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I need to have a body blank resawn. Solid body 14" wide and 2" deep. I want to have 3/8" cut off, do some chambering, and reattach the 3/8" piece after I plane it to 1/4" with a 1/16" piece of walnut put in for and accent stripe.

I'm having trouble finding anyone who can do this. I'd rather not halve it, as I'm putting a bookmatched Ziricote top on and I'd really rather keep the body (Primavera) one piece. I've called a couple cabinet shops to no avail. Any ideas?

Thanks

_________________
"Real guitars are for old people, Mr. Marsh."

Eric Cartman

If you are putting a drop top on it why not just chamber the face then put the drop top on. Unless of course you want that walnut accent towards the back of the guitar?

Bob

Call any of the wood suppliers at the top of the home page who do resawing - have that 3/8 cut off with their resaw (a big vertical bandsaw), chamber the body with a router and you should be good to go.

Thanks for the replies,guys, even though I screwed up the title (dang autocorrect!).

I don't really want to go to the trouble (and by that I mean time and expense) of sending the board off to have it sawn, but I might change my mind on that. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

The drop top is 0.17" thick, and I worry about the fragility of it if I chamber underneath it. I don't know much about Ziricote. It seems to be similar to rosewood in density, so it might be OK. I know they make acoustic backs & sides out of it, so may be it would be alright. The walnut stripe was just going to be a crime of opportunity. I'm just looking to have the Primavera there to make the top thicker and more substantial. If I just put the Walnut on the back of the drop top it would be a total of about 0.20" by the time I plane (or sand) it a bit to get rid of some light chatter marks it came with. Do you think 0.20" is thick enough? I'd prefer to have the dark stripe back from the Ziricote top, but it's not life or death.

Thanks again, guys.

_________________
"Real guitars are for old people, Mr. Marsh."

Eric Cartman

Oops. misread your intentions.

Bill, most drop tops are about 1/4 inch thick - normal binding is that tall and just covers the edge. If you are not going to bind it then 0.20 should be fine. I built a chambered LP Jr looking thing with a 1/4' top which I thinned a little bit as it approaches the sides (very slight recurve) - it came out very nice and I don't worry about the top thickness at all.

Hopefully the body blank won't cup too much or at all after resawing.

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I didn't think about that. I'm kinda onto something else now. I talked to a guy about sending it off to have it resawn, but then I go to thinking with the cost of shipping it 2 ways, and whatever I'd be charged for the service...geez, I'd be into it more than I payed for the body blank. So now I'm talking to a local guy about just a separate piece 3/8" thick. Since it's just part of a cap, I don't care if it's made out of more than one piece-it doesn't even have to be bookmatched since it's not the top piece.

Just when I was ready to go with a thinner drop top (thanks, freeman), I realized I really do want the walnut stripe a Ziricote/Primavera/Walnut top will provide.

Funny how sometimes relatively small details can take on a life of their own.

Thanks for all the input, guys.

_________________
"Real guitars are for old people, Mr. Marsh."

Eric Cartman