Official Luthiers Forum!

I notice that at LMI (i'm not sure about elsewhere) electric guitar top plates (you know essentially 1/8" thick wood that looks prettier than the wood below) are really expensive, I mean really really expensive. For example drop top plates they START at $100 and that's for low grade plain wood. I was wondering why can't I just buy an acoustic guitar back plate and use that instead? there's more selection for that at LMI anyways. I understand if you're doing say a carved top that requires more wood then it'd be different but I mean an acoustic guitar back plate is around the right thickness for a drop top. Maybe there's other sellers who sells electric guitar top plate at a more reasonable price (or at prices where screw ups are not expensive, good for beginners)

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

For $100 you can get their very top grade of flamed maple in a drop top, less for lower grades.

"drop-top plate, flamed Maple, premium figure or AAAA, 1/4” thick In Stock $95.70"

The prices on drop tops are in line with the cost of back and side sets. B&S are much thinner, slightly bigger, and twice the cost.

That said, I've got so many awesome electric tops just from picking around at my local exotic woods dealer that it'll be a long time before I need to buy any. Perhaps you can do some stack-picking and some resawing? You can use an acoustic back as a very thin drop top, but there's no hidden markup in most wood dealers' prices.

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Tai Fu, we have some very reasonably priced Leopardwood drop tops listed on our site. Here's a link (scroll down to find the drop tops): http://www.hibdonhardwood.com/guitarbody.htm

Thanks, Andrew

_________________
Hibdon Hardwood, Inc.
http://www.hibdonhardwood.com
1410 N. Broadway
Saint Louis, Missouri 63102
314.621.7711

Like Bob mentioned, drop top plates are usually 1/4" thick. I think 1/8" would look odd, but that's just my opinion, and there would be ways of disguising it with binding too. Look more closely at LMI's prices. Like Bob also pointed out, their top-of-the-line flamed maple drop top is actually under $100. Obviously the 5/8" tops cost more, and the quilted costs a LOT more. I don't ever see quilted maple at the local lumber yard though. I guess I'm really just reiterating all of Bob's points, because you can certainly find great wood for tops at the lumber yard too!

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

I've gotten at least two-thirds of the wood I use for top plates from Ebay. I just do a search for the wood I want - for example "quilted maple lumber" or "curly claro walnut"

It also helps to be able to resaw the wood yourself - you'll save money and get the top plate the thickness YOU want. I have a 14" Ridgid bandsaw with a 6" riser block, and I use a Timberwolf 1/2" resawing blade (3 TPI skip-tooth).

--Steve

_________________
---Steve