Making Spruce bracings for Soprano

I had tomake a load of Bracings for the next batch of Uke's so I thought I'd share with you how I do it Nowadays.
First I set up my pillar drill with an old "Dremmel cutter" a clamp and a bit of wood for a guide...the Dremmel router burnt out yonk's ago (Like they do).... anyway the set up looks like this.

Next I take a piece of "spruce" sawn and sanded to 6mm sqare... then gently push it into the setup with the cutter running at top speed... and Keep the fingers well away from the cutter.

It only takes about 30 sec's per cut down each side and you end up with a set of shaped bracings ready to be cut to length.

nice way to get consistant braces.

Why would you want consistent braces?

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

Why would you want consistent braces?

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That's what the drawing calls for...And I only make the one style of uke.

I'm with Chuck on this one. Most of the plans I have seen are overbuilt. I also radius my top and backs so the braces are first sanded to the correct radius and shaped after being glued on. I use Peterson's Strobosoft tuner to tap tune the tops and backs before and after shaping them to help get a feel for the process. Anyway it just goes to show we all have our different methods.

Brad

I also radius the ..Tops and Backs...But I don't Radius the braces...

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

Why would you want consistent braces?

Click to expand...

I dunno. But if you did want them consistant....that's a way to do it.