Neck-through guitars and tone

[TomServo1]

Forgive me if I've posted this before...
Every neck-through electric I've seen seems to be one piece of wood that makes up the neck and the middle of the body of the guitar, with 2 pieces of wood glued to the sides to make up the rest of the body. Since the body isn't 1 piece of wood, wouldn't that mean a neck-through isn't a solid body instrument? Going on, since the general consensus seems to be that solid body guitars are superior in tone to ones that aren't, why don't people say similar things when it comes to neck-through guitars?

[barockeva]

Solid body guitar means there isn't air cavities in the guitar.

[Chet Ubetcha]

Pretty much every production model "solid body" guitar is at least two pieces of wood glued together. Strats, SG's, Explorers, LP's, PRS's, etc... The only honest-to-goodness one piece bodies are going to be priced accordingly.

[barockeva]

Originally Posted by Chet Ubetcha

Pretty much every production model "solid body" guitar is at least two pieces of wood glued together. Strats, SG's, Explorers, LP's, PRS's, etc... The only honest-to-goodness one piece bodies are going to be priced accordingly.

Do they actually make guitars like that?!

[screamin eagle]

I am sure that there are some new guitars that are solid one pieces, but I don't know which ones. Most major manufacturers don't because of the cost of the wood. It is difficult and pricey to find a chunk of wood that is large enough to be milled down to the spec of the guitar. It is easier, cheaper and just as satisfactory to glue multiple pieces together. You have to remember, or think, from a manufacturing standpoint that one, you have to make a guitar that is available for people to buy (that price point), and also, while woods to contribute to the tone of the guitar, the pickups do most of the work. Also the amount of wood contributes to the tone of the wood just as much as the type of wood. That is why some necks are really thick, and those guitars often times have better sustain and resonance--the amount of wood.

The whole poly thing is sort of out of control a little bit. Sure too much can cause the wood to 'not breathe', but before they even get to the poly (or nitro for that matter) the wood has been dried and cured, and sealed (for painting purposes). That sealer does as much for resonance (or lack there of) as the poly finish coating. Poly gets the blame, but it is often more complex than that.

Archtop, or jazz, guitar manufacturers do deal with this coating, sealing and wood selection a little bit more than other guitar types and manufacturers. But most professional archtops (the booteeq) ones are in the $5k, to $7k, to $10k+ range. They are dealing with a musician who has decided that he has to have all of that, and the price reflects the cost of materials and the labor involved.

If it was easier and cheaper, then those types of guitars wouldn't cost that much.

With these types of guitars, there isn't a whole of 'paying for the name' as one might think--after all, I ain't talkin' bout Gibson's Archtops.

And then of course, there are those who actually prefer archtop guitars with ply tops. This is because they are more resistant to feedback.

A hand carved solid top, back and sides archtop will feedback like crazy, and thus is really only targeted to the astute jazz guitarist, and the only people who really afford them are committed jazzers. $12k is a lot for a guitar...really $12k is a lot for just about anything.

Every guitar sounds different...pickups, pickups, pickups. Certainly there is the 'sum of all parts' and this is really why two guitars made by the same manufacture, that are the same guitar, same everything, can sound different. But as far as solid body guitars go, the biggest change in sound and tone is the approach to playing it, and the pickups.

My Squier Classic Vibe telecaster sounds incredible. My Chinese manufactured ES-5/L-5 (guitar in avatar) was a custom made (sort of) guitar that sounds fantastic--both are multiple pieces of wood pressed/plyed together.

Sort of custom made? What this means is that I found a shop that orders body blanks manufactured, and lets the customer of the shop pick out every other component of the guitar. The guitar body was manufactured in the most consistent-proved, and and reputable Chinese plants. Everything else, from paint, all hardware, pickups, and wiring schematic was picked out by me.

The cost was significantly cheaper than anything ibanez, or Epiphone, or any other Chinese manufacture currently offers. And I wanted a custom type wiring schematic with specific pickups, so if I chose an Epiphone Broadway (the closest current production guitar to what I wanted) I would have had to spend an extra $300 or so dollars to equip it with the pickups, posts, jack, switch and wiring schematic that I wanted.

It would have cost me over a $grand for me to customize the Broadyway (retail $799.00). I paid $500 shipped for my ES-5/L-5 clone. Sorry for the off topic rant about my guitar.

Point being, don't get too caught up in the multiple pieces of wood used create a solid, or semi-hollow, guitar.

[Chet Ubetcha]

Sorry, I think I see what you are reading there... I meant one piece BODY, not complete body/neck. Aside from that needing to be one honkin' piece of lumber, I think it would cause some stability issues, as well. Many neck-thru guitars are often quarter sawn or five and six-piece necks for added stability and strength. it's not unusual to see solid one-piece neck-thru necks, but I would venture to say that multi-piece necks are more common. I could be wrong, though...

[Chet Ubetcha]

Originally Posted by screamin eagle

I am sure that there are some new guitars that are solid one pieces, but I don't know which ones. Most major manufacturers don't because of the cost of the wood. It is difficult and pricey to find a chunk of wood that is large enough to be milled down to the spec of the guitar. It is easier, cheaper and just as satisfactory to glue multiple pieces together. You have to remember, or think, from a manufacturing standpoint that one, you have to make a guitar that is available for people to buy (that price point), and also, while woods to contribute to the tone of the guitar, the pickups do most of the work. Also the amount of wood contributes to the tone of the wood just as much as the type of wood. That is why some necks are really thick, and those guitars often times have better sustain and resonance--the amount of wood...

Stuff...

...Point being, don't get too caught up in the multiple pieces of wood used create a solid, or semi-hollow, guitar.

What SE said, and as I alluded to in my first post in the thread, it's really about cost effectiveness on production guitars, as I see it. There are boutique builders that use one-piece bodies (Bernie Rico Jr. is one, and I believe some Gibson Custom Shop reissues use a one-piece mahogany body), but like noted, they are definitely priced for those that are in the market for that particular build feature. Not cheap. It is cheaper to machine smaller pieces to make the whole, and for the most part it really doesn't affect tone in any way.

[TomServo1]

I was doubtful that "solid body" actually meant "one piece of wood" like I've heard from a decent number of people(like David Taub ) since you'd need one BIG tree to get a piece of wood big enough for that. Which would cost a ton of money like you mentioned.
Thanks for the replies.

[ez-one]

many of the G&L's that use swamp ash are one piece solid bodies but they do have bolt on necks

[MaxEllison]

Excellent post!