I am Kicking around an Archtop Idea for a small OM Size Guitar . I have Spruce and Redwood both approx 1/4" thick . I was wondering about laminating the top Spruce / Redwood / Spruce / Redwood and then carving to get the striped top effect .

Dumb Idea ?

To Much Glue to Get Good sound Quality ?

Would appreciate honest opinions of what Problems I might see / Tonal Qualities Affected ?

Please Feel free to comment , I want honest sincere input .

Thanks

Are you going to amplify it? You'd actually have sort of concentric ovals, not stripes, wouldn't you?

Prollly a dumb idea anyway .

I don't think it is a dumb idea, but not a KISS method of building an archtop.
Rob

Be careful laminating two different densities of wood together and running the grain all in the same direction, especially if you use wood glue. The water in the glue will cause the different thin pieces of wood to expand, and the contract once the glue is dry, and you will most likely get a curled piece of wood as an end product. I do lots of laminating of very thin veneers for my solidbody electrics, and this is something I have to watch out for. I don't like to use epoxy because it makes the glue line between layers fuzzy instead of sharp and clean the way they end up with wood glue.

If you use wood glue, leave it clamped up flat for at LEAST three days, a week or more would be better, and waxed paper keeps the water from evaporating and the wood from stabilizing.

I think it will look and sound awful. Since you asked.