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I got myself billets of wood that taper of app. 1/1/4" to 1/2". Benedettos
book calls for uniform thinkcness of 1". Any suggestions for carving the
top?

thanks.

Tom--The taper you're describing should be fine and is a result of having been cut as a pie shape from the tree. I assume that you have both pieces resulting from the wedge being sawn thru the middle to create bookmatched halves?
Nelson

Yes they are bookmatched.

Tom,
It's actually easier to start with wedge shape pieces than 1" planks because in essence some of the wood has already been removed for you.After the pieces are joined I would follow Benedettos program -carving the outside with palm planes and sanders and using the drill press with the "thickness limiter" jig for hogging the wood off the inside,finishing with palm planes and sanders.Using the templates for the arch and a caliper is crucial, work slowly until you get a feel for it.
As you make more instruments you may want to hog the bulk of the wood off faster possibly using routers,lancelot type carvers, very course sandpaper on grinders,etc. Be extremely careful using these power tools!

I have some "square" pieces of maple for archtops. I want to make them into wedges, because I'd hate to turn that much wood into shavings. The downside that's keeping me from it is the fact that I could ruin the whole thing.