Plywood for resos

[Colin Brooks]

This is a question for our luthier chums.

Hacking around the net there is no end of info about tone woods but I can't find anything about plywood suitable for reso construction/repair. I guess what I need is a fairly thin high density ply, but I don't know what to order. I'll be needing a mahogany top veneer. Should I order it like that or veneer it myself? I imagine it would be sensible to use solid wood for rims.

My immediate project is to fit a cone in an old Harmony fauxbro which currently lacks a back! In the long term I hope to work up to making a single cone squareneck (to be painted like a polychrome triolian).

Aloha, Colin Brooks

[LouisianaGrey]

What you need is Baltic Birch Ply - preferably Finnish, as I've heard the Russian stuff isn't as good. You should be looking for 3 mm for the back, especially as you're planning to veneer it. Alternatively you can get various veneered plys from Maderas Barber in Spain if you must have ply, but if you want it to look like mahogany anyway why don't you just buy a solid wood back and side set?

[Colin Brooks]

Thanks Pete. I've had a good look at the old Harmony and it is made of solid wood, so I guess it deserves a real mahogany back!

Aloha. Colin Brooks