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hello friends
i have to an order for 1 guitar which is usually different guitar
the top is used of flat soundboard guitars but the bracing should be like the archtop guitar
means the top should look like archtop but not carved but should look like it and have f-cut
its a fretless instrument played by nails mainly by indian classical musicians.
doing some research on it

the main objective is that the player wants longer sustain used in indian classical music.
which one will have longer sustain
indian rosewood or maple?
waiting for ur reply

I would put my money on rosewood...

..Rosewood............

Maple has higher damping than rosewood. You might try using a heavier, stiffer lining around the perimeter of the top.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

If he's looking for the sort of sustain you get from a sitar, you're going to have to make the top ad bridge heavier. I did some acoustic work on sitars years ago, which involved re-graduating the tops on a couple. The tops were fairly highly domed, pretty thick, and carved out of teak: not a light wood.

The high arching you're looking for with the bracing will help stiffen the top up, and that should give you more sustain. Use a pretty heavy bridge: one archtop player I know says they can't be too heavy. A maple or rosewood top would not hurt. Don't expect to get a loud guitar out of this, though. 'Loud' and 'sustain' together is an entirely different recipe.

Thanks brothers for ur all replies..

yes the player wants longer sustain like in sitar
but i want to tell u that i was asking about the back and sides and not the top
i m going to use engelman spruce as the top.
what thickness i should give to the top and will 7 mm of dome on top be enough to get the sustain?
waiting for ur replyies

The back and sides won't have anywhere near as much effect on the sustain as the top will. 7mm of dome is not all that much: the sitar tops I worked with were arched to about three times that. You'll also need to leave the top a lot thicker than usual to get the stiffness and mass for that sort of sustain, IMO.

thnks for ur reply sir
can i use engelman spruce or carpathian spruce
how much should be the dome??
and how much is the dome in carved top guitar?
the rought cut soundboard is about 6 mm
what final thickness i should use as you say that the top should be heavy???
and how should be the bracing
will be a great favor of ur help as this one of its kind guitar
for ur reference i have attached the pics of guitar of the player
sorry for bombarding questions