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I am Kicking around an Archtop Idea for a small OM Size Guitar . I have Spruce and Redwood both approx 1/4" thick . I was wondering about laminating the top Spruce / Redwood / Spruce / Redwood and then carving to get the striped top effect .

Dumb Idea ?

To Much Glue to Get Good sound Quality ?

Would appreciate honest opinions of what Problems I might see / Tonal Qualities Affected ?

Please Feel free to comment , I want honest sincere input .

Thanks

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Are you going to amplify it? You'd actually have sort of concentric ovals, not stripes, wouldn't you?

Hi

I think it may be difficult to get a sharp line between layers of softwood glued together with such an acute angle to the surface of an achtop.
Could kind of spoil the effect with a "fuzzy" line between layers?
Look at ply when scooped out to form a radius dish or solera.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

No No Amplification , and yes concentric oval pattern


Prollly a dumb idea anyway .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

I thought of a similar idea for an arched back, but not as a stripe. I was thinking the recurve area could be a soft flexy wood, and the dome as a harder more reflective surface, and the opposite on the top, a small hardwood area for the bridge, and the rest soft. This is the sort of stuff I was thinking of when I started last year, now I don't allow myself to think about it any more, not until I can make and attach necks and rims in my sleep, then I will try some weird stuff, can't wait to try it though.

As you know though, it will be a lot of work to find out what we suspect is true,

Perhaps the solution is to make a standard and a striped top, and while the hide glue is heating up, tap on them both and decide at the last minute.

I don't think it is a dumb idea, but not a KISS method of building an archtop.
Rob

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For some strange reason my brain has never operated on the kiss method !

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

I think that could look pretty cool. Please experiment so that I don't have to

Be careful laminating two different densities of wood together and running the grain all in the same direction, especially if you use wood glue. The water in the glue will cause the different thin pieces of wood to expand, and the contract once the glue is dry, and you will most likely get a curled piece of wood as an end product. I do lots of laminating of very thin veneers for my solidbody electrics, and this is something I have to watch out for. I don't like to use epoxy because it makes the glue line between layers fuzzy instead of sharp and clean the way they end up with wood glue.

If you use wood glue, leave it clamped up flat for at LEAST three days, a week or more would be better, and waxed paper keeps the water from evaporating and the wood from stabilizing.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I think it will look and sound awful. Since you asked.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Thanks for the insight , this is kind of stuff I am curoius about .



Your probably right ! And, I appreciate the frankness , You cant hurt my feelings, Ive had 2 motheinlaws , skin tough as nails !!

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/