Can A Back Fail?

[mandough]

I'm carving a one piece maple back right now for a mandolin that I am building.
I seemed to have carved it a bit thin all around (probably about .03 more all around than I should have). I also made the mistake of carving out one small section that is like .1 or less. About the size of a quarter and located near one of the sides (about an 1 1/2 inches in from the side).
Will this have much affect?
These are a novice's mistake, so I apologize if this all sounds pretty stupid.
I just want to know if the back is still worth using.
Would anyone have any ideas as to how it might affect sound, strength and integrity?

[Magnus Geijer]

The back of my #1 is (fairly) consistently at about 0.08 around the recurve, and has a small spot which is 0.06. I've been playing it for a year now, and I'm very fond of the sound of it, and it has made no signs of caving in, so a thin back certainly can work.

/Magnus

[krishna]

Kysweed's opinion may be dangerous. Just because it has'nt been damaged,does'nt meen it won't be ,maybe by a hard tap, time, or a humidity problem. Wait for some of the big boys to wade in on this. They are all very nice humans ,so maybe you might want to send a few questions about this,if none of them weighs in...Kerry

[Chris Baird]

The main areas you want to be thick are along the seam at both ends. I go around .110 at the seam on the tailend and then there is a big thick section on the neck end that goes from about .350" down to .190". The rest of the recurve is .090"; add up to .020" for slabsawn.