Acoustic Guitar Construction

I played a John how guitar.best in the shop full of top end guitars. Loud, full clear and bluesy.very inspiring.

Wow, well there you go! How could it get more simple. I like that. Would it work on a dred?

I've heard that ladders are not as suitable for large bodied guitars, if I'm not mistaken that is one reason why the x-bracing to popular. I just read that, I'll try to find the article.

John Arnold posted this:
Ladder bracing is simpler/easier/faster to construct, which is why it was historically used on cheap instruments.
Ladder bracing stiffens the top across the grain, which generally gives the guitar a brighter tone, with more sustain (when compared to X-bracing). The downside is the greater tendency for the bridge to rotate, creating the 'roller coaster' top. One cure is to install two braces between the bridge and soundhole, or to use one taller brace.
Whether a guitar can support medium strings is primarily a function of the heaviness of the build, rather than whether it is ladder or X-braced. Some 1960's Harmony guitars can take heavy gauge strings, while some early-1900's featherweights barely will stand extra-lights.
Because the ladder bridgeplate can extend all the way from one side to the other, spruce is favored for sound. Of course, spruce is too soft to stand the pressure from the string balls, hence the hardwood overlay at the bridge pins.
My favorite ladder braced guitars have an angled brace between the bridge and soundhole (closer to the bridge on the treble side).

Maccaferri-Selmers are large guitars (15.75 inch lower bout, slightly wider than a Martin dread) and they are ladder braced. Big mouths had 4 braces, small mouths 4 or 5. Django is said to have used a small mouth with 4 braces. Typical soundboard was graduated from .083 down to .077 inches. As far as guitar sound goes, less wood seems to favor better sound, unless the instrument breaks.

Here is the URL to Paul Geremia playing a 14 5/8 inch ladder braced 12-string built by Todd Cambio - a smooth brute of an instrument which sounds bigger, to my ear, than it is: http://fraulini.com/sounds/pg-new-angelina-12-04.mp3

I guess, since Dave's original post compared two differently braced soundboards in otherwise identical guitars, it is difficult to avoid discussion of soundboard design in attempting to understand the difference in sound.