Official Luthiers Forum!

Sorry, I know little to nothing about building electric guitars... but I am interested. Do you use veneers on some solid internal body? Like Ash? And if you do use veneers, how thin do you dare go? What if the top of the guitar is not flat? Still use veneers?

My sone wants a Les Paul copy...

Mike

Some tops are "veneer", very thin. Also some cheap arched tops or carved tops are veneered, I guess they bend the veneer to the shape of the guitar. But, if you want a real Les Paul, you'll need a thicker top, and then carve it. It's between ½'' to ¾''. Gibson put a binding to hide the demarcation, but all is your choice.

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

Eric Clapton's "cheap arched top" laminated ES335 sold for over $750,000. Thousands of laminated ES 175 guitars are working in jazz clubs around the world and many of the finest makers of guitars use laminated veneer construction to the benefit of the working musician. Just trying to dispell teh myth of veneer=cheap.

I wouldn't use thin veneer as tii-Roux stated though for the LP project.

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Ken