Cheap Woods

[Boggs]

My very first build was the RockBeach CamelBack chambered body prototype made with a chambered pine midsection and European hardwood plywood top and back to help me define my build processes and electronics. It sounded so cool, I built it up again after my padauk/Cuban mahogany build was done. That prototype did funk tones like nobody's business when plugged in and it projected so well acoustically that I didn't even need to plug it in to practice with! That guitar is being gigged by a player in Germany to this day...

[X1TX]

I have a Vee that has a plywood body. But that was just a practice for me. Tried to see if I could cobble one together for very little $$ (I think I had far less than $150 in it). But it has GREAT sustain. It uses a string-though setup, not the typical TOM Stop tail piece. Though I do suck as a player, if I plug this thing in fret a note and pluck the string, I'll get bored and quit before it finally dies out. It does sustain way better than my cheapo Squier Strat.

[kpcrash]

So, consensus may be that certain plywood (like what my father-in-law would use for high-end clocks/furniture - see original entry) MAY be acceptable?

I've just had problems trusting him completely since advising me not to take a job with a young startup called AOL 12 years ago... but that's a different topic altogether

[X1TX]

Well just like the pine that's been discussed, there are many grades of plywood. You can even buy plywood from Aircraft Spruce & Specialty that's used for building wooden airplanes.

[fryovanni]

So, consensus may be that certain plywood (like what my father-in-law would use for high-end clocks/furniture - see original entry) MAY be acceptable?

I've just had problems trusting him completely since advising me not to take a job with a young startup called AOL 12 years ago... but that's a different topic altogether

It is a bit of common sense, and understanding the material as well as the application.

If you want to use high grade void free plywood say for a neck. Potentially it is just fine. That said how much do you trust the maker of that plywood to have selected stock that you want used on your instrument(defect free, grain oriented as you prefer), how much do you trust the method used for joining that wood? Is the wood well dried? and so on and so forth....

There are high end laminate necks built all the time by top builders(that is plywood). There are high grade laminated bodies built also. These are NOT to be confused with plywood made for other generic structural purposes(your home depot plywood, or potentially med. grade baltic birch ply). This type of laminate must be made with select wood, attension to the layup must be given, and it must be joined with very high quality standards. A "good" grade plywood is fine for clocks, speaker cabnets, jigs, cabnets and so forth. This does not make them the best choice for an instrument. You will probably pay more money for a purpose built plywood than you would for clear solid wood.

Rich

[foil1more]

I'd be willing to say that any void free, high quality plywood will make a fine guitar. I built an acoustic kit and it has plywood made from basswood. The top is solid spruce though. That said, the wood will affect an acoustic a great deal more than an electric.

[Mattia]

I wouldn't call laminated wood 'plywood' by definition; plywood implies cross-grain lamination, which means the longitudinal and lateral stiffness is more uniform across the piece. I wouldn't want that kind of plywood in, say, a guitar neck, where I want my strength coming from the longitudinal fibers, and don't see any advantage to having end grain facing front or back (the horrors of sanding that level, too...). Also, don't know about you, but my plywood doesn't ring out very nicely when tapped. Probably because of the the combination of glue and many thin layers. It's very stiff, though.

Where I use lamianted (cross-grain) wood these days is in acoustic guitar heel and tailblocks, where it offers crack resistance and greater dimensional stability (I use thick lamiantes, 1/8" thick or thicker).

Mostly, though, I don't like working with plywood. It's not a pleasant material to handle (end grain), the thickness is predetermined (sanding through layers can look a touch funky), it's more expensive than most solid woods, and the tonal benefits are dubious at best. It's a great structural material that I do use for certain applications, and I do laminate quite a lot. But rarely cross-grain.

[fryovanni]

I wouldn't call laminated wood 'plywood' by definition; plywood implies cross-grain lamination, which means the longitudinal and lateral stiffness is more uniform across the piece. I wouldn't want that kind of plywood in, say, a guitar neck, where I want my strength coming from the longitudinal fibers, and don't see any advantage to having end grain facing front or back (the horrors of sanding that level, too...). Also, don't know about you, but my plywood doesn't ring out very nicely when tapped. Probably because of the the combination of glue and many thin layers. It's very stiff, though.

Where I use lamianted (cross-grain) wood these days is in acoustic guitar heel and tailblocks, where it offers crack resistance and greater dimensional stability (I use thick lamiantes, 1/8" thick or thicker).

Mostly, though, I don't like working with plywood. It's not a pleasant material to handle (end grain), the thickness is predetermined (sanding through layers can look a touch funky), it's more expensive than most solid woods, and the tonal benefits are dubious at best. It's a great structural material that I do use for certain applications, and I do laminate quite a lot. But rarely cross-grain.

Most "plywood" is oriented at 90 degrees(the common stuff). When you get into aircraft grade plywood there are more options because it is purpose built, but that is expensive stuff. LVL is probably closer to what we think of as laminated wood. Your right about the cost, if you buy high quality laminated wood it is going to cost more than solid, there is more cost to produce if they are using all clear high quality wood.

Rich

[ray]

the most valuable telecasters of all were made of pine - a cheap softwood scorned by instrument makers

i made a pine tele and it sounds real good - i will make some more of pine - many like the tone you get off a pine tele

also many fine hollowbody guitars have top and bottom plates made of maple ply - think gretsch

[Narcissism]

I'm not sure if they're still doing it, but i remember Ibanez making "erogodine" basses, which were made from a "synthetic" material that was mold injected to come out with the correct body shape... They sounded okay *shrugs*. I have a feeling they were made of press board, or particle board or something though.