The bracing in our guitars is similar to the ones used by CF Martin Co. between the years 1931 and 1939, during the Pre war or Golden era. We also call this way to brace “Forward Shifted X Bracing”.
It’s the first known system to obtain this legendary sound. The X formed by the two main brace is exceptionally advanced and spread towards the guitar sound hole, thus facilitating the propagation of vibrations, harmonics diffusion and low frequencies. However, it is almost imperative that the braces have to be made of Adirondack’s spruce or extraordinary hand-pick on others resinous species.
The wood used to manufacture the braces must have been hand-cut and sawed with attention to detail in order to preserve its extraordinary properties of flexibility, resiliency and rigidity. Otherwise, the soundboard might get wider through the years.
The Spruce Goose history :
Did you know that the biggest plane ever made had the nickname of “Spruce Goose”? Built by Howard Hughes during the Second World War, this plane was famous, and it still at today, a challenge of high level engineering.
Being deprive of high steal to build the plane, M. Hughes engineers had chosen to use the spruce for the frame construction of this enormous plane. The lightness and rigidity of this resinous wood, combined to the cabinet making ability mentioned previously in this story and the determination of this quirky man have permitted to push the limits further…
