Official Luthiers Forum!

While sorting thru my wood stash yesterday I came upon a Sinker Redwood top I had put aside awhile back. The thickness is about 0.99 as I get a little carried away while hand planing before I bought my drum sander. I'm not sure I want to tackle using it at this time for the double tops I've seen constructed with the honeycomb center. Could it be used if the bracing is massive and if so what should I shoot for in target thicknesses etc? Or could it be laminated like plywood is to another piece of material using epoxy or pva glue? I've got a spruce top that is in the .105 range (good thing I bought that drum sander!) that's damaged around the rosette I've been saving for I don't know what. Would this work and if so or not, why?

The reason for this isn't just to use up some less than pristine materials. #3 is going to go to my 13 year old nephew as he's just learning to play so considering the age I'm more interested in giving him a "beater" to start with and later on if he sticks with it possibly build him a special instrument in a couple years. Plus I'm just curious why we don't see a "laminated" type top as I've described above.
Thanks!

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Bobby Masten

Bobby,
You could use it as a double top skin, but you need the make the top a little thicker (thicker core) than what most people make double tops, as the stiff ness of a double top comes from the stiffness of the skins and the top thickness.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

You could also laminate it to another top. I believe I saw someone else do that with a curly redwood top on this forum.

Joe

I think I'll laminate it to the other top. Any suggestions as to glue to use etc?

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Bobby Masten

Hi Bobby,
Have you considered using it for a beautiful little parlor guitar. It might be perfect for a size 1 Martin pattern, and this would be a great guitar for a thirteen year old, that he would never grow out of.
Most laminated (plywood) tops don't sound very good. There are exceptions.

Would it be too thin/floppy for the size 1? If not sounds like the way to go!

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Bobby Masten

That was probably me. Let me know if you need help with that. I used epoxy. It adds a lot of stiffness, so you need to know how to thin it done so that it is not too stiff.

IMO, I think you should get a nice spruce top for the kid. That sinker redwood should go to someone that can appreciate it. Sinker redwood is somewhat fragile in terms of denting and splitting.

I think that thickness would be fine for a 00 or size 1 guitar. Be careful that you do not kill the sound by over bracing it.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.