Official Luthiers Forum!

I was thinking about using spuce on the back and hardwood top. I have built two reso guitars on Indian Rosewood back and sides with sitka top, and the other Maple back & sides with Koa top. But it seems to me that besides the resonator, the top doesn't get to do much vbrating, small surface area, while the back moves quite a bit when I use sound posts.Tomas38870.4886342593

Hang in there, I can't comment intelligently on this. Hopefully, Gary or one of the other fine Reso Masters around here will have some informative response.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I can't think of a theoretical reason why it wouldn't work. The downside is that spruce is quite soft and the back generally takes more wear then the front. Also I have no idea what the tonal effect of spruce as a back would be - the top doesn't contribute much to the sound because, as you say, it doesn't vibrate much but the back can shape the tone quite a bit.

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Pete
http://www.petewoodmanguitars.com

Regal makes a model that uses a sort of sound reflector that's a disc set into the soundposts and suspended under the resonator, not touching the back. Not sure, but it might be concave or parabolic. Don't know the model, LG probabley does.

CrowDuck

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Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.