Maple Top

[daveq]

I have not built a guitar nor have I owned one with a maple top. I would like to build one soon but I'm a little confused about the issue of shaping.

A solid body guitar usually has some sort of contour where your hand rests on the body. The depth of this contour is what concerns me. I think most maple tops are fairly thin right? Maybe around 1/4"? If so, how do you handle this part of the body? Are you forced to not use a contour for your arm or is there another way to handle this?

One other question:

Is binding required (will it look bad if not used) when using a maple top or can you just leave the edges bare? I do not like the look of binding at all and would like to avoid it if possible.

Thanks,

DaveQ

[G_urr_A]

I guess you could try to find a way to bend the top, or have one that is thick enough for the contour, but I'd say that's more trouble than it's worth, so I'd go without the contour.

Binding shouldn't be neccessary. If you paint the guitar with solid colors, you wont see the top, so it'll look like a "normal" guitar. If you use stains, I'd say masked binding is the way to go.

[daveq]

Thanks. Is masked binding different from normal binding or are they the same thing? I was planning on staining the guitar. Do people paint the back / side and only stain the top or is that ridiculous? My original plan was to stain the whole body but if you think the maple top's edges would look strange that way, I'll check into binding.

Thank you,

Dave

[krazyderek]

either paint job has been done, and both look fine. Have u considered using a maple veneer and just bend it over the arms rest? or is this going to be a carved top guitar?

[G_urr_A]

Masked binding isn't really binding at all. It's achieved by masking of the sides of the top, thus leaving natural wood color as an edge around the top. There's a good pic of it over at www.warmoth.com, somewhere.

What wood are you using for the rest of the guitar. If it's a dark wood, I think you could go without any type of binding, and just stain the whole thing (or paint the sides, and stain the top). If it's a ligther (brighter, less dark, whatever...) wood, I think natural binding would look better.