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The Art Of Splitting Guitar Braces By Hand
*Included With Your Luthier’s EDGE membership
Learn How This Course Can Help You Improve Your Guitars AND Your Luthier Skills!
My Story: Guitar Brace Splitting Breakthrough
“The Art Of Splitting Braces By Hand is an Online luthier course designed to help you noticeably improve your guitars with minimal tooling and design changes. In it, I lead you through my specific steps and exercises to help deepen your understanding of tone-wood and improve your luthier intuition which can lead to countless improvements such as more power, sensitivity, and consistency – just to name a few…
I’ve been professionally building guitars since the 1990’s and I noticed that many people fall into the trap of believing that the thing that will take their guitar building from good (or even just OK) to great is some secret guitar bracing pattern, new break-through tool, jig, or some other mystical secret.
However, in my experience the real secret is something much more basic…
For me it was the practicing of two different skills and then bringing them together in a new way. The first was to develop a deeper understanding of the wood itself. Refining my luthier’s intuition and perception though hands on exercises (like the ones I teach in this course) helped me do just that. The second was learning and developing a special strategy (which I share in detail in the course) to implement this new-found treasure trove of information. This simple yet profound approach resulted in a quantum leap for my guitars.
I believe this course may be a key to helping you get that same ”quantum leap” both for your luthier skills AND your guitars!” –Tom Bills
Course Outline: Splitting Braces By Hand
How To Choose Bracing Wood
In this section Tom teaches his secrets for choosing the perfect bracing wood for each guitar. He clearly explains how to observe the most important characteristics of each piece and how it will fit into the overall design and outcome of the guitar.
Brace Splitting Technique
In this section Tom clearly explains and demonstrates his special brace splitting technique. He also provides a detailed, yet easy to understand explanation of his approach and his strategy to getting the best results while reducing wasted wood.
The Brace Planing Stop
To make the hand planing process easier, faster, and more accurate, Tom uses an elegantly designed multipurpose planing stop. You’ll learn step-by-step how to build one that is perfectly suited for your style and your guitar designs.
Hand-Planing & Fine Tuning
The proper hand planing technique is critical to preserving the perfect grain orientation and optimization we achieved through the splitting process. Tom clearly explains and demonstrates how to quickly bring each brace to a standard dimension for further testing and analysis in the following steps.
Testing & Optimization Strategy
Each brace is tested and analyzed in this stage cross-referencing multiple methods to ensure accuracy. Tom then shares the unique approach he uses on his guitars to fully optimize the sensitivity, responsiveness, and consistency of the guitar top through creative and strategic brace placement.
Start Mastering The Art Of Splitting Braces!
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5 Video Sections
1 Resource Section
26 HD Quality Videos
Start Refining Your Guitars & Your Luthier Skills Today!