What does the word chambered mean on a solid carved top guitar?

[eustace]

Im planning on making a spalted maple solid body carved top guitar (les paul style obviously) and wanted to know what having a chambered body meant

[otterhound]

Chambered means that some of the internal wood has been removed above and beyond what is typical for the design . This means that there is a separate top , bottom or both attached to the body structure unless trained termites are used .

[whomad1215]

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...t:429,r:21,s:0

The inside of a vox virage (which are awesome guitars, I wish I owned one)

[Souldriver]

This is an x-ray of a real Gibson les paul. See those dark spots? those are all hollow. They do this mainly to relieve some weight. It also alters the sound of the guitar a little bit. I would also check if you can chamber if you have a spalted maple cap. you may want to do a spalted maple veneer.

[IPLAYLOUD]

This was taken at the Robin Factory. This is a Mahogany body that has been chambered/channeled to lower the weight and give it some "air". It also gives the wiring places to snake through. This model, the Savoy, does have FHoles. Les Pauls and others do not.
The top goes over this.

[simplecomplexity]

Originally Posted by otterhound

unless trained termites are used .

termite training school?

[jcground]

The use of the word chambered varies a little bit from builder to builder in my experience. I think of it meaning some of the body wood has been removed (could be a little or a lot depending on the maker and the density of the wood), but the top wood is uncarved on the inside.

By comparison, in a hollow or semi-hollow guitar (even without f-holes in the top), the top wood is usually carved inside too, so it becomes thinner and more flexible. That makes a bigger difference in tone than chambering alone, which is mainly done to reduce weight, though it can also influence tone to a degree.