Official Luthiers Forum!

I have just finished closing up three OM guitar boxes...One EIR , One Curly maple and one Bloodwood....The RH was in the mid 40's for all the boxes when they were closed up...The back thickness on all three are .100....The rosewood and the curly maple backs are nicely curved but the bloodwood back has flattened slightly....Do some woods used for backs need to be thinner than others ...I am really thinking about redoing the back on this one and going to around .090...Any thoughts on this ....Thanks Larry

Thats just it.... will the curve come back in the back if I do sand down to .090...Maybe Its a weak brace or something....Just looking for some ideas....

In my experience, bloodwood is somewhat squirrely and unstable. Maybe that has something to do with it.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

I've built one bloodwood guitar and am in the process of completing a second, .075" and .072" thickness for the backs. I've not found bloodwood to be unstable so far, I waited a while before using the sets I resawed, but it is definitely brittle and crack prone.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Bloodwood has always proven itself to be an angry wood with hidden and unpredictable
stresses that make it unstable. Thiner will certainly allow the braces to overcome the back
and the back to surrender to the radius on them, but it's still a tough wood.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars