German Carve

This is an elegant type of carve that has been used on both hollowbody and solidbody guitars. It’s readily identifiable in photos, but difficult to explain without the necessary “visual aids.” The German carve is distinguished by the fact that the edges of a guitar’s top (and in the case of some hollowbodies, the back as well) are lower than the actual top. There is a graceful slope up from the edges about an inch or so in, which provides a very classic aesthetic. One of the most famous examples of this technique was on the Mosrite Ventures Model, however the short-lived Fender hollowbody LTD also has a German carve. Wenzl and Roger Rossmeisl were two luthiers famous for their use of the German carve on a number of instruments for different companies, including a few from Rickenbacker.