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I would like to run some stock through the sander before I glue it all up, what are the minimum thicknesses you go for before glue up, if you do. I have a few really thick tops.

4mm would be about as thin as I would be comfortable going at that point.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

the thinnest i´ve went was 3 mm (thanks Ciresa!), but i agree that 4 mm would be much more comfortable.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Minimum I have ever done was a back at 2.8 mm, it was very thin when I bought it.
The rest (4) around 3.5-3.8 mm.

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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.

my glue ups happen at about .155, like the others.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Last summer I did an Italian top around .120 using LMI's plate joining jig. It came out perfectly, but didn't leave a lot of wiggle room for thicknessing. Thankfully it was pretty stiff.

A couple of years ago one of the students got a maple back that was already sanded to 2.6mm thick before joining. Since I like to finish backs to 2.5, that was a tough one. It took us three tries but we got it. Unless things are pretty waarped I usually leave them rough when joining, and thickness later.