What is Sides are too short?

[CMStewart]

I am looking at buying a couple sets of some rare wood that I absolutely love, but the sides are only 30" (I would need them about 32" for the guitars I'm looking to build from them). The back pieces are sufficient. The model will have a cutaway (in case that's relevant).

The only solution I can think of is having an extra wide end graft. Does anyone else have another solution I'm not thinking of? I'm pretty new to lutherie, so forgive me if the solution is obvious. But I would just really love to acquire this wood. Thank you to anyone who can help me with this.

- Colby

[Shuksan]

A wide end graft is definitely a viable approach. When I built my first guitar about 20 years ago, I managed to cut the sides too short by 1 1/2". I installed a wider tail block and made a simple wide end graft by book matching two pieces from the offcuts of the back plates. It came out ok. Somone may be able to suggest other ways to deal with the short sides.

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[John Arnold]

You can gain about 3/8" per side at the neck end by using a spacer under the heel. That assumes a narrow French heel, like a Martin. A wider heel (like Gibson or Guild) will allow for about an extra inch per side.
A Martin style 14 fret dreadnought only requires sides that are 30 7/16" long. The additional amount required for a cutaway will vary depending on the design.

[joe white]

Florentine cutaway. You'll still need to find some similar side wood but you can bind the point of the cutaway to help seperate any difference in grain spacing/pattern

[CMStewart]

Originally Posted by joe white

Florentine cutaway. You'll still need to find some similar side wood but you can bind the point of the cutaway to help seperate any difference in grain spacing/pattern

I prefer a softer, venetian cutaway. Unfortunately for this.

But I think a combination of space at the heel and the end graft may do it.