Laminated vs Solid vs Carved Archtop Construction

There are (3) different types of construction for the tops and backs (herein called “plates”) of archtop guitars. The terms used to describe these different construction techniques are as follows:

Carved. Done properly, this construction will produce an instrument with superior acoustic tone. The wood for a carved instrument is not "flat sawn" like planks you would purchase at a lumber yard. Instead the wood is "quarter sawn" into wedges (see picture). This creates the beautiful flame figure that is typical for maple back instruments. The wedges are not big enough to span the entire width of a typical archtop guitar top/back and as such, two pieces are glued together, side by side. To accomplish this a single quarter sawn wedge is split in two in much the same way you would open a large book. The resulting 2 pieces of wood are "book matched", glued together side by side, and have near identical grain patterns. These blocks are then carved into an arched plate with a thickness of around 1/8". Since this is the most expensive construction technique for stringed instruments, the manufacturer will always use the word CARVED in the description. If the manufacturer does not specifically mention the word CARVED, you can bet that it is a laminate. Unless the builder has done something very special, instruments with carved construction have the lowest tolerance to amplified feedback. The reason you would pay the extra money for a carved archtop is for the superior acoustic tone. Once in a while you will see an archtop with a top that is carved thicker than normal with the advertised benifit of improved tolerance to amplified feedback. This makes no sense whatsoever. What is being presented is an instrument with the acoustic qualities of a less expensive laminante archtop but with the additional cost of carved construction.

Laminate Type 1 (aka Solid Wood). This construction produces a warm, mellow acoustic tone with improved tolerance to amplified feedback. The plate is made from 2 - 3 thin layers of high quality solid wood. Glue is applied between the pieces and then pressed to form an arched shape. The exposed layer of wood is typically a very thin slice of quarter sawn wood with excellent figure, flame or grain pattern. Even though this construction uses a laminate process, most manufacturer’s will use the term ‘Solid Wood’ in their descriptions and specifications. Note that if a manufacturer advertises an archtop as having a solid spruce top, you can bet it’s a laminate and not carved. (This does not hold true for flat top guitars. In this case, solid wood means the plates are made from a single piece of tone wood.)

Laminate Type 2. This construction produces the thinnest acoustic tone and typically has the best tolerance to amplified feedback. The plate is made from multiple layers of unspecified wood (i.e. Plywood). The outermost layer is a very thin veneer which has traditional wood grain figure.

Note that the bracing of the plate (top) can produce wide variations in acoustic tone. Most luthiers have their own techniques for brace construction which can dramatically alter the acoustic tone and tolerance to amplified feedback.
So are carved archtops better than laminate? Only if you and your audience can hear the acoustic tone of your instrument. If you plan to play amplified in a club setting, a carved archtop could be a disaster. There are many high quality laminate archtops available, most notably from builders such as Roger Sadowsky and Bob Benedetto.

As you may have already inferred from the above, the better the acoustic tone, the more susceptible an instrument will be to amplified feedback. Conversely anything that degrades acoustic tone usually improves tolerance to amplified feedback. The most practical solution for increased tolerance involves plugging the f-holes with a foam or rubber type material. Check out www.dougsplugs.com