Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi gang, once again its been a while. Im sure the subject of laminated back and sides has been surfaced before on this forum but I was wandering about them. What is your opinion on doing this. I know laminating is usually associated with cheaper guitars but I know many great guitars are made with multiple ply back and sides. Ive read that the old Selmer-Maccaferi guitars were made with up to three-ply back and sides. What are the benefits in tone to doing this, I understand the guitar will be more structurally sound by adding layers but I am more interested in talking about the voice pros and cons in doing this. The real reason I am doing this is that I am looking to buy a new Recording King Lefty Dread RD-16-L for $280 they offer a solid Engleman Spruce top with forward shifted Scalloped Bracing and of course laminated back and sides. I had to sell my Larrivee financial reasons and am looking for a cheap Lefty until I finish number one.

thank you
Jason

Manuel Contreras I and II have called their laminated back "doble tapa." They simply laminated the back with a layer of mastergrade soundboard material. I've tried cocobolo and camatillo RW with cedar interiors and the taptones became more like a BRW to me - lower damping, brighter, etc. BTW those two RWs are significantly heavier than BRW, and they are quite floppy when having the same weight as BRW. I'm not sure what thickness combination Contreras uses, but in my experience it'll be okay as long as the final weight is within normal range of a solid back.

jason, take that 280 bones and spend it on tools you need to finish building your guitar. then youll have a guitar to play and number one will be finished. problem solved. youre not that far away anyways, so get on it. do you still have that lefty tele? if so, then why would you even consider spending money on something that isnt that L-0 you are building? ok, rant over.

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sweat the small stuff.

fair enough...the truth is the truth...thanks friend

jason, sorry man. i didnt mean to sabotage your thread. you had some legitimate questions. i was just trying to get you out into the shop.

although i could parrot what ive heard about laminated sides and what not, i really know very little first hand, so i will leave those responses to others more informed. there is a ton of info to be found in the archives however.

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sweat the small stuff.