MIMF

Clay Schaeffer wrote:A radical idea (and not saying _ I _ would do this ) might be to use 100% silicone sealant to glue the lower back braces. It would be a bit more flexible than HHG.
Building the guitar under the proper conditions and keeping it reasonably humidified is probably all that is necessary to keep it from cracking.

Hehehe, I could use contact cement, and that would really speed up assembly time as well! I'd be worried of silicone seeping through the other side and making finishing a nightmare... could you imagine spraying on a finish, and watching it just bead off right where the ribs are?

BTW... still no recommendation on thickness?

For wenge you can use the same thickness as rosewood.

Clay, I've never built an acoustic of rosewood before... I used padauk, and took ot to .080" for the back, though I couldve gone thinner I think.,..

Hi Louie,
Anywhere from .110 to .080 should be O.K., depending on the size of the guitar and how much you want the back to vibrate in response to the top. Wenge has some big pores, and although very stiff, not extremely heavy. I would tend to leave it a little on the thick side for a steel string guitar, but might go thinner for a Flamenco style nylon strung instrument.

Thanks Clay.... The last steel string I made was similar to an OO in size, and I ended up with .080", it was padauk. I do want to be able to to adjust the thicknesses for different size guitars so I might just have everything cut to about .12", and have then thicknessed tp size locally. There's a shop nearby with a thickness sander.