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Ripplet top

wintomato

Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2019
Messages
43
I recently bought a 2015 True historic, second hand. Lovely guitar, trying to perfect the setup, great looking top. I noticed in the light that the top is uneven, round the edges. I have seen a couple of threads about this on other forums. Not sure if it's a good or bad thing, probably shouldn't be like that. My USA standard certainly wasn't, but that wasn't hand sanded!

I took some pictures to show, difficult to really see but these you can see round the edges where the light shows the ripple on the top around the edges. (also included a better quality picture to show it at it's best)
Thanks for reading
IMG_0123.jpgIMG_0169.jpgIMG_0170.jpgIMG_0171.jpg
 

latestarter

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 9, 2009
Messages
4,173
Sometimes the flame appears like that once the lacquer has settled. I wouldn’t worry too much.
 

AA00475Bassman

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 26, 2016
Messages
3,769
Flame is soft & hard , open grain & closed grain this is Flame , some flame will not sand even ! Trust me I know I have worked with many figured wood's !!
 

Big Al

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
14,537
I suspect a sanding issue. After I sand for final finish I moisten the top with a damp cloth to raise the grain. After drying I sand again. I do not get ripples.
 

sws1

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Messages
2,846
I only started noticing those ripples when the True Historics came out. Clearly, they must have changed something in their finishing process.
 

cds1951

Member
Joined
May 16, 2008
Messages
88
I recently bought a 2015 True historic, second hand. Lovely guitar, trying to perfect the setup, great looking top. I noticed in the light that the top is uneven, round the edges. I have seen a couple of threads about this on other forums. Not sure if it's a good or bad thing, probably shouldn't be like that. My USA standard certainly wasn't, but that wasn't hand sanded!

I took some pictures to show, difficult to really see but these you can see round the edges where the light shows the ripple on the top around the edges. (also included a better quality picture to show it at it's best)
Thanks for reading
View attachment 9852View attachment 9853View attachment 9854View attachment 9855

That is just the curly maple. As it gets older you might be able to feel the ripples.
 

wintomato

Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2019
Messages
43
Thanks for the responses. In certain light it looks more pronounced than it is, but you can definitely feel the ridges/ripples near the edge. This guitar is for playing, not for display, I can’t see how it would affect the sound, which is the most important thing!
 

AA00475Bassman

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 26, 2016
Messages
3,769
One other thing you have a beautiful guitar killer color & flame !!


Play on brethren !!
 

ONEHERO

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2016
Messages
219
This is simply because the True Historics has the thinner nitro along with the long and labor-intensive wet-sanding. Too bad the other series don’t have this specification
 

brandtkronholm

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 3, 2006
Messages
2,737
This is simply because the True Historics has the thinner nitro along with the long and labor-intensive wet-sanding. Too bad the other series don’t have this specification

The top of my (extremely flamed) 1995 R9 has this rippling effect in the finish too. Some figured maple tops have it and some not so much.
 
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