Today I spent some time shaping the top braces for the SJ and getting them ready to glue up. I have the braces quite tall at this point, and the plan is to do quite a bit of carving on them after they are glued up. I want to do more tap tuning so I wanted to leave quite a bit of wood on the braces so I have plenty to work with. I am using the parabolic shaping, but I am scalloping the tails. I don't know if it will make any difference, but my theory is that with the ends scalloping down around the perimeter of the top, and thinning the top around the edge, the top will be more flexible. Who knows, this might work, and it might not. I guess I will find out! One thing I know, I haven't seen parabolic/scalloped end braces before so either someone has tried it and failed, or nobody has ever though about it before.

I have also decided to give hot hide glue a try on this. I made a batch yesterday and I am going to do some practice runs before gluing. My curiosity really has me wanting to try it so I am gonna give it a go.

The SJ top braces all preliminarily shaped and ready for glue up. Hopefully I will remember to drill the truss rod access hole this time before I glue it up!