# bracing — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 3 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover bracing. Page: Feed: --- ## [Claro Walnut/Redwood OM - New Home Required!](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2026/08/claro-walnutredwood-om-new-home-required.html) _2026-08-04 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ This guitar is still looking for a new home. My skills as a player are sadly lacking, perhaps because I spend so much time building guitars at the expense of time I could be practising, but I've uploaded a short clip to YouTube anyway to give some idea of what can be expected. For those interested, I recorded the clip using my Zoom H4n recorder - adequate, but not ideal, I know. I have a pair of… ## [For Sale: East Indian Rosewood/Engelmann Spruce 00](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2026/07/for-sale-east-indian-rosewoodengelmann.html) _2026-07-23 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ Despite its relatively small body, this guitar has surprising presence in the bass register, while notes played on the treble strings are round and sweet. The shorter scale length is inherently helpful where playability is concerned, and this instrument is indeed very pleasant to play. Back and sides: East Indian rosewood Soundboard: Engelmann spruce Neck: Honduras mahogany Fretboard: Maccasar… ## [Complete (Almost!): East Indian Rosewood/Engelmann Spruce 00](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2026/07/complete-almost-east-indian.html) _2026-07-20 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ It's always a thrill to fit strings to a new guitar for the first time. This one will sit in its case for a week or so before I attend to final action and intonation adjustments. The search for its new home can then begin in earnest. Glamour shots to follow. Cheers, Pete. ## [Archtop Guitar: a Major Rethink](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2026/07/archtop-guitar-major-rethink.html) _2026-07-11 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ I'm reasonably satisfied with the back and sides of this guitar having carved, bent, and assembled them, even after acknowledging that the outcome is some way short of perfect. It's a prototype, I tell myself! I'd been steeling myself for a struggle as I prepared to carve the outer and inner arches on this back plate - it's a hardwood after all. As it turned out, it was a dream to carve, and in… ## [Archtop Guitar: Back and Sides](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2026/07/archtop-guitar-back-and-sides.html) _2026-07-02 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ The wood I've chosen to fabricate the back and sides of this instrument from is something of a mystery. I bought it perhaps 25 years ago, accepting without question at the time that the vendor's labelling of the wood as "Tasmanian Oak" was accurate. I don't recall whether I had immediate plans for it, but if I did, it seems I was distracted before I could convert intentions into action. It… ## [Archtop Guitar: Bridge](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2026/06/archtop-guitar-bridge.html) _2026-06-19 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ In keeping with the theme of this project, which is to make use of nondescript pieces of wood cluttering up the workshop, the bridge I'll fit to this instrument will be fabricated from a highly figured and seriously dense chunk of red gum ( Eucalyptus camaldulensis ) that I wrenched out of our firewood delivery man's hands a few years ago. "I'm not burning that ", I told him! The wood's dramatic… ## [Archtop Guitar: A Dilemma](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2026/06/archtop-guitar-dilemma.html) _2026-06-15 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ As I prepared to begin carving the top of this guitar I found myself facing a dilemma, mainly because I don't know whether I'll repeat the exercise. Ideally, for a project such as this one, I'd own a range of gouges and a convex-bottomed plane or two, but I questioned whether their purchase could be justified given that I can't be sure that the cost would be spread across more than one archtop… ## [Archtop Guitar: Soundboard](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2026/06/archtop-guitar-soundboard.html) _2026-06-08 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ Given the significant investment of time and effort involved in crafting an archtop guitar, there's an argument for using the very best materials I can find. An equally valid point of view is that, for my first attempt at an archtop, there are likely to be mistakes along the way and that it's good policy to choose raw materials of a lesser quality to match my modest expectations. For this guitar,… ## [Archtop Guitar: Something From Nothing](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2026/06/something-from-nothing.html) _2026-06-06 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ It was my admiration for the archtop guitars of Jimmy D'Aquisto featured in Guitar Player magazine almost 50 years ago that sparked my initial interest in guitar building. Despite that interest, this project will be my first foray into creating an archtop guitar of my own, now motivated as much by the music they are known for as their existence as objects of beauty. Bob Benedetto's seminal book,… ## [Letter 100: On the Writings of Fabianus](https://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-100-on-the-writings-of-fabianus/) _2026-05-31 · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · Seneca Letters From a Stoic_ Letter 100, On the Writings of Fabianus, is Seneca at his most thoughtful