Italian Alpine spruce

The double top with Nomex

640mm or 650 mm

Radiused or flat fingerboard?

Italian Alpine spruce grows at extremely high altitudes in very cold environment. This slows the growth making the fibers tight and musically very resonant.  A beautiful range of sound with a fast response. Clear trebles and a reverberating bass that makes the whole body vibrate.

The double top with Nomex is basically a sandwich where a thin layer of synthetic fire retarding material (Nomex) is inserted between two super-thin tops. The total thickness of the 3-layered top is equivalent to a normal top. The center layer is practically speaking hollow, therefore it is also called "hollow guitar top". This is more expensive because 2 tops+Nomex and special adhesives have to be used in the construction... Double top makes the sound of the guitar stay up longer before it decays. It brings about balance in the voices and approximately 21 dbs more in overall volume.

640mm or 650 mm?
Regarding 650mm or 640 mm guitar construction, keep the following rule at hand: If the distance between the tip of your thumb and the tip of your little finger is equal or less than 9 in. when fully stretched, use 640 mm. Adapting from one scale to the other takes no time at all.

Radiused or flat fingerboard?
The radiused fingerboard has been around the acoustic and the electric guitar since day one. The same is true for most instruments of the Stringed family of instruments (violas, violins cellos, bass). Radiusing (image above) makes barre and left hand stopping A LOT easier. The only drawback is that you will NEVER want to play a  flat fingerboard after that. If you are having your custom guitar built, I am all pro radiusing the fingerboard.  The standard fingerboard is flat.