Official Luthiers Forum!

A good friend of mine started building his first with me this weekend - Imagine: I am now mentoring someone else which is scary in itself.

Anyway, he is making a Maple b/s and took the sides down to .065 which seemed a little too thin to me. Pretty flexible and we were able to bend with no moisture. What do you guys think? Is this too thin? Will we be ok if we brace the sides well?

Too thin for me. I've tossed some maple sides that I accidently thicknessed under 2mm (.079). But somenone else with more experience will know better than me. I like a little room for final sanding and blending in the bindings.

Why not thin some more and then laminate with another set?

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Aoibeann

I've gone thinner

My sides are never thicker than 0.080" and I don't mind going a bit lower
than that. You are on the lower limit of what I would be comfortable
building with but you should be okay if you are very careful with sanding
from here on out.

I've heard from a number of different folks that work on old Martins and
they have seen sides as thin as 0.050" and are still holding up fine.

--
Simon

It's not too thin until it's transparent

Rich, for maple, i'd say it's ok especially on the bending part but as Simon points out, be careful not to sand down to much, brace it well and you should be fine, in fact, it should make a banjo killer!

THANKS GUYS

I will use them and perhpas add some side bracing. Appreciate your feedback

Before I had my thickness sander I had a set that I sanded down to less than .06. I did use wood instead of cloth for side "braces" on that one but it was a SJ and is still holding up great.

Man you've gotten some great advise here.
Bracing the sides is recommended no matter what thickness they are !
laminating the sides will realy give some stability and you can level the outside set more than usual if need be.
Plus you can use any wood for the inside lamination!

I try to leave my sides no matter what wood (unless it's quilted) at .085 -.090 -a well quartered set can go .095 but thats as fat as a side should get !
I love bending Maple!
It's so easy and just melts sometimes!
Mike
www.collinsguitars.com

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Mike Collins

I am starting to leave things a bit on the thick side to allow for finish sanding. Scorch marks, waves and ripples can sometimes be troublesome. I recently had to scrap a set of primo Madagascar rosewood sides as a relatively minor appearing scorch at the waist didn't start to disapear until I approached .045, with starting thickness of appx..092. I just didn't feel good about using something that thin and having it come back to haunt me. I did get lucky though- Gilmer sold me a mad. rosewood bass fingerboard that I was able to resaw into sides (although with no room to spare). It matched the back perfectly.
Having said that, Jeff Eliot had a GAL article in the recent past about the restoration of a >century- old Spanish classical. He remarked that the sides were less than 1mm in many places and apparently held up well.

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It's not the miles ahead, it's the stone in your shoe


In Markham,Virginia

The point of side bracing is to stop a crack from migrating if they happen. Being that thin I would side brace 3 times in the lower bout, one each side of the waist radius and 2 in the upper bout. This is per side by the way. If you don't mind bias tape that will do fine. Just out of curiosity, why did you go this thin? I is not a problem in my opinion other than for sanding to smooth sides. this thin it may want to ripple on you after bending if not assembled into a lined rim immediately.

Mike P.
The side braces are not only for side movement(cracks) but to help make the top work to its full potential !
If the sides flex and breath to much you can lose volume ( loudness) and sustain .
Chances are the very old guitars we see & hear are thinner in side depth and have a very open top due to age and playing so that's it impossible to compare new guitars to old ones.
I think some of the old guitars that made it to this time & place where probably not played very much when new because they were to tight !
So most players sold them to students or set them aside
for a more open guitar!
But we all love them now of course!!!
Well they're 70 or more years old !
Of course they will sound good now if they were over built!
Mike
www.collinsguitars.com

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Mike Collins

good point Mike your

[QUOTE=Mike Collins] Bracing the sides is recommended no matter what thickness they are !
Mike
www.collinsguitars.com[/QUOTE]

Mike,

How do you feel about using cloth tape verses wood for side braces?

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

[QUOTE=MichaelP] The point of side bracing is to stop a crack from migrating if they happen. Being that thin I would side brace 3 times in the lower bout, one each side of the waist radius and 2 in the upper bout. This is per side by the way. If you don't mind bias tape that will do fine. Just out of curiosity, why did you go this thin? I is not a problem in my opinion other than for sanding to smooth sides. this thin it may want to ripple on you after bending if not assembled into a lined rim immediately.[/QUOTE]

Michael, making them this thin was not by design. My buddy did not realize how muuch the drum sander was taking off and how quickly. I left him alone with a mic and had instructed him to bring them to .08