(click on any of the images to make them larger)
As per usual - I'm making this stuff up as I go...
When I first thought about making this 12-string I was planning on giving it a 'carved top.' For those not in the know - a carved top is pretty much what it sounds like - you carve the top of the guitar so that it has shape. A typical example is a Gibson Les Paul. Les Paul's usually have a mahogany body with a Maple top glued to it. The Maple top is then shaped (either by machine or by hand) to have a bit of a radius to it - kind of like a small arc.
I have no idea if this adds to the tone or not but it does make the guitar look pretty cool.
Some Fender Guitars by contrast have a flat top.
I was going to glue a few pieces of wood together to form the top of this guitar (similar to the maple 'cap' on a Les Paul) and carve them with a router to have that Les Paul (or PRS) curve. That all changed when I went to Woodcraft this past weekend and found these beauties.
What you are looking at are two pieces of flamed maple glued to a strip of Cocobolo (which has a small strip of inlay added to the surface.
If you look closely - you will see the cut line on the top.
And here are a few shots of the cut top. I started out cutting this with a jig saw but because the wood is so thin (1/8th of an inch) it was breaking it instead of cutting it. I switched to the router - which took longer but came out better and did less damage to the wood.
I'm now trying to decide whether or not to stain the maple wine-red or coffee brown.
Decisions...
