Archtop Top Thickness

[Philip Secrist]

I am building my first arch top guitar. I have carved the top for X-bracing (see picture). The thickness is around 0.250 inches down the center from neck to tail block and graduated to about 0.188 inch thickness near the outer edges, or so I had attempted. As it turns out, the thickness between the upper part of the F holes and the flat part of the outer edge in the waist area (which is about 188 thou) is closer to 0.159 inches. The thickness everywhere else near the flat part of the edges is slightly above or below 188 thousandths. It is kind of hard to see in the picture, but the top is pretty smooth already so after carving the recurve there should be very little sanding to prep for finishing. Should I be concerned about the 159 thou thickness in the waist areas? Am I still within a reasonable range to be ok structurally and tonally?

[Rodney Smith]

If the top is already shaped and sanded to your liking and you feel you need to remove more wood you can do it from the inside however I have a 1936 D'Angelico archtop that is between 5.2 and 5.6 mm recurve at the waist.