cheap brace jack

[Bob Gaddis]

I have a really cheap-o Franciscan acoustic I'm working on. My son's buddy was moving and threw it in the trash. My son rescued it and brought it to me "just because...."Anyway my daughter-in-law's teenage niece wanted a guitar so they said send her the Franciscan. In process of stringing it, I noticed it had a loose X-brace, which I glued using my top-flattening jig and clamps through the sound hole.

I made a new bone saddle today and noticed that two of the back braces were loose on one end. Not wanting to invest a lot more time on this bow-wow, I made up some hot glue and brushed it under the braces, flexing them to get the glue distributed evenly.

Needing a quick and easy clamping method, I broke off a couple of pencils to an approximate length, sanded a shallow groove in the writing end to fit the top of the brace. I jammed the eraser end against the top and it worked like a champ. Quick, easy and cheap.Not something I'd do with a real guitar, but hey....it worked.

[Greg Mirken]

Bob, I have several jacks, turnbuckle devices, and mini-trigger clamps I have modified for clamping loose braces in place. Just as often as not I wind up taking dowels skinny enough to flex a bit and jamming them in there. Essentially turns the guitar itself into a go-bar deck. Even works with real guitars.

[Bob Gaddis]

Yeh, I have jacks and other tricks, but I discovered the eraser end has enough give and friction and won't gouge the top. I usually am willing to spend more time on better guitars.