Tom, if you can tell me...

[sonicparke]

I was wondering what the process is to make a drop top a drop top. Do you simply heat up the maple and bend it? I've never built a guitar before but I'm buying some wood and going to try. If the process isn't too complicated I might try it.

I understand if you can't reveal that kinda info.

Thanks,
Brad

[tom]

don't try this at home kids. well you can, but you'll need some gear. we kerf the back side of the top to make it more flexible. you can't steam the top because of the glue joint down the middle. we contour the backing wood then apply glue to it. we pin the top in place and stick it in a vacume bag. the air gets sucked out, and you have atmospheric pressure(14 lbs per sq. in.) pushing down on the top.

[sonicparke]

I see...so if you kerf the back so it will bend easier how do you insure that it won't have gaps on the edges? Are the cuts that precise? (sorry if that's a dumb question) yeah..the vacuum trick might be tough at home.

[tom]

the cuts are very precise. the contour on the back must be very smooth and tangent to the top to avoid gaps.

[sonicparke]

I'm not trying to turn this into a "build your own guitar" thread but how does the thickness of the maple top affect the sound. if it were thin enough to just bend like the sides of an acoustic would it totally wreck the mahogany maple sound? I would guess that you could still bind the edge with maple binding rather than the finish. So it would look pretty close to normal. What do you think?

Thanks for all the info.

(I'm not an Anderson owner but I play one on TV) :-)

One day...

[tom]

the amount of maple is purely a personal taste. for me the .2" top is perfect. more is too hard sounding, less might as well not be there, although you might like the look of it.

[sonicparke]

how thick is the rosewood on the gotw?

[tom]

the same, .2"