<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>     Ron</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>>and is there any advantage to trying to make that rim<BR>> immoveable, <BR><BR>Absolutely. I routinely add bracing to the straight side, and <BR>particularly to the belly rail (mass too, here).</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>  <EM><U>Meaning a brace coming off the brace closet to the spine.  I like this</U></EM></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>It doesn't do <BR>the slightest thing for crown, but it raises the impedance of <BR>the rim and belly rail so it absorbs less of the soundboard's <BR>energy, improving tone and sustain.</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>  <EM><U>So a heavier wood would be a better choice than say spruce.  If I recall it was Overs who was laminating his belly beams with hard wood. Cool stuff.  Fire up the saw.</U></EM></DIV> <DIV><EM><U></U></EM> </DIV> <DIV><EM><U> </U>Dale</EM></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><BR><BR><BR><BR>Ron N<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>