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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on April 20, 2018 at 10:30am

I used some Cedar fence plank that was 3/8" thick for a build. I routed the center of the top and back down to 3/16" leaving 3/8" strip around the outer edge. 1/4" would be the thickest I've used for top/back material.

Thickness won't be much of an issue if using a pickup.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff 'Bones' Reilly on April 20, 2018 at 10:31am

1/2” would work for the body ,1/4”for the back ,1/8” for the top , I have used 3/4” pine for the body on my Teapot build gave me a nice bright sound , also used same thickness on my Parlour build turned out great now in saying that it depends also on type of wood you are intending of using all have there own sound & tone . All you can do is build it and find out for yourself  .... keep us posted . 

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on April 21, 2018 at 12:45am

The natural acoustics of our box guitars is not really very good, thus the common use of a pickup. Once a pickup is installed, the box acoustics don't really play into it much. That beings said, the answer to your question is any thickness you want to use would be fine. Remember a Les Paul is about two inches of solid wood and it sounds fantastic.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on April 21, 2018 at 6:35pm

Hi Shawn, I have posted about this a few times, here are a few pointers.

My tops are maximum 1/8" laminated or solid, along with appropriate [minimal] bracing. Backs the same. 

The sides do not play a role in the sound production other than supporting the back and top to do their job, so thickness of sides is no sot much an issue. You don't want them robbing vibrations from the back or top. You really want them to be very responsive to the energy generated from the strings. A Soundhole is important.

When I put a magnetic pickup in an acoustic top it is not fitted to the top, but suspended below and protruding above.

When working on a full size guitar top I am more interested in strength and response so I pay more attention to those two things, and the thickness is what it is. It could be different for different guitars. But with CBG's I don't fuss so much and I can say " all around 1/8".

Hope this helps Taff

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on April 27, 2018 at 9:16pm

3/4 inch for the back and sides. The top is 1/8 ply. I never put sound holes in it. The idea was to make the body as light as I could but strong enough for a six string neck. Ended up added an extra bit of 3/4 ply on the back to secure the neck. 

I'm not sure where you would find this thin ply. We have costumers who use it for patters. I get this and 1/4 ply patterns for where I work. I either take em home or they get tossed. 

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on April 29, 2018 at 6:32am

Hobby stores usually carry thin ply.

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on April 28, 2018 at 4:16am

Thinner will generally be an advantage accoustically, but there are many intangibles, i have a very thick,[ around 12 mm] Macanudo cigar box from one of my very 1st builds, made of MDF, which i thinned the top down by about 1/2, it has very small sound holes, but is quite loud, but a deep tone, at that time i was adding piezo discs, and i think the extra thickness countered some of the handling noise, and made it a great sounding electric guitar

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Permalink Reply by Wal Callaby on May 1, 2018 at 9:57am

Hi Shaun- I'm gonna stick my neck out here and say you're from RoI. If so, try searching Kitronic on the web. They do all sorts of mad craft stuff, but also a decent range of A4 size (and larger too, but I like the A4) birch ply. I started off using 3mm all round- back, sides and top- but am now tending towards 6mm back, 3mm sides and 1.5mm or 2mm tops. Just finished an A5 size with an 18" scale 30mm wide neck, three stringer, and it plays great. The A4 size with 22" 35mm wide necks also work well. Other sources of ply are available, but Kitronic come in pretty cheap, and deliver quickly. Word of warning- the 6mm is a BITCH to cut with a Stanley knife, which handsaws aside is all I have. That's why I stick to A4 and A5 size bodies...

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