Making Bracing from Rejected Spruce Top Plates

I've had these plates of spruce in my closet now for 25 years. They came in an LMI guitar kit as packing to protect the real AAAA plates that were used for the guitar top. It is nice wood but obviously flawed so was rejected. Too small for Tenor uke plates and not bookmatched and just too small for one piece soprano tops. I think it is Engleman, but it could be Adirondack or ???. I've forgotten. It is not Sitka.

So now my question. Couldn't I use this stuff to make bracing? Since it is about 0.22 inches I was thinking I could laminate to get the thicker cross bracing for the top and back. The thing is, I have never heard of anyone doing this and I can think of two things that would make this a bad idea:

1: The glue layer could fail later causing buzzing in the top (bad)

2: The glue layer would inhibit or distort the transmission of the vibrations to the top.

3: ???

I would love to find a way to use this really nice close grained but flawed spruce. Laminated bracing bad idea?

If there is one thing I have learned from years of building and repairing string musical instruments, the bracing stock should the best you can get, not left overs.

BlackBearUkes said:

If there is one thing I have learned from years of building and repairing string musical instruments, the bracing stock should the best you can get, not left overs.

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I heard that Adirondack Spruce bracing good for soundboards....

Twenty-five years ago there was very little red spruce on the market, so its probably not that. Laminated braces are often stiffer than like pieces of solid wood, so you might want to thin them a bit. If the wood is genuinely flawed, follow Duane's advice. Sometimes packing wood is book matched, and if I can cut out the cosmetic flaws I'll use it for tops. If your wood is clean and quartered I'd use it for brace stock if Sitka, but probably not if its Engelmann, though it would likely be fine in a uke.

I'm a big fan of using free wood......but I wouldn't laminate it for top braces. The glue joint would make it stiffer than you want. Could be good or could be bad, I dunno
Maybe you could use it for linings or back braces? Stack up a few layers to use for end blocks? I'd probably just make templates or other fixtures out of it

Bridge patch?

By flawed, i think you mean just cosmetically right?

Cosmetic flaws (funny colour etc) don't matter on the inside

I don't think one more glue line (laminated braces) will make a great uke into a bad one.