I've been using cloth tapes. My tests indicate they add some resistance to splitting from impacts at the tape, and also help keep cracks from running along the side.
I have seen two guitars with side cracks that I attribute to the use of wood fillet braces. They were both imports, from the same company. The sides were solid wood that was rather soft, and they were quite deep. I think the damage was caused when the wood fillets would not shrink in length as much as the sides would shrink in depth in the low humidity we see here indoors in the winter.
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