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I'm interested in playing acoustic guitar in our Church's praise and worship hour. I am going to build me a personal guitar just for this purpose. I have kinda settled in on mahogany as a back and side, but I'm wondering what the top should be? This will be mostly a sturmmer, and id like to be able to cut through at least a little. Included in the choir are a full drum kit, two key board players, an electric bass and the choir it self.

I'm leaning toward a nice Carpathian top, or possible an Addy top?

Any advise would be great
Thanks..

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

your going to need a good pick up, or mic for your guitar....and maybe a Marshall stack,and a fuzz pedal.
seriously, good for you for getting back into playing on stage.

How about that 12 fret dred you are working on?

I think the carp is good choice for any guitar, I hav`nt used it yet but I like it when I tap it. Im going to use some on my next guitar, I let you know what I think. for now it reminds me of the Italian I got from Viv.

Good luck Lance, I agree with Matt, build big and get a stack to plug in to. Seriously, you might need a pickup, sounds like a good time to try one of those K&K pickups.

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

I'm pretty sure its going to be an E2, which is my Sj sized body. I could possibly deepen the body a little?
But I really dont what do go the dreadnought route.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Deepening the body may not give you more volume but may just give you more bottom. Yes definately build what you want to play. Does your church have a sound system you could plug in to?John How38393.438900463

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

Lance I think your SJ body should work just fine. As for topwood either carpathian or addy along with a K & K

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Lance, good for you! Without knowing what your church's pa is like I can't really tell you much except what I use.
We have two guitars, drums, acc. perc., and 4 vocals. When we play accoustic sets, both are WSC guitars one SIG and one OM both with LR Baggs IBeams. When we step it up a notch, I play my OM and Jon plays his Tele. All blends very well and IMHO the mix is great. Hope that helps.

Hey Lance! I've been leading our church choir for around 10 years now. No mic, no pickup, no amp, just me and my acoustic. Of course I do'nt have a drum kit, keyboards and bass to compete with so volume is not that big an issue. I am also blessed with a sanctuary with truly extordinary acoustics. I started out with an old plywood guitar which really didn't have enough volume for the job. Then I graduated to a Martin D-12-28. Plenty of volume there, and I still fall back on that one for some songs, but my go-to instrument now is my 000-12fret. No problem with volume or clarity of tone. It has a really stiff Sitka top with plenty of headroom. I need that 'cause sometimes I get carried away (like the day I broke two strings in two seconds). I guess my philosophy is a little different. I would urge you to build what you will be comfortable playing. Whatever you play with a group like that will need good amplification so the pickup and amp will take care of any volume you need. So just build the sound you like into the size and shape you like to play and invest in a good PU and amp. They call it playing because it's supposed to be fun!!! So build what will be fun for YOU!

Lance
If you have a decent PA and a good pickup in your guitar I wouldn’t worry to much about going with a smaller body size. I currently am playing a 14fret classical sized steel string with a Baggs Dual Source pickup(walnut/sitka). Even though the guitar is small I have no problem getting the volume I need to be heard. I really like the Dual Source. I can crank the volume and use lots of mic with basically zero feedback problems. The mahogany should be a good choice. I played a cedar toped mahogany Taylor at my church for the last few years before I started to build. It handled the strumming well and worked great for fingerstyle. I would probably favor a spruce over the cedar if you are going to be doing more strumming.

When I get some extra time I will build myself a nicer guitar to play. I am a big fan of the SJ shape and think it would work great.

Josh

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Josh House

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Lance--I wouldn't deepen the body. You'd be asking for problems w/ feedback etc., as well as your sound--deep as it might be--getting all muddied up. You need to cut through, so I would vote for the mahog OM, or whatever you are comfortable playing.

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

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Mahogany just begs for an Adirondac top. No finer wood combinations for it. The only drawback with mahogany is its projection is straight out, in your audience's face with a narrow focused area. Play a mahogany guitar and ask someone to walk 360* around you. Then play a RW guitar and do the same. They will tell you what the difference is. RW tends to project in a broader area than mahogany for some reason?

On a side note. I am building a slope D out of Bob's Anigree and it is going to be some kind of special... Very mahogany like but lighter and a LOT more power. Great tonewood.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Speaking of special Mahogany,
This is what I may be using.

Brian Hawkins Beach Tonewood Just cut up a bunch of this stuff.

Ill be auctioning off this very set next week.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Lance, I never thought I'd hear myself say this but if you're going to be mainly strumming, then a sitka top would be my choice (I've now got to go and lie down in a darkened room). An SJ should give you as much punch as you need, I've never used internal pickups in a guitar and have always had no problem performing with mikes and the venues PA. You'll not be suprised to hear me say that a mahogany body helps to make you stand out from the crowd when playing ensemble.

Colin

Hey, I've just had a 'senior moment'!Colin S38394.2309259259

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

I made a mahogony/sitka OM that turned out to be 1/2 inch wider than I had originally intended. I glued the top and back on without the mold and it spread out a bit. I also had trouble contouring the sides to the 25 an 15 foot radius so it is a bit thinner than a traditional OM. This guitar has pretty good tone and it is very loud. I play in contra dance bands and I have no trouble projecting and that is with several fiddles and a piano playing.

I'm so happy with this guitar that I'm now making a 0000/M style just to see if the wide/shallow combination is a factor in loudness. I wish I were done with the experiment so I could make a recommendation.

Something else you might consider is to put in a side port. It doesn't seem to effect the overall loudness or sound of a guitar but it does make it a lot easier to hear yourself playing when you are in an ensamble. Alan Carruth did a study on size and position of sound ports and I've been meaning to contact him for a recommendation for my guitar.

Lance,
I play regularly at my church with a full band. I agree with Dave....play what you are going to feel most comfortable with. When you are not having to wrestle with a guitar it frees you up to worship also. As for pickups....You might have to try a couple to find the one that works well on your particular guitar. I would reccomend an LR Baggs Para DI (pre amp direct box) this way it is fairly inexpensive to try different pick ups and it keeps the weight down on the gutiar.