another newbie question

[eugenio01]

Hi all,
exploring the new world of the archtop guitars (new for me..) i have found this statement :

1) archtops are carved—really carved from blocks of wood, not look-alikes

2) pressed archtops, like Harmonys and the cheaper Gibsons and Martins, have flat sheet plates that are pressed in a heated mold to resemble archtop.

quoted from
http://www.acousticg...ic;f=1;t=027876.

Later i've found that there are two way to obtain an arched top (and back..) from solid wood. Carving the solid wood or heat pressing It like laminate.

So i have two question :
a- make sense to you what i've learn about this facts or are only wanna be expert forum tips?
b- did heritage carve or press the solid wood for the archtop series they sell ? Beg your pardon if this is someway an offensive question but i can't resolve it by myself.

I've searched the forum but i have found nothing about but probably i've not properly searched.
Thanks all and sorry for the bad english

[SouthpawGuy]

It's not really a matter of "cheapness" or cost, laminate tops are made that way in order to reduce feedback as solid carved tops tend to feedback more when played loud.

 

The Heritage 575 is fully hollow and made with a solid carved top.

 

 

 

The 576 model, now discontinued, is semi hollow and of laminate construction. Both of those features enable it to be played louder and with more gain than a 575, making it more suitable for rock or blues.

 

 

Hope this helps.

[HANGAR18]

I'm still learning about hollow bodies too the more time in spend here. All my guitars are solid bodies (so far).

 

I seem to remember something being said somewhere about carved tops having a brighter sound but easier to break if abused since there is only one "ply" while laminated tops are stronger because Heritage criss-crosses the wood grain on each layer when the glue them together.

 

I'm still trying to decide which hollow body guitar I want to get in the future.

[barrymclark]

Hey Eugenio01.

 

Just like solid body guitars have a couple of ways their body's are built, so do archtops.

 

With regards to statement number 1 you copied, not all archtops are carved. There are pressed laminate archtops and there are some absolute classics made this way.

 

With regards to statement number 2 you copied, while correct, I find it a bit misleading. While the pressed laminate guitars are cheaper, I am afraid the statement gives the notion that the guitar is therefore cheap which isn't the case at all.

 

With regards to your questions:

1. I would say the first one is partially fact and the second one, while true, might give the wrong impression as to quality and value.
   
2. Heritage makes both laminate and carved. My 575 is carved whereas their Groovemaster or H525 is pressed laminate. Their laminate models, and someone correct me if I am wrong, all have the floating block like the Gibson ES-137. This isn't something that is necessary because of the laminate design but just an option they decided to go with for these models.
   

Hope that helps!

[eugenio01]

Thanks for the kindy reply,all were useful for me.

 

Welcome to any other suggestion\link\ or whatever..

 

@barrymclark : my statement number 2 gives the notion of being cheap for the reason that my english is a shame...

[TalismanRich]

Eugenio,

 

As some have already said, Heritage makes both types of archtops. The two constructions have different purposes.

 

Here is a photo of a laminate top in process for something like a 535. You can see the arch. This was done by gluing a series of sheets together, and then putting that in a forming vice under pressure and steam to form the wood into the desired shape.

 

The carved tops start as a thick sheet of wood which is put on this machine. A pattern is put on the lower level, and the machine follows the contours and reproduces the same pattern on the new wood.

 

 

The rough cut arch is then sanded and smoothed to the desired thickness before adding the rims and back to form the body.

 

 

Look through the various photos galleries from the PSP events. You'll see lots of photos of guitars in the process of being assembled.

 

.... and welcome to the HOC.

[eugenio01]

Thanks talisman...i begin to understand better the whole thing...

i was looking only at the factory tour on youtube ignoring the psp.

Thanks again