2008 was a ground breaking year for me. After 16 years of learning and developing the techniques necessary for building with kauri as a sound board, it was the year that brought many of the different threads together to produce what are my best instruments by far. Some of those threads relating to the soundboard were soundboard stiffness, bracing layout, and the engineering of the main and secondary bracing of the top into what I call truss bracing.

Truss Bracing

Put simply, my truss brace design reduces mass while retaining strength.
Okay........so it's not that simple.

Every individual soundboard I use has first been thicknessed to an optimum dimension that varies with every piece of wood I use. The bracing also has to be custom made to compliment each individual sound board. Because my truss bracing is solid wood it allows me to fine tune the response I am looking for by shaving and shaping them just like a normal solid wood brace. As you can see from the picture of an unfinished brace, there is excess wood on the top of the braces for selective shaping after they have been coupled to the sound board.

Additionally, the truss bracing has a suspension effect that allows the top a certain degree of flexibility, within controlled areas and limits, whilst maintaining overall structural integrity. This controlled flexibility is one reason why the new generation Tui and Kiwi models exhibit a much more open texture of tone that is both musical and clear.

Other benefits gained from my new truss bracing include increased sustain, volume and a greater dynamic response.