Official Luthiers Forum!

i feel stupid for asking this, but how can i definitively tell whether a top is solid or ply, on a finished guitar? i stuck a mirror inside my vintage Suzuki classical. looks about the same as the top. it is spruce. but how can i tell if it is solid? looking at the edges of the soundhole from the top, it is just glossy black.

Try to find a grain line or pattern on the outside of the top and looks for a similar line on the inside.

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Jim Hansen

yep, did that. but it is spruce: prettymuch looks identical and unremarkable everywhere. just a bunch of parallel lines. guess i need to look closer

Look at the wood at the sound hole if it is not bound. You should see the vertical lines of the quartered top and they will be fully through the top.

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Even I have trouble telling sometimes, they sometimes do a really good job of hiding the soundhole so that you can't tell if its a solid top. Also it would not work if the top were painted or sunbursted, which frequently happens with non-solid top.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Maybe do some internet research on the model and see how it was built. I bet someone has posted the specs for that model somewhere out there

Heres a link with a few of their instruments. If it doesn't say solid spruce top it is not solid. maybe your model is on here....Mike
http://www.suzukimusic.co.uk/

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Another day, another dollar.

it is a very old, almost "parlor" size classical. '50s or '60s.
based on what i know now, i am assuming it is plywood. plus, the soundhole edges were painted black, presumably to conceal this fact. when i do a string change i am going to find out for sure; its too hard to poke around when it is strung up.
i have seen a few things about how some expert musicians think plywood can sound just as good as solid....based on how some of these old japanese guitars sound, i could maybe see that. they are built light! as in, to a fault, with cracked braces, cracked heels, and diving soundboards....

Is there a label that can be seen thru the sound hole?

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Another day, another dollar.

coitantly! no other numbers anywhere, just the paper label: Suzuki Guitar No.12, Suzuki Violin Co., Ltd, Nagoya, Japan

i've poked around quite a bit, only found one blurb about the specific model online. its a fun little guitar