zteverhart Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Has anyone seen these things? They look remarkably well made. I cannot find anything about them online. It all seems to be European based and primarily in Germany. I know Salvarez makes classical guitar strings, that's it. Are these things even half way decently constructed? The little bit I've read said they are made of plywood but they've got double binding, block inlays, the custom geometry inlay on the headstock, etc. Weirdo! Thanks, Zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbonite Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Hold the PHONE. PLYWOOD??????? Plywood is reserved for those oh so special 1 to 200 dollar guitars. Am I wrong? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 guess its better than card board. Actually... I just called gibson and fender... both of them think cardboard is better than plywood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Several Gibson hollowbody and semihollowbody guitars have plywood tops - the ES 335 is one of them. I'm not claiming that a solid plywood guitar is going to be a great guitar, just that plywood isn't exactly unheard of, even on expensive guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Several Gibson hollowbody and semihollowbody guitars have plywood tops - the ES 335 is one of them. I'm not claiming that a solid plywood guitar is going to be a great guitar' date=' just that plywood isn't exactly unheard of, even on expensive guitars. [/quote'] Really? I didnt know that (never owned one of those hollowbodies, not any made by gibson at least) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I'm not 100% positive about the 335, but I'm pretty sure. Certainly, there are other models from Gibson that used plywood for the top. http://www.provide.net/~cfh/gibson3.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil325 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Why does plywood sound so cheap to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgTime Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Dunno. Isnt it supposed to be a consistant maple plywood instead of little chunks, just put together for better support? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Why does plywood sound so cheap to me what about mini pancake? ...no... that doesnt work... micro... min... eh... nano pancake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALIEN8 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Plywood is actually stronger than the equivalent of a solid piece with the same dimensions. Good plywood is made in such a way that the grain directions are rotated 90 degrees for each layer, then glued together - much like a skateboard is made. We're not talking about residential plywood sheets here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 A lot of hollowbodies and acoustics are made of plywood, like alien8 says though we are not talking Home Depot plywood. Good quality maple plywood is pretty tough. It will not crack. If a single ply of wood was molded to make the raised top of the guitar it would be prone to crack easily. Acoustic guitars can use a single solid ply especially on the top but that is flat not molded. Tone is better on an acoustic with a solid top because of the way sound is produced. A plywood solid body just does not make sense, it would be expensive to make top quality plywood of that thickness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdclmn7 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Thats the legacy of the late 7o's where dwindling woodstock made prices explode. That's why acoustics with solid tops are a lot more expensive than they used to be. The fact is that plywood spruce is stronger than the real stuff. Mahogany plywood has been in use for years, I've had a couple of them. If it sounds good, use it. There is also pressed cardboard, I found that out by accident. I got curious and wanted to know what was under the hood of a $100 guitar I picked up in Korea and, I found out why they were selling it at that price, yup, cardboard, had I not seen it, I would never have believed it. It sounded good, I have pictures of me following a 2AM alert, didn't have anything else to do, so, I've got pictur4es of me playing a cardboard strat. Recently, that Bullet I snagged was thinner and was made of Mahogany laminate. I would later, summer of 2007, I found a guitar in the states going for less than $150. When it came to adjusting a bolt-on neck, I had to pop the neck only to find that it wasn't laminated, wood UNK. Thats why full-thickness Bullets are now available. The rule of thumb: Laminates are stronger. Laminates are cheaper. Smaller grain, stronger wood. I noticed that years ago in Virginia, pine was only good for gtumming up your chimmeny, oak was absolutely better, and burned better. Mahogany is tough, maple has an even smaller grain, I found the hard way that maple is so hard to cut. The cost of slicing and glueing is cheaper than a full-thickness piece of wood. That's why my 85-LP Studio has oddball pieces never meant to be clear-coated. The standard one-piece guitar body is a thing of the past unless you really have to blow at least $2k. The book-matched tops, a little cheaper. The 1/8" curly maple laminates, cheaper still. The use of previously unused species, cheaper still. You then have left laminated guitar bodies, and the cheapest alternative is that of pressed cardboard/glued sawdust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.