Pineapple bracing

Hello,
I've been looking into bracing options for pineapple ukes, concert size.
The Hana Lima 'Ia concert pineapple plans have three fan braces spanning the bridge plate, in addition to two cross braces above and below the soundhole, which I thought of as standard...

Then I got a new spruce top concert pineapple Ohana and a a used Kamaka koa gold label soprano pineapple - both have no braces over the bridge patch - just the two cross braces near the soundhole.

Seeing these, I opened up one I'd made for myself and removed the three fan braces I had in the bridge area, and think it increased the volume some and the sustain quite a bit.

What do you think?

-Vinnie in Juneau

A concert size pineapple uke is going to need some bracing and 3 fans of the right size is not too much IMO. If you don't put some bracing in there, you will be working on it again down the road. As for the other uke you removed the braces from, perhaps they were to big and too many, time will tell.

QUOTE=mvinsel;1859506]Hello,
I've been looking into bracing options for pineapple ukes, concert size.
The Hana Lima 'Ia concert pineapple plans have three fan braces spanning the bridge plate, in addition to two cross braces above and below the soundhole, which I thought of as standard...

Then I got a new spruce top concert pineapple Ohana and a a used Kamaka koa gold label soprano pineapple - both have no braces over the bridge patch - just the two cross braces near the soundhole.

Seeing these, I opened up one I'd made for myself and removed the three fan braces I had in the bridge area, and think it increased the volume some and the sustain quite a bit.

What do you think?

-Vinnie in Juneau[/QUOTE]

Hello.
Interesting.
See one way on one of my Pineapple 363 mm. scale pineapple.
Mezzo soprano with 13 th. fret joining neck.
Just one way, not THE way...
My goal was to let more free aera on each "axial" parts of the table
for free vib's.
And finaly, this PA have realy a nice sustain and a beefy sound.
But keep in mind that about sound results,
every parts count, not only one,
but yes, table is the most important in the chain.
On some other PA, I do 2 fan table braces...
Depend table wood choice (here, mapple) and thickness.
And "intuition"...
Bye.
Gerard.

Looks like enough bracing to me. You have tied off the bridge patch brace to the transverse brace which makes a strong connection. Fan bracing seems unnecessary to me on this small size. Still over the long run, you might get some deformation and witnessing. Maybe. It all depends. Time will tell. Good luck!

Many thanks, this is helpful.
Gerard, your single brace from the bridge patch seems like a happy medium between three and none.
I appreciate your precision & sharing.

-Vinnie in Juneau