Quoted from cpr9999:Now we are getting to the question I would like CPR to answer.
CPR why do you use thicker veneer- purely for sanding or what are your other reasons? (Don’t need to point at other manufacturers here). Did you also go with thicker veneer so it would be harder - and resist dimples? Or mainly for sanding?
It's both.
Just better for levelling during the drum standing stages - with lots of good "meat" left over to leave a nice decent-thickness top veneer. (rather than a paper-thin one)
As for hardness and dimpling resistance - there is more than top layer that determines that. It's the layer underneath, getting into the cores, that we thought about as well. A harder top ply or harder "face" ply (the 'veneer') specifically won't be able to do squat IF the layer(s) underneath are softer...
Thus, for I believe the first time in gameboard wood, we had the mill use ASH cores instead of the typical 'cheaper' cores they historically like to use. The mills almost always consider certain core layers (every second ply) to be "filler" so they're great for lowering the cost of a plywood. You can always identify the 'cheaper' plys/cores by their color. They are some version of chocolate or dark brown in color. Usually sweet gum, black gum, or similar.
This can be seen on a playfield by looking at the edge (see alternating plys/cores) or in the shooter lane (where you'll see those "chocolate swirl" patterns). Ash, as with hard rock maple, are both golden/yellow grained type woods... so that is why CPR gameboard panels are the same color all the way through. Our shooter lanes are all the same color, down thru the plys.
Ash is way harder/heavier than the typical 'brown' woods used in standard cores, thus giving that harder foundation below the face veneer. A CPR playfield is also typically 1/3 heavier than any other playfield of equivalent size, out there in the hobby today. Factory or repro. It's because of our custom cores recipe.
Does it help against dimpling? Scientifically, one could say absolutely yes it 'should' - some. A hardrock maple top layer, with a genuine ash ply immediately underneath, should be an impact-harder surface than a hardrock maple top layer with one of those typical "brown" filler plys underneath. Technically.