Official Luthiers Forum!

Can anyone tell me why I should not consider a three piece spruce top on a harp guitar that I'm designing? Sure we have 2,3 and even 4 piece backs. I believe the back pumps air as the front, not as much obviously. I figured the third piece would be primarily the arm of the harp. Has anyone ever heard of a three piece top on a normal guitar? Why not? Clinton

I don't know about steel string tops, but Torres commonly used multiple pieces for his tops, selecting the best sections from each piece of wood.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

No good reason at all why not to. Two piece book matched tops are pretty
and all, but certainly not necessary. Pianos get by just fine, as well as plenty
of thirties Gibsons with completely unmatched three and four piece tops. I
personally would much rather make a four piece top, choosing the best
sections from several boards, than make a two piece book matched top and
have to accept bad parts along with the good.

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Clinton-
There's no reason at all why you shouldn't make a top in more than 2 parts.
You do have to think about the runout in your pieces, and how that will translate to colour changes under the finish.

With a harp guitar, you've usually moved away from the bilateral symmetry of the standard guitar a lot, so matching the top across the center line probably isn't a big requirement any more.

That said, top wood (especially if you don't mind a bit of colour) is still a great bargain, and some of the suppliers/vendors here can probably sell you a good oversized set for your harp guitar project.

Cheers
John

Seems to me that I saw that Shane has some Harp Guitar sized tops.  Or, at least, he did.  That would be High Mountain Tonewood at the top of the page.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I was talking recently with one of customers (he doesn't participate on any forums) and we talked about the spruce supply. The result of the conversation was that he advised me to start stocking up and thinking about offering four piece tops. Our forests are being mowed down at an alarming rate and the wood is going overseas (asia) for a lot of un-music related items, like Shoji Screens. So it is getting increasingly difficult for get quality wood. Judging by the recent large volume of well know guitar makers that have been contacting me lately, this problem is universal!! I think we will have wood available from this area for a while yet but the price will not be going down. I suspect I will be paying about 200% more for logs than I was only a year ago. that is if I want any type of quality (And I do!!).

Dave White, in the UK, used a four piece lutz top for his harp guitar and he reports that it went well. I do still have a few larger sets that will get you a two piece top available and will cut more next year, when I have more new logs in the yard.

Shane

_________________
Canada

I even made a four piece mandolin top, with spruce scraps from a house renovation. Sounds fine, but I gave it a dark burst as the pieces were not matched at all and it looked, shall we say 'busy'.

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I saw a very striking guitar once with a 3 piece top which was 2 outer bits of spruce and a middle bit of another wood.

I wonder how that would work given the different ideal thicknesses of different tops that I've read about?

If you mix cedar with spruce do you get warm brightness? or just a funny-looking guitar?

I wouldn't experiment with mixing woods at this point, I have enough issues just building with normal methods. I haven't put any thought into using one in the center and then two wings but more aling the lines of two "normal" pieces for the main guitar and just add one and sliding it up for the harp arm. I'm not sure how to radius the top in the harp arm area. Then again maybe changing species for just the harp arm? Clinton

No problem, in fact certin Martins came with 4 piece tops!
Lance

This notion of the bookmatched, two piece top is a fairly modern one, most of the instruments I get to see and work on from an earlier age came with unmatched halfs or 3 and 4 piece tops. We have been spoilt in recent years with the supply of quality tonewood out there. In the 19th century and before, well you built with the best wood you could get, if that meant three piece unmatched tops, or sometimes two piece tops with the join off centre, then that's what you did. One thing you can be sure of though, the wood used on these surviving (therefore probably top range) instruments was the best there was and today they are still some of the best sounding guitars and lutes you'll hear.

Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Yep, what everyone said.......I think it is up to our generation of luthiers to re-educate the instrument buying public to the fact that many factors today dictate the use of multi piece tops over what we all have been used to for the last fifty years or so.............

My favorite multi-piece was the three piece top that Ovation used on its earliest guitars, made from spruce once destined for helicopter blades. 

My first acoustic guitar was made from at least a 6 piece top..........two halves and three plys

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.