about writing itself — which makes it a fitting milestone at the hundredth letter. Lucilius has read a book by the philosopher Papirius Fabianus and come away disappointed, criticizing its style as too smooth, too plain, lacking the punchy epigrams of fashionable \[ \] The post Letter 100: On the Writings of Fabianus first… ## [Real SIMs for AI Agents (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/3eMszMfwHabz) _2026-05-31 · **Sponsored**_ Pass 2FA and verifications with real carrier numbers via our API. ## [Letter 99: On Consolation to the Bereaved](https://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-99-on-consolation-to-the-bereaved/) _2026-05-31 · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · Seneca Letters From a Stoic_ Letter 99 is unusual in form: it s actually a copy of a letter Seneca once wrote to a grieving father named Marullus, who had lost his young son. Seneca shares it with Lucilius as an example of consolation that doesn t coddle. His approach is famously bracing — tender about the loss itself, but firm about \[ \] The post Letter 99: On Consolation to the Bereaved first appeared on Seneca Letters From… ## [Letter 98: On the Fickleness of Fortune](https://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-98-on-the-fickleness-of-fortune/) _2026-05-31 · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · Seneca Letters From a Stoic_ Letter 98, On the Fickleness of Fortune, tackles one of the central problems of human happiness: how can we be content when everything we love can be taken from us? Seneca s answer is that the person who depends on Fortune s gifts can never be truly happy, because anything that came from outside can leave the \[ \] The post Letter 98: On the Fickleness of Fortune first appeared on Seneca Letters… ## [Letter 97: On the Degeneracy of the Age](https://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-97-on-the-degeneracy-of-the-age/) _2026-05-31 · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · Seneca Letters From a Stoic_ Letter 97, On the Degeneracy of the Age, opens with a claim that feels remarkably modern: every generation believes its own era is uniquely corrupt — and every generation is wrong. Vice, Seneca argues, belongs to humanity, not to any particular time. To prove it, he reaches back a century to one of Rome s most \[ \] The post Letter 97: On the Degeneracy of the Age first appeared on Seneca Letters… ## [Letter 96: On Facing Hardships](https://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-96-on-facing-hardships/) _2026-05-31 · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · Seneca Letters From a Stoic_ Letter 96 is short, sharp, and bracing. Lucilius has been complaining — about illness, losses, the general difficulty of life — and Seneca responds with tough love. His central claim is startling: in all the troubles you re listing, there s really only one evil, and it s the complaining itself. Hardships, he argues, aren t accidents that befall \[ \] The post Letter 96: On Facing Hardships first… ## [Letter 95: On the Usefulness of Basic Principles](https://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-95-on-the-usefulness-of-basic-principles/) _2026-05-31 · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · Seneca Letters From a Stoic_ Letter 95 is one of the longest and most powerful in the entire collection. Lucilius has pressed Seneca to settle a debate: are practical precepts — specific rules of conduct — enough to make us good, or do we also need deeper guiding principles? Seneca s answer is a resounding both, but principles come first. Rules \[ \] The post Letter 95: On the Usefulness of Basic Principles first appeared on… ## [Letter 94 – On the Value of Advice](https://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-94-on-the-value-of-advice/) _2026-05-26 · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · Seneca Letters From a Stoic_ Letter 94, On the Value of Advice, is one of Seneca s longest and most technical letters — a sustained defense of practical moral advice against the austere Stoic Aristo of Chios, who argued that specific precepts are superfluous if you already have sound doctrine, and useless if you don t. Seneca thinks Aristo is wrong, and \[ \] The post Letter 94 – On the Value of Advice first appeared on Seneca… ## [Letter 93 – On the Quality, as Contrasted with the Length, of Life](https://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-93-quality-of-life/) _2026-05-26 · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · Seneca Letters From a Stoic_ Letter 93, On the Quality, as Contrasted with the Length, of Life, is Seneca s beautiful follow-up to the closing argument of Letter 92. His friend Lucilius is grieving the philosopher Metronax, who died too soon — and Seneca uses the moment to deliver one of the clearest statements of the Stoic view of time and \[ \] The post Letter 93 – On the Quality, as Contrasted with the Length, of Life first… ## [Letter 92 – On the Happy Life](https://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-92-on-the-happy-life/) _2026-05-26 · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · Seneca Letters From a Stoic_ Letter 92, On the Happy Life, is one of Seneca s most ambitious philosophical letters — a sustained argument that the happy life is nothing more or less than the perfection of reason. He takes on rival philosophers who hedge their bets with externals, defends the radical Stoic position that virtue is its own reward, and \[ \] The post Letter 92 – On the Happy Life first appeared on Seneca Letters… ## [Letter 91 – On the Lesson to be Drawn from the Burning of Lyons](https://www.lettersfromastoic.net/letter-91-burning-of-lyons/) _2026-05-26 · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus · Seneca Letters From a Stoic_ Letter 91, On the Lesson to be Drawn from the Burning of Lyons, was written soon after the Roman colony of Lugdunum — modern Lyons — was wiped out by fire in a single night. Seneca s friend Liberalis loved the city, and the news has shaken him to the core. Seneca offers him a bracing \[ \] The post Letter 91 – On the Lesson to be Drawn from the Burning of Lyons first appeared on Seneca Letters From… ## [A Higuerilla Practice Run](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-higuerilla-practice-run.html) _2026-03-31 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ I have two back and side sets of higuerilla, one of which I'd classify as remarkable, with the other set attractive enough, but much plainer in appearance. As this is a wood species I've not previously worked with, I figured I'd put together a 00 model using the plainer of the two sets in an effort to identify potential side-bending problems before I begin an instrument with what I'd consider a… ## [Licensed Dispensaries, Pay with Crypto (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/3tVqnBNq1WPr) _2026-03-31 · **Sponsored**_ Search verified licensed dispensaries and pay with Bitcoin, Lightning, or stablecoins. ## [Let It Land](https://www.wavlake.com/album/14ecf918-26f9-4f72-aef1-ae811cce563d) _2026-03-24 · Liberthea Anadara · Let It Land_ [Listen](https://op3.dev/e,pg=65e6cb77-c7d5-55bf-a747-a76f09ff1255/https://d12wklypp119aj.cloudfront.net/track/bf64be43-1d29-48b4-a177-67a52e1a2f19.mp3) ## [For Sale: Claro Walnut/Port Orford Cedar OM](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2025/12/completed-claro-walnutport-orford-cedar.html) _2025-12-21 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ The lighting in my workshop is a stand-out feature I notice and appreciate every day. Banks of LED strip lights supplement the natural light illuminating the workshop through several large windows, making woodworking a much more pleasant pursuit and reducing my propensity to screw things up from time to time. One downside is that photographing my work is frustrating to say the least, with… ## [For Sale: Claro Walnut/Redwood OM](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2025/04/completed-claro-walnutredwood-om.html) _2025-12-21 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ It's taken such a long time to complete this guitar that it features a body shape I've long since modified. The shape of the heel is very traditional, and the fretboard end is also from a bygone era where my guitar building exploits are concerned. After some initial indecision, I've decided to reduce the price a little. I'm loving the oil finished neck, which feels super smooth and will be very… ## [For Sale: Manchinga/Engelmann Spruce OM](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2025/04/completed-manchingaengelmann-spruce-om.html) _2025-12-20 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ With this - the first of a batch of five guitars - now strung up, I can begin to relax a little and allow myself a moment to enjoy the sense of achievement at having completed an instrument; for various reasons, it's been a while! There's always a sense of nervous anticipation when I first install strings on a new guitar, but even after hearing the first notes ring out I know better than to pass… ## [Rosewood/Engelmann Spruce 00 - More Photos](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2025/11/rosewoodengelmann-spruce-00-more-photos.html) _2025-11-22 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ Here are some more photos of this 00 model guitar in East Indian rosewood and Engelmann spruce. I expect to be in a position to pore-fill and apply lacquer top coats within the next couple of weeks. I'm very happy with the guitar up to this point, and I'm confident that finishing will present few challenges other than it being the usual long, drawn-out process! Cheers, Pete ## [A New Model](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-new-model.html) _2025-11-16 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ With a lower bout width of 14.5", a 12th fret body join, and a 24.9" scale length, what else could I call this new model but a "00"? It's a relief to see the body emerging from its unavoidable ugly phase. The bindings have been levelled and the Engelmann spruce soundboard and East Indian rosewood back and sides have been cleaned up a little for this initial photo shoot. With plans for an… ## [SOLD! An Enjoyable Distraction](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2024/12/an-enjoyable-distraction.html) _2024-12-02 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ I had some spare time recently as I waiting for the lacquer I'd sprayed on my current batch of acoustic guitars to cure in readiness for polishing, and as I'm becoming a big fan of headless guitars, I put the guitar pictured together while I had the opportunity to do so. I've had the maple neck blank and the Queensland maple drop-top cap in my tonewood stash for what must be a decade, so it seemed… ## [Dry Sanding With Super Assilex and Super Buflex Abrasive Sheets](https://woodwithstrings.blogspot.com/2024/10/dry-sanding-with-super-assilex-and.html) _2024-10-27 · Wood With Strings · Pete Brown Guitars_ I put this East Indian rosewood/European spruce guitar to one side as I proceeded with my usual process of wet sanding and buffing four other guitar bodies, the motivation being that I wanted to compare wet sanding with the dry sanding alternative. There was an unavoidable delay as I waited for delivery of the Eagle Abrasives' Super Assilex and Super Buflex sheets from Stewart MacDonald in the…