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I hope this doesn’t bore anyone or have you thinking, “Here we go again”. I am working on my second classical guitar with a Western Redwood Cedar top. I just finished installing the rosette and after putting it through the drum sander and ROS, I am at about .103” to .108.

Generally speaking, is this to thin for a classical top? Yes, I know it depends on many variables, but I am not keen enough of them to know.

Thanks

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Guitars...One's too many...Twenty is not enough.

I'd say that's not too thin for a cedar top, but I would not go too much thinner either. As you say, a lot depends on the design you're using and what you want the sound to be. Get a look at Dave Hurd's 'Left Brain Lutherie' book for some information on how to deflection test the top. This should help keep you out of trouble.

My first (and only so far) was much thinner than that. I think it probably ended up at around 2.2mm, or 0.0866", give or take a tenth millimeter or two. It sounds good to me, but who knows how long it'll last.

#2 cracked in half. I'm down to 1.4mm, .055", in spots. It's spruce though. May be ugly, but I expect it to work.

Edit: You know, now that I think about it, my cedar top might be even thinner than that. Maybe in the upper 1mm range...bbeardb38799.6960532407

Your fine. I go down to about 2.5mm with cedar and traditional bracing and 2mm with lattice braced tops.