Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas Erickson
I'm wondering about braces in a flat back bass; I know it has been covered before on this forum, but I didn't find quite what I'm looking for -
I'd like to know what people are thinking in regard to the top brace and the break, for a bass that has one - should the brace always be placed directly over the break, to reinforce it? I've read suggestions that three braces is generally suitable; in this case, should the top brace still support the break even if that leaves a fairly good amount of the rest of the upper bout bare, or would it be better to locate it lower where it would cover more width (or add another brace)?
Thanks for any thoughts...
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In the case of a definite upper angle break and especially if the Back has a cut there I think a brace there acts as a support piece to avoid or prevent the angle break area to crack because they often do.
As far as how many braces or the style of bracing that depends on a few things which include the size of the bass, the condition of the back, the strength of the wood species, the thickness of the wood and in some cases the tone desired in replacing or modifying the current bracing system.
On my 4/4 Prescott when it was restored it got two upper braces with one on the break. The 7/8 Hart ended up with just one upper brace as that's all it needed. Two other more modern basses that were restored has the bracing system changed to a single modified X-system. The Mougenot I have is between a 7/8 and 4/4 by French standards and that has only the original single center wide Stair-step 8" wide center brace. The brace system during the back restoration will get a normal center brace, a lower bout brace and a single upper bout brace. The upper and lower being shaped like a Bass bar rather than the wide flat style too often used in many basses which add too much wood, weigh the bass down and choke a bit of sound in the process.
You basically have to guess what will work best in the Bass you are working on. The more you have seen, done, changed, altered and had success and failure with, the more you will know to equate what the current bass needs.