Has any luthier ever lamanated and spruce and cedar top?

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Best of both worlds?

A top made of 2 thin tops glued together to equal the thickness of a regular top.

Seems like a good idea.

Anyone ever hear of this or willing to contract a luthier to try it.

Likey would sound like dirt but wouldnt it be sweet if it worked!

8)

[keith]

do not know about lamination but there is some luthier (forgot who though) that has a cedar/spruce combo with the cedar half of the soundboard on the bass side and the spruce half on the treble side. looks weird. as to the sound? :?: but since no established person uses that combo one must wonder--but then again, i am sure many folks said that looking at the first greg smallman lattice top.

[jens]

I know of two luthiers who built tops with cedar and spruce combined in two different ways. There is Andrea Tacchi from Italy who builds a top out of a spruce central panel and two red cedar outer panels. Looks pretty weird and I don't know how it sounds. And there's a Canadian, Fritz Mueller (yes, that's his real name...), who copies Dammann's double top construction laminating an outer top of spruce with a piece of cedar inside the guitar. Both of these two luthiers argue that their construction enhances their instruments' quality of sound signifficantly. But I don't really believe in the superiority of those guitars. I'm happy with my traditionally built spruce top guitar and I don't need a Dammann or Smallman. I once had the chance of playing Dammann and it really wasn't a great experience. There are guitars outside, that are much better and even louder than the famous Dammanns.

[NGiorgio]

I have a book called Custom Guitars, and in the Classical section is a photo of a guitar with redwood and western red cedar. The redwood is on the bass side and cedar on the treble. It's called Mestiza Cafe Classic by luthier Marc Silber.

I've also seen photos of the Tacchi guitar with the three piece top of cedar and spruce. Would like to know how they sound.

[tmkid]

With regard to the question about gluing pieces of spruce and cedar to produce a soundboard, the glue would be such an important element of the system that it wouldn't be the best of both worlds at all.

The idea of Bernabe, Tacchi and others of "splitting" the top 1/2 cedar and 1/2 spruce also produces unsatisfying results. Spruce and cedar vibrate differently, age differently, repond to finish differently. The top has to work together as a whole, single vibrating area... I have played a couple of guitars like this and they were both inferior to the builder's standard guitar of spruce OR cedar.

Tim
GSI

[keith]

good point tmkid.

in the world of steel strings, substances such as graphite, fiberglass, carbon fibers and other synthetic materials are being used--by many companies. are there any luthiers using synthetics for significant parts of the classical guitar (say top, sides and back)? greg smallman uses synthetics in the structure of his lattice struts which is a fairly small component-- but what about the main components? one would think that with the advent of composites (fiberglass, kevlar, epoxy, etc.) someone would start using these materials.

sounds weird? well the borg :twisted: in the star trek series use nano technology and guess what, nano technology is here.

[Dimitri]

There's a certain stigma attached to laminated wood guitars. Laminated woods (or plywoods) are synonymous with cheapo guitars.

While this is largely true, it's not entirely so.

I've read several articles from a well-respected publication where some luthiers are experimenting with laminated woods with very very promising results.

Don't be surprised if you see more such guitars, somewhere down the road, by well-known luthiers. There appears to be some merit to it.

Dimitri

[Jonny Hotnuts]

THanks all for your input.
I see now where it would not work.

;)