Heather's Parlour

Mmmm I like a man who asks simple questions - and they're not simple!

Firstly the bracing style is called Falcate bracing. Its constructed by laminating 3 thin strips of spruce normally ( I add a strip of hardwood sandwiched between two spruce layers) against a former - the bracing is symmetric so I set of formers do bracing for each side, best way to do it is to make braces double height and then split them. A thin strip of carbon fibre (3K tow) is resin bonded between the brace and the soundboard, the resin also bonds the brace to the soundboard, braces are shaped then a second strip of CF is layered on top of the braces, fanning the ends out where they meet the soundboard.

With the western red cedar top to the parlour I tried following the book (Gore/Gilet) instructions about drawing each side of the braces and painting the resin on the soundboard between the lines and laying the CF on the resin then add the brace. I found it easier to apply the resin / CF to the bottom of each brace then place the brace in position and apply pressure (go bar). With a spruce top it may not seep along the grain lines as much.

Advantages. There's no bass/treble divide, and being symmetrical I feel it gives a more balanced sound. Top tuning is done initially  on the braces before the top layer of CF is added. With final soundboard tuning done with the box closed by thinning the outer areas of the top.

I've built 3 guitars now with a Falcate pattern to the bracing. A triple O cutaway using just three layers in the bracing without CF tow above or below. A small jumbo with CF added to the brace top edge only. And the parlour that has CF top and bottom but no CF under the bridge plate.

I'm just about to get Keith aka ocarolan to record from these guitars so at some stage there sould (hopefully) be some comparison back to standard or X-braced versions.

Hope that helps