Western Red Cedar for bracings?

[Crafty Fox]

Hi, has anyone tried WCR for guitar bracings? What are your thoughts and experiences?
I have enough spruce for one guitar but now I'm considering building two together and I have plenty of WRC that I may use if it's OK. Thanks for any advice.

[Tod Gilding]

No problem at all with WRC braces Ken , are both guitars going to be the same type ?.
A little research may be required,to design a brace that will be adequate. I would use it in an instant with Carbon Fibre , Have you got the Gore/Gilet books ? if you do,you will have no problem designing a WRC Braced guitar.

I have used Australian red Cedar as bracing with very good results.

but I'm sure those that know a lot more than I, will chime in soon with all sorts of great advice.

[Tom West]

To my mind it rates behind spruce. It is hard to beat spruce for braces.
Tom

[jeffhigh]

I would not, it's a lot less stiff than spruce and brittle too

[Crafty Fox]

Thanks for your input. I am making two similar OM's but have only enough spruce on hand to brace one and I have heaps of WRC so I thought.....hey maybe????
I'll go for the spruce then, I know where I can get a bit in Perth. And perhaps I'll venture into the realms of carbon fibre/cedar composites at a later date when I understand more about building an acoustic guitar.

[kiwigeo]

Ive used WRC for bracing on a classical. I disliked it so much I ripped it out and replaced with spruce....but perhaps thats just me.

[woodrat]

Ken, I have used old growth Douglas Fir to brace many guitars....is about as stiff as average spruce but about 15-20% heavier...I would rate it as a much better alternative to using WRC for bracing. Keep your eye out for it as it was used extensively in buildings in Australia in the first half of the 20th century so it may pop up in old doors, old framing especially roof members etc. You often find it in skip bins in the city at the site of a reno of an old building....I would check any bins and skips that you may come across near such sites....treasures await for those who seek and one mans old door could be another mans top bracing...



WoodRat!

[John Maddison]

Douglas Fir is perhaps more commonly known as Oregon in West Oz. Excellent bracing for backs.

[Tod Gilding]

You Have A lot To Answer For Mr Woodrat ,Now you have everyone out searching for bracewood

[Trevor Gore]

Spruce nearly always beats WRC in the stiffness for mass stakes; i.e. unless you find an exceptional piece of WRC you will always get lighter, stronger braces out of spruce for the same stiffness. It's possible to use WRC with CF if you design carefully.

Douglas Fir/Oregon pine is stiff enough and strong enough for braces but is dense compared to spruce. All in all, spruce always comes out at the top of the preferred woods for bracing.

"The Shed" guitar has Oregon pine bracing in true dumspter style (falcate/CF on the soundboard in my usual way). Sounds OK to me on this recording (down at the bottom of the page). Sounds even better since I changed the strings on it a couple of days ago!

[Crafty Fox]

Hahaha, Tod you really are a laugh!
I did get some Am cherry out of the skip a few years ago which I've used for a neck. I was doing some shop-fitting at the time and we were re-fitting a Maccas. Got enough for a few more necks.
I'm mostly involved in home renos in the older Perth suburbs. Eyes now open for Oregon/Douglas fir.

[Allen]

Used it on one guitar, and never would again.

Others have given adequate enough reasons not to repeat them.

[woodrat]

You Have A lot To Answer For Mr Woodrat ,Now you have everyone out searching for bracewood

Tod...that cow was working for me!

[John Maddison]

Gotta love recycling ... Seems there is plenty of Oregon just lying around.

[Chris.Conery]

I build most of classicals with cedar tops but always with spruce bracing. I'm not sure why that works better but they seem more focused and precise that way.

[Steve.Toscano]

I've heard WRcedar is a 9 (where spruce is a 10). No personal experiences though.

[kiwigeo]

I've heard WRcedar is a 9 (where spruce is a 10). No personal experiences though.

Personal preference to a large degree but the WRC in my shop rates about a -9 compared to 10 for the spruce (esp Shane's Lutz)

[Steve.Toscano]

A side question - Does anyone know how tassie oak goes as bracing timber?

Sorry to hijack.

[Allen]

Not too bad if you were bracing up a shelf. Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole for the insides of an instrument.

Most of the new members here wouldn't be aware, but this forum was set up in part so that the Aussies could pull together and make overseas purchases in group buys so we could realise considerable savings on products that were far too costly to buy otherwise. Myself and some of the other old timers put together quite a few group buys. I now only do it with some close associates.

Good spruce bracing is cheap if you buy it from the source, and in a box big enough to last you for years. Sometime in the last year Nick asked a question about bracing stock, and I mentioned that if he got a box in from Alaska Specialty woods the cost per instrument is bugger all. I think he did a little group buy with some others that didn't require quite that much bracing.

I suggest that some of you pool your resources.

[nnickusa]

Yeah, Allen is right. A box of spruce bracing, along with a dozen tops, we did. Even split four ways, the bracing is going to last me 10-12 instruments.

On the off chance that I build more than that, I'll get another box and share it.

Get it from Alaska Specialty Woods for around $180US for the timber. plus post. Compare that to the cost of buying a stick of spruce for one guitar on-line in OZ, and you'll see pretty quick how much less expensive it is to go to the source.....