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I have a very light and very stiff western redcedar top with which I'd like to build a flattop guitar. Are there any general recommendations regarding thicknessing and/or bracing as compared to spruce?

Thank you,

jim

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Mmmm....wood.

I brace my cedar tops the same as I do redwood or spruce. As far as thickness, there really is no magic number. Its all dependent on what you are going after and how it is going to be used. That said, my tops usually fall in the 100 to 120 thousands range.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Thanks for your answer.

In an attempt to clarify: I was wondering about thicknessing a redcedar top relative to a spruce top of similar stiffness. Should it be on the thicker side of the range compared to a similar spruce top, or just treat it the same?

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Mmmm....wood.

FWIW, I thickness my SWRC, WRC, SRedW and RedW top slightly thicker on avg that the spruces.

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"I've been had again"
Tim Benware
Creedmoor, NC

I think that Tim and Lance are saying that they do thickness a bit more with WRC - I do too.

For many of us our final thickness is determined by deflection testing compared to our personal databases of past builds and what we believe resulted, etc.

Since new builders often are not set-up for deflection testing a pretty safe thickness for WRC for an OM sized guitar IMO would be around .125" and for a dread*ught a bit thicker or about .130. Lance is experienced so he may go thinner, me too and an OM that I have on the bench at present that I still need to make the neck for is WRC with a final top thickness about about .120".

We all have our thoughts on suitability of WRC too. In my case I like it for finger style guitars and don't like it for dreads and flat picking. I also don't like it in the repair world when bridges lift WRC often gets more torn up than spruce will. But it has it's place, can produce a great sounding instrument, is very pretty IMO, and certainly suitable for guitars.

When installing a bridge the utmost care should be taken when scoring the finish to not cut into the WRC fibers or you may be honoring a bridge lifted warranty claim far sooner than you would have hoped.... We frequently see production instruments where this has happened and it makes the repair more complicated when the top fibers have been scored though by the builder.

It is an amazing wood though. Love the color too!

Thanks much!

jim

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Mmmm....wood.