The Double Top, sometimes called a sandwich top, is a relatively new innovation in the guitar world, however, they have been around ~30 years at this point. Although construction methods vary from builder to builder, the basics remain the same. The top consists of two "skins" with some material inlaid in between, normally this is a Nomex honeycomb, but can also be balsa, or even the top wood with a series of holes to make it lighter. The concept is that you are making a top with an artificially high stiffness to weight ratio, this results in a guitar that if done correctly has more power than solid top guitars. For this reason, the DT has become very popular with concert guitarist, where the power allows the sound to reach the back of the concert hall.
This does come at a price, the sound can be a bit sterile, most notably lacking in bass response. After some deep thought on the subject, and a few of my own builds, I hypothesized that the sterile sound is that while the main vibrating portion of the top is lighter, the tops are significantly stiffer than their solid top counterparts.
This does come at a price, the sound can be a bit sterile, most notably lacking in bass response. After some deep thought on the subject, and a few of my own builds, I hypothesized that the sterile sound is that while the main vibrating portion of the top is lighter, the tops are significantly stiffer than their solid top counterparts.
