Is it possible for a plywood guitar to sound good?

[theklanch]

Hey guys new member here.

The short answer to this question is YES.  Does an Alembic sound good?  They are made of really really expensive 'plywood'

 By definition an alembic is "plywood"  Think about it what is plywood?  A bunch of thin layers of wood glued together.  In construction plywood, they alternate the grain usually by 90 degrees to increase stability.  On a "hippie sandwich" they keep the grain running the same direction.  Also on those warmoth bodies that have a carved top or a laminate top, they would be by definition plywood.  The cheapest alembic guitars are like five grand, so if you have the money to shell out for an alembic, you will be buying a 'plywood' body.  Now I am not suggesting to go out and buy a couple sheets of  underlayment and build guitars, but you must realize that manufacturers must get the most out of those expensive logs they buy, so they use the pretty stuff where you see it, and the not so pretty stuff where you don't.  I have built about a dozen guitars over the years and I always end up using a furniture grade piece of plywood for my control covers.  It is 1/4" thick and I can put a thin veneer on top of it if I want to 'match' the wood with the body.  I think that a piece of natural wood looks better than plastic, even if it is different wood than the body.  My current guitar is a carvin neck with flame maple body wings and some walnut inlay, with a cherry plywood control cavity cover.  The cover doesn't match the maple, but it sure looks better than a big old chunk of formica back there.

Remember this is my opinion, it might be right, it might be wrong, but it's mine.

[SkuttleFunk]

 welcome to Unofficial Warmoth theklanch, and bravo for sharing an educated and informed reply to this thread!

 all the best,

 R

[SrDeMaFp]

Hey guys new member here.

The short answer to this question is YES.  Does an Alembic sound good?  They are made of really really expensive 'plywood'

 By definition an alembic is "plywood"  Think about it what is plywood?  A bunch of thin layers of wood glued together.  In construction plywood, they alternate the grain usually by 90 degrees to increase stability.  On a "hippie sandwich" they keep the grain running the same direction.  Also on those warmoth bodies that have a carved top or a laminate top, they would be by definition plywood.  The cheapest alembic guitars are like five grand, so if you have the money to shell out for an alembic, you will be buying a 'plywood' body.  Now I am not suggesting to go out and buy a couple sheets of  underlayment and build guitars, but you must realize that manufacturers must get the most out of those expensive logs they buy, so they use the pretty stuff where you see it, and the not so pretty stuff where you don't.  I have built about a dozen guitars over the years and I always end up using a furniture grade piece of plywood for my control covers.  It is 1/4" thick and I can put a thin veneer on top of it if I want to 'match' the wood with the body.  I think that a piece of natural wood looks better than plastic, even if it is different wood than the body.  My current guitar is a carvin neck with flame maple body wings and some walnut inlay, with a cherry plywood control cavity cover.  The cover doesn't match the maple, but it sure looks better than a big old chunk of formica back there.

Remember this is my opinion, it might be right, it might be wrong, but it's mine.

Now that is an entrance! Welcome theklanch!

[greywolf]

 Good point ,  for that matter  PRS , Gibson and any lam tops are too

On a neck through design it wouldn't matter much as the resonant mass is focused on the neck.

But from the traditional sense of the cheap home depot stuff ... well my aesthetic sensibilities cringe....

[HMstratocaster]

I actually own a guitar that I found I later sanded it down and found that the body was made of plywood. It actually was not that bad, think of it as a crappy version of alder. 


 

[Keyser Soze]

... Now I am not suggesting to go out and buy a couple sheets of  underlayment and build guitars...

Dang, I had high hopes for that stack of OSB sitting in my garage!

I'd like to add - Just how many ES-### clones out there are plywood over a solid center block?

Hats off to the dude who made the concrete guitar.  I wonder if he used any rebar?

[big bob]

the gibson es 175 is made of laminate (ie plywood) as are many jazz archtops, they make them out of laminate to reduce feedback..
plywwod is like many other woods, some top shelf some crap. a good chunk of plywood will sound every bit as good as hardwood sometimes better. now here is a good sounding piece of plywood.

[dbw]

Klanch is right about Alembics of course, and most acoustics under $500 or so (and some over) are also laminate aka plywood.  And technically a Gibson Les Paul is a piece of plywood... 2-ply. 

But I think the OP was talking about cheap plywood/particleboard/chipboard solid-bodied electrics.

I would love for someone to do this experiment (I don't have the right parts)... record a clip with a Warmoth strat, then swap out the body for a plywood Squier strat (moving all the hardware and electronics of course) and record the same tune.  I predict the difference will be noticeable

[dwayneed]

Oh, I promised to take pics of my SD Curlee.... tomorrow...

[Incognitionary]

Yes it is. I have a Charvel Charvette, Korean-made plywood body guitar with maple neck. Before I actually tore it up in an attempt to install a fender stratocaster pickguard over it, it sounded amazing for metal or rock AND blues and clean stuff! I was really surprised how good it sounded, but it's really all to do with how you look at it. How well an instrument sounds is simply in the mind. Everything sounds good to me, whatever makes sound, or colors or what not, is good to me. Most guitars are "plywood" if you will, or "laminated" (alternating grain layers glued together). I actually LOVE cheap guitars, and making them feel right to me.

I'm working on restoring it to a playable and stable state. I'm doing a timelapse of the construction, so it's going to be fun to upload it and then I'll play a song with it on the video once it's in a playable state.

You can churn out great guitars for virtually nothing. Got an old tree in your backyard that's just about dead? Cut it down and laminate layers and make ur own guitar.

The best teacher is the self, and as someone in this thread already mentioned, the economy sucks (because money sucks), and that's probably a good indication that we need to take care of ourselves and stop relying on other people to make our instruments for us. I strongly believe we would all be better off learning how to make everything we need ourselves. Be creative, the guitar is an instrument of art, it wants you to make your own with it!

[neuftone]

I think a plywood bodied guitar can sound good.  Good is subjective...for the person who said a solid body would sound "better", the example of Danelectros is a good one to consider.  Would a solid alder body sound better than a plywood frame with masonite top and back?  In some senses, perhaps, but it would also lose a lot of its distinctive tone I think.  It would be different...better and worse in ways.

Sometimes the cheapest guitars can have an awesome sound.  God knows what my old 80s Yamaha superstrat is made of.  But I've played it before into a Dynacomp into a tube amp, and the tone was beautiful.  Nothing unique, but sometimes tone is more about playing and less about gear.

I say, go for it, if you like.  But I would temper it with some consideration of why you are doing it...if you are doing it to make an off-beat, perhaps unique sounding guitar made out of unusual materials, that's one thing, but if you want it to sound traditional and normal and just cut cost corners I'd probably say keep your eye out for Ebay deals. 

[PitchShifter]

Well in my spare time waiting for the Aussie dollar to get some traction back against the US, I got hold of a mates old discarded rusted out early 90s Peavey International Series. It has a chipboard type of body- so quite low-brow. I've got a few spare solid pickups lying round and a need to learn some guitar wiring skills.  I'm going to see what I can do with this little orphan!

[Max]

Well in my spare time waiting for the Aussie dollar to get some traction back against the US, I got hold of a mates old discarded rusted out early 90s Peavey International Series. It has a chipboard type of body- so quite low-brow. I've got a few spare solid pickups lying round and a need to learn some guitar wiring skills.  I'm going to see what I can do with this little orphan!

Just what you do with every orphan! Rip it open, and take the innards out. Maybe sell them...

[dbw]

Come one, come all, to Max's House of Discount Internal Organs, freshly harvested from orphan children every other Tuesday.

[jerryjg]

no. not only no, but hell no.