Shoulder brace dimensions

[Cricket]

I purchased a 000 kit from KMG some time ago, and am now just getting to the assembly process. It seems the kit did not include the shoulder brace. Does anyone have the actual shoulder brace dimensions for a 000 size, including the hole location and size for the truss rod adjustment?

[Dave Bagwill]

1/2" wide, 5/8" tall is what my plans call out for.
The hole is of course right in the middle line of the guitar, leave about 1/8" of wood between the bottom of the hole and the top wood.
The hole just has to be big enough for the allen wrench to fit through, it is not a critical measurement.

[Cricket]

Thank you very much, I was uncertain mainly of the width and the hole location. I have a limited supply of woods right now so I think I will try cedar (from some decking material I replaced. Do you see any issues with cedar being used here?
Thanks again.

[Dave Bagwill]

I've not thought about using cedar for that purpose. If your cedar has good grain orientation, like close to quarter-sawn, I don't see any problems. I'm in the habit of gluing together, laminating, two 1/4" thick pieces of spruce to equal the 1/2"; it gives me a chance to use otherwise not so useful scraps of wood plus the laminating gives me a stronger brace.

Maybe some others will chime in.

[John Parchem]

The cedar is OK, careful when carving as it is very easy to split.

[Cricket]

Thanks for the information. I've made my cedar shoulder brace. My next question is-I have glued most all bracing on the top. I made the fanned index cards to use during gluing of x braces base bars etc. do I leave the index card stacks in location when gluing the shoulder brace in place? As I recall from KMG article on neck angle geometry from the upper bout to the neck the top is flat. with the card stacks in place and applying clamp pressure I assume that the center area of the top would become flat and still blend into the radius sanded into the rim and x brace radius. Is this correct?
Thanks in advance.

[Dave Bagwill]

I've always glued it on a flat board. Actually at this time I don't radius the upper bout at all, just a thing I choose not to do.
But even with the upper bout dome, I glued the utb flat.