Is it possible for a plywood guitar to sound good?

[Blue313]

Once you get around the 130 decibel range with a dozen or so stompboxes between your guitar and amp, what your instrument is constructed of becomes mainly a cosmetic issue.

I tend to agree, so long as the method of construction was sound and the other components aren't crap. 

(Ridiculous example incoming)....If Frank Ford made a body out of Home Depot plywood and put on a decent neck, tuners, nut, bridge, pickups and strings.....and then handed it to a great player.  I'd bet you cash it would wail.   No it wouldn't sound the same as tone woods, but it'll still sound good.

Lots of companies have cut corners and still turned out good stuff.  Unfortunately tons of em have cut way too many and turned out pure crap.

[PitchShifter]

Cheers for the discourse!

I've actually got a 70s Japanese plywood guitar lying around that I used to experiment a fabric top finish on. With the a$$ falling out of the Aussie dollar (from around 92 cents US down to 64 cents, over the past couple of months),  i was starting to look at it more seriously now that Warmoth is temporarily off the shopping list.  I also have an old 90s Peavey International Series lying around that is a plywood body.

I expect the "quality" of the plywood (is that an oxymoron?) also is important. Woodchip sandwiched by chunks of balsa might not be too healthy!

[DanDeTora]

I don't agree with that statement.

Bodywood is equally as important as neckwood and pickups. They all work together to make a sound, and the overall sound will only be as good as the weakest link.

I can tell you from my experience: I tried to take an old guitar body, and fill in the trem cavity using plywood, and then attach a fixed bridge. It sounded like absolute crap.  I've also had guitar students who have made project guitars out of plywood. They sounded on par with the sustain from a danelectro. But worse. 

Plywood just don't equal tonewood.

If you search hard on ebay, you could probably find some cheapo alder strat body for like under $50 bucks to use.

+1. The only way I'd make a plywood guitar is to try out my luthier skills.

I recently had a custom mahogany body made for my Ibanez RG7321, which was made of basswood. The difference isn't night and day, but on a scale of 1 - 10, IME the difference is about a 3. The bottom end is tighter and the mids are more complex, and the high end is not nearly as rounded or 'choked' sounding. Pick attack has more clarity as well. Could be because Ibanez uses crap tonewoods, or could just be the simple fact that basswood and mahogany DO have different tones. Like I said, not night and day, but important and influential non the less.

[Patrick from Davis]

I've mentioned a couple of acoustic before, the Taylor Pallet Guitar and the Benedetto Pine archtop guitar.  On a solidbody electric the body has less to do with the sound, much less than an acoustic.  The thing to keep in mind is how does it effect, or color, the vibration of the strings which the pickups pickup. Obviously on an acoustic the body has a rather large effect on the sound, and these two Luthier's vast skill can make substandard materials work extremely well.  While I have no knowledge of how a plywood body would work, or what kind of plywood would be appropriate, I am sure that it could be worked out with a little digging and elbow grease.
Patrick

[kykah]

I've had a plywood Squier a long time ago. It was all stock with all the cheapo parts. It sounded great and people were asking me what I did to this guitar. What I was doing to this guitar is hammering frets cause they were popping out of fretboard from time to time    After a year of playing I sold it and  bought Fender  Am.Std. cause of that brending crazyness and childhood dreaming. Guess what - it sounded WORSE. Not like little "worse" but had less sustain (sic!) and only had that "twang" in sound and nothing else, no "body". I played it for two months, sold it and wanted to buy another squier  But all other squiers I tryed could not compare. So it is possible for plywood guitar to sound good. Also I had a Steinberger with almost no body, graphite neck and EMG pups - it sounded good as well, I don't know why.

[dwayneed]

I have an old SD Curlee that I had refurbished. Plywood body. I used to work at a studio, bands loved that guitar. Sounds like a Les Paul's obnoxious little brother. I love it.

It's been said on here many times that body wood has only a small effect of guitar tone...that neckwood and pickups are much more important factors.  In that case, could a good maple neck and quality pickups and electronics, be enough to produce an acceptable enough tone from a plywood bodied guitar.
I know 'good" is all very subjective, but I'm not after top shelf Gibson, but something that more around the level of an Epiphone in sound quality to use as a backup.

[RLW]

I always loved the look of those ol' Curlees's. They just had that "I'm a no-nonsense players axe" look to them.

[SkuttleFunk]

 I know they're not Alembics, but you just gotta post an image of that Curlee sometime  

 all the best,

 R

[greywolf]

While I'd say that good wood aids in the tone , just like good pickups and pots etc , it is not the end of the world not to have it.  To prove that point Bob Taylor and crew made the "Pallet guitar"  .  As Acoustic guitars are much more dependent on wood for thier sound due to the resonance factors , Bob wanted to prove that construction techniques played a large role as well ...

see http://namm.harmony-central.com/SNAMM00/Content/Taylor_Guitars/PR/Pallet.html

If it works for an acoustic then it can work for an electric..

[dwayneed]

I will see if I can take some pics tonight. It's funny, the neck is harmony and has some figure to it lol. Stay Posted! 

[stratplayer1]

i think id rather chop a tree down and make a guitar out of it than use plywood, its just not right.

[Superlizard]

Heck, why not make a guitar body out of mud, let it dry by baking it in the sun, seal and paint it, wire in the pickups and electronics and stick a neck on it?

I'm sure that it'll sound as good as any other wood-bodied guitar...

And imagine the profit you could make off a mud guitar... and if anyone asks, "yeah, but it can't sound good - it's made of mud!", you just look them straight in the eye and say, "ah, but tone is subjective".

[GoDrex]

Heck, why not make a guitar body out of mud, let it dry by baking it in the sun, seal and paint it, wire in the pickups and electronics and stick a neck on it?

I'm sure that it'll sound as good as any other wood-bodied guitar...

And imagine the profit you could make off a mud guitar... and if anyone asks, "yeah, but it can't sound good - it's made of mud!", you just look them straight in the eye and say, "ah, but tone is subjective".

http://www.warmoth.com/gallery/galcontainer.cfm?id=926

[Superlizard]

http://www.warmoth.com/gallery/galcontainer.cfm?id=926

LOL - an actual concrete guitar!

He claims it sounds "fantastic"... does he have clips posted anywhere?

[dwayneed]

Alumitone pickup, my favorite.

Heck, why not make a guitar body out of mud, let it dry by baking it in the sun, seal and paint it, wire in the pickups and electronics and stick a neck on it?

I'm sure that it'll sound as good as any other wood-bodied guitar...

And imagine the profit you could make off a mud guitar... and if anyone asks, "yeah, but it can't sound good - it's made of mud!", you just look them straight in the eye and say, "ah, but tone is subjective".

http://www.warmoth.com/gallery/galcontainer.cfm?id=926