Robert Lak wrote: Sorry Alex... tried to delay your project so you could kick back and have a couple more beers, mull over the greater controversies of life and guitars before you had to get to work. Sounds like the ruse is up. The whip has been cracked. First pics are due in a week.
You're a harsh task master, Mr. Lak! 
[quote="meddlingfool"]Robert,
Because a bad tap tone does not indicate that it will make a bad guitar. Plenty of the mahogany and walnut I've made nice guitars from have tapped like cardboard. Really, it's only an indicator of how much shimmer and chime it will lend to the instrument. Less 'ting' in the tap tone translates fairly well to less overtones in the final guitar, same as top wood IMO.
Alex, since this is your first, the answer is 'yes' to all of it. Since you have no real frame of reference as to how or why you would choose certain woods over others, and how they would change the spectrum
tonally with how you build, and don't have a specific objective in mind, all of the woods you mentioned, padauk,,black limba, curly spalted maple Carpathian et al, will all work just fine.
At the end of the day, you won't be able to make rational choices about that until you've got a few under your belt and can hear for yourself the differences different woods make, and even then, you have to sort out whether the differences perceived came from the back and sides, or something you've done with the top and bracing, or the geometry or what have you. You need to start out with a point of reference, so don't overthink it, and get cracking!
Here's why I suggested lutz. To me, maple is a bright/neutral wood, so warming it up with lutz would add some shimmer and overtone content. Using a brighter top wood such as sitka might make it too bright.
Anyway, the larger point is that it's easy to get lost in the minutiae when you're just getting started. Maple is a beautiful, easy to work with wood, and will make a nice guitar.
Or to make it even more on point...no, there is no reason at all not to use maple!
Thanks, Ed. That was pretty much my thinking going into this. I won't have a body of knowledge to reference until I have a body of work to draw it from. Keeping good notes and deflection testing should help to that end.
There have been so many 1st guitars on this forum that have been just incredible, with wonderful esthetics and craftsmanship. Would I like to do that? Yup. Am I do or die to do it? Nope. Just want something to build on. And if doesn't look like refried beans? Hooray!
Alex
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