Official Luthiers Forum!

hi guys,

i've been going through the 200+ tops i've accumulated, and i'm noticing that its quite unusual for a top to be consistantly stiff at the top and bottom of the board, i was wondering which end you guys would put at the lower bout and which you would put by the neck, i guess wisdom suggests the stiffer part would be at the lower bout, but i wasnt sure what the general consensus was?

also is there any time you guys specifically choose a slightly floppier top?

paddy

GOOD Questions Paddy!
I too would be interested in What folks here say.
I have 2 realy nice looking tops from Italy with bearclaw but they are a bit floppy at the edges.
Would you brace these tops differently?

Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

Speaking strictly personally, I would probably put the floppy section at the outer edges... As long as it didn't affect the cosmetics negatively.
If the top is floppy at one end, I would use the stiffer wood in the belly area.
If a top is stiffer at one end, it's likely it was cut from a tree with quite a bit of twist. You'll probably see a "two tone" effect on the top once it is finished.
From what I've heard, Greg Smallman likes very floppy wood for his lattice braced classicals.

I agree with Dan, although I have not flexed as many sets as Dan has, I have a flexed a few hundred of them or more. They 'seem' to flex more on the ends just because, well...they are close to the end. If one end flexes more than another it is like a result of twist, but I think that it would noticable by looking at the end grain at each end of the set and see if the slope of the grain is the same. If there is a difference from one end to the other, there was twist in the tree.

Good luck.

Shane

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Canada