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Hi all

I'm going to be building a Mahogany/Cedar guitar. It's going to be a pretty big one with a 16" lower bout.

The guy it's for likes to use medium guage strings.

Just wondering if that's an issue with the Cedar? Would you keep it a little thicker? Any thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks
Neil

Hi - I was just thinking about a similar topic. You'll undoubtedly get some feedback from those with more experience, but.... here's my two cents.

My one data point is a cedar/black walnut 000 (lower bout 15 inches wide) that I built and am very happy with. The top ended up about 125 thou after thickessing, sanding, etc. The braces were carved a la Dana Bourgeois method, looking for a variety of tap tones across the top. I built it with light strings in mind, and it sounds very nice with light strings. With medium strings, it's a different guitar - loud, also very pleasing but perhaps lacking some of the balance that it has with the lights. And I decided that I didn't trust it with mediums - I think it's built too light for them.

For your guitar, I sure wouldn't build it light. With a 16 inch lower bout and medium strings I think you'll want more structural support than with spruce.

For those who do this for a living, do any of you use deflection testing or other techniques to determine the desired thickness for tops when looking at changing a couple of variables? Like larger guage strings, etc. I'd be very interested as well.