darkshadow54321 Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 (edited) Hi guys, I have had an idea to do a build similar to a Godin Multiac. It would be strung with acoustic steel strings and essentially have a completely hollowed out guitar body except for an area under the bridge. I would leave a good mass of wood to support the bridge but everything else around it would be chambered. Guitar would be roughly Les Paul sized, maybe a little larger. A thin top would go on top of the hollowed body. I may have a soundhole in the upper bout or maybe not. My question is: as I want to avoid doing any bracing to the top, how thin can the top be? Will the area under the bridge be enough to allow me to use a top as thin as with a real acoustic but without bracing? I'm guessing probably not - if so, is 1/4" for a top the minimum? I believe that's what thinlines usually have. Although I realize that this guitar is not going to sound the same as a real acoustic because of the construction differences, body thickness, etc, I assume that using a thinner top will allow more resonance and volume. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this or if it would make little difference. I also realize that using a thinner top makes the guitar more fragile in terms of dents and breakages, etc. I am OK with that. It is still early days and I haven't researched this properly yet, but many thanks for the help! Edited December 16, 2013 by darkshadow54321 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 If I get you right you will use a solid block of wood between the bridge, at least the same size as the bridge or larger, between the back and the top, part of the big canoe that the body is (hollowed out solid piece)? I guess that we also are talking about a traditional Pin-bridge or maybe even a string-through-body construction. If so I don't think there is anything stopping you from using a traditional acoustic top thickness. The hollowed out body and the solid block under the bridge will carry most, if not all, of the load. However the acoustic aspect of the guitar will be not much more than that on a Gibson "Weight Relief" chambered Les Paul, meaning... not much. If you what a decent acoustic sound you need to use a vibrating top plate that vibrates more or less as a traditional acoustic top. Having said that I get an as good acoustic sound from my sapele solid body MorningStar SC with Graphtech Ghost saddles as the acoustic guitar player gets from his mid priced, piezo equipped Dreadnought... Disclaimer: I have not built a guitar like you suggests, so this should all be looked at as opinions, not hard facts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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