Ken Parker's Archtoppery: Bracing the Top 1

Описание: This is video #1 of 11 in this series about bracing the top on Ken Parker's archtop guitars.
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KEN: Looking into the history of early archtops, it’s interesting to try to understand how braces evolved and came to be an integral part of nearly every archtop.

In fact, however, braces were not part of the original Gibson archtop designs at all!

Ultimately, the question comes down to defining the brace’s job. I believe that the braces can help make the top behave in a more energetic and wholesome way by adding strength in the cross-grain and diagonal directions. High quality long grain spruce doesn’t need any further strengthening, thank you very much!

My braces are extremely small and light, tapering gradually to zero thickness at the ends, almost like variable thickness fiber tape. Before gluing, I make sure that the mating surfaces are perfect and that they fit together tightly with just a fingertip’s pressure.

Here, I’ll show the methods I use to accomplish this demanding and important task in my own work. I have devised my own positioning fixtures, precise marking tools and methods, and some tomfoolery that have taken all the pain out of this job for me and, I hope, maybe for you too!

Read Ken's entire piece on the history of bracing and why he braces as he does:
https://kenparkerarchtops.com/etude-b...
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This video is part of Ken Parker's Archtoppery series. We recommend you check out his Archtoppery page on his website: https://kenparkerarchtops.com/archtop...