Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi All,
I was wondering what thickness (those of you who are making spruce top flamenco guitars) are ending up at? I have been astounded seeing some of the flamenco tops made by master luthiers on guitars that I examined personally and wondered where the good folks around here are at.

Soon to be thickness sanding again JN

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John Nowicki

In a traditionnal way flamenca's tops (made of European spruce) are very thin, around 2mm and sometimes 1,8mm if the wood allows it.

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http://www.cherubin-luthier.fr
https://www.facebook.com/FranckCherubinLuthier

Hi Johnny,

I typically make the lower half of my sound boards about 0.80" or 2 mm thick in the center with narrow graduation around the edge to about 0.60". I use mostly Englemann Spruce. I might go slightly thinner with European though.

Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

It depends on the sound (tone) your working for.
The old Montoya ,Sabicas and others guitars are crisp and thin sounding.
The new sound in "Flamenco" has more warmth to it.

I like the old raspy tone.
And so do most of my clients.

Get the 1951 Barbero plan by R.E.Brune' from the G.A.L.
You'll see the top is thicker -and so is the back then most use.
Using finger pressure to guess at wood thicknesses is not accurate.
And most plans that call for thin tops,backs- are using that method of grading .
Mike

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Mike Collins

Thanks for the replies, I measured a new Ruck and it came in at 1.8mm on the south side of the sound hole and I was stupified. Then I was lucky enough to play same, lots of volume with a very soft flamenco attack. I used my digital caliper to measure it. Raspy sound with minimal but even sustain. Makes me wonder why some would goto the trouble of making a double top. I am going alot thinner on my present build. Last top was 2.5mm. Thanks again!

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John Nowicki