The runout of the wood isn't anything to write home about, and I certainly wouldn't use this wood on an airplane (more about that shortly) but it's acceptable for guitars. I've read that anything less than 30-degrees will work for either top wood or brace stock.

Brace #1

Brace #2

Brace #3

Brace #4

In contrast, here's the grain of the original braces. A couple approach what would be considered flat-sawn, but given the hectic production schedule and limited resources, it works. Also notice that only one piece is a true 3/16" thick. The others are about 7/32".

WRT grain orientation, most luthiers like to have the grain on the braces stock orientated in a vertical plane. In contrast, when building for aviation, the grain is usually orientated in the horizontal plane.

Some have done tests and the wood is pretty much equally strong in either direction. It all gets down to intentions. The wood in airplanes, for example, in stringers, is usually not carved. But, guitar braces cane be both tapered and scalloped.

If the grain for guitar braces were oriented in the horizontal plane, it would tend to split along the grain when scalloped with a chisel. When the grain is oriented in the vertical plane it can be scalloped and tapered without spliting.

When I was building my model airplanes, I always oriented the grain so that the grain was parallel to whatever surface it was closest to.

When I was re-topping Jay's guitar, I bought some wood to use for the brace stock from Aircraft Spruce because I knew the high standards required for wood used in aviation. I was surprised to find the grain oriented 90-degrees to the wood used in the braces. So, I ended up buying brace stock blanks from Stewmac and cut my own braces so the grain orientation matched that of the original braces.

WRT to grain run-out, the Sitka spruce used for aviation has to have a very limited amount of runout because of the stresses placed upon the pieces when flying. If a guitar brace splits, then the guitar may not sound so good. If an airplane stringer or spar splits because of run-out, someone may die. `Nuff said.

Fan braces glued and clamped.

I'll pull the top out of the gobar deck tomorrow, and finish making the bridge-clamping cawl and start prepping the top for gluing to the bowl.

That mainly consists of masking for the bridge and spraying the base coat of polyurethane and sanding it smooth. If all goes well I should have the top glued to the bowl by this weekend.

I made my own version of this to joint the soundboards. Here's the soundboard for my 1617 being glued together. The wooden wedges on the right are clamped to squeeze the two pieces together and the gobars are pushing down on the joint to keep the two pieces even with each other while the glue dries.

Before applying the glue, I clamped the two pieces in the deck, then applied the tape. I remove the top from the deck and the tape acts like a hinge so I can fold the two pieces back and apply the glue to the edges. Then, I flatten the top and put it into the deck.

Fan braces are done. Now it's time to build the bridge-claming cawl.

Lower set from 1/2" medium balsa.

Upper set from 1/2" medium balsa.

Topped with 1/4" marine (birch) ply.

And, here's what it looks like all assembled.

Top is wetted out with naptha to show the grain. The top will have a skunk-stripe all its own.

Bridge masking is in place.

Fretboard masking is in place. All ready to spray the base coats onto the top.

Dan, your work is incredible. What a wonderful contributor to the OFC you are. Keep it up.

+1 

It's difficult to capture the figuring, but these pics show it as well as can be expected.