to use. This kind of small scale home workshop shaping using templates is quite easy using the drill press.


After shaping the arch, i taper the braces on both sides on the drum sander using 2 special sanding platens made for the purpose. In the second photo you can see a bundle of finished cross braces ready for use.

Soundboard cross braces are made in a similiar fashion, using spruce. They are tapered like the mahogany cross brace but the bottom is straight rather than arched. All the soundboard doming in the Spanish building system i use takes place below the sound hole.