What's going on in this control cavity?

[alex1fly]

So I'm on the hunt for a Telecaster to add to the family, and I opened up the control cavity of this new Fender Player Series Tele. I'm not an expert in guitar construction, but it looks to me like there's three distinct layers - the alder portion is on bottom, with a layer of another wood on top (the top 1\4 or so), and then the white part almost looks like a thin bit of painted laminate or veneer. I can't find anything in the specs about multiple wood types, but dang if it doesn't look like there's multiple layers of material going on. What do you all see here?

 

[ErikH]

Looks like one species to me. It's most likely 2 or 3 pieces, but not in layers like pancake. Could be coloring from the router lines. The top is the paint layer. There's a chloroplast or some other sealer on top of the wood to make the surface completely flat and smooth and then the paint layer over that.

 

[Artie]

I have a couple of solid body Peavey's that look similar. They did the routing in multiple passes, so it looks like multiple layers. Just the way the cutting head did it.

 

[ehdwuld]

are you talking about the wiring?

 

[beaubrummels]

Looks like really thick paint on a multi-ply body, or like Artie said - possibly router marks. Though the top layer looks pretty rough to me, like it's a different piece of wood.

 

[alex1fly]

Interesting, I didn't know the router bit could make marks like that. The finish looks pretty amazing overall on the outside. Glad to hear it's probably not a particle board pancake :smokin:

 

[alex1fly]

Man, I don't know. Took 'er apart today just to satisfy curiosity about various things and here are some more photos. It sure looks like there's a top to me, probably of the same species. But then again, I don't know a whole lot about this stuff. Do these photos shine any light on what's going on?

 

[alex1fly]

Couple more

 

[beaubrummels]

yeah, different grain. looks like at least 2-piece front/back to me. not sure why there would be a top of the same type, unless it was supposed to be better looking grain, but then they painted it solid, so WTF? Maybe they didn't have a plank thick enough leftover to make a body?

 

[alex1fly]

yeah, different grain. looks like at least 2-piece front/back to me. not sure why there would be a top of the same type, unless it was supposed to be better looking grain, but then they painted it solid, so WTF? Maybe they didn't have a plank thick enough leftover to make a body?

Yeah that's kind of what I'm wondering too. Why do a top if you're going to paint it? Could it have been destined for a natural finish at one point? Does it really matter? I suppose I could write in to Fender and see if that brings anything worthwhile to the investigation...

 

[alex1fly]

Makes me want to crack it open... You know, like a geode :smash:

 

[St_Genesius]

I honestly didn't know anyone was doing pancake construction anymore - multi-piece side-by-side, sure, but not top-to-back- but damn if that doesn't look like fairly convincing evidence for it.

 

[Mincer]

My thought is that they were just using up some extra pieces of wood. I know in the 80s, some Kramers and BC Riches were like 7 thin layers piled high like that.

 

[Adieu]

My thought is that they were just using up some extra pieces of wood. I know in the 80s, some Kramers and BC Riches were like 7 thin layers piled high like that.

I think THAT was just plain old plywood (or, alternatively, ash, which can sometimes look like plywood plies in a pickup cavity)

 

[greekdude]

I got a Kramer from this era (210) and it is very heavy (4.2Kg). Never got to the wood, but it looks solid to me, e.g. it has floyd rose screws instead of inserts, no problem in the 30 yrs I own it, my same year Carvin cd135 had the wood (maple) colapse near the floyd rose studs.

 

[Adieu]

I got a Kramer from this era (210) and it is very heavy (4.2Kg). Never got to the wood, but it looks solid to me, e.g. it has floyd rose screws instead of inserts, no problem in the 30 yrs I own it, my same year Carvin cd135 had the wood (maple) colapse near the floyd rose studs.

Collapsed maple?

Is that even normally possible??? Sounds like some kind of manufacturing error, dud wood, or maybe a really hard impact to the bridge that transferred the force to the studs imho.

 

[Mincer]

I got a Kramer from this era (210) and it is very heavy (4.2Kg). Never got to the wood, but it looks solid to me, e.g. it has floyd rose screws instead of inserts, no problem in the 30 yrs I own it, my same year Carvin cd135 had the wood (maple) colapse near the floyd rose studs.

It isn't that these guitars are 'bad', but I think they were making them quickly, cheaply, and ready to rock. As long as it sort of looked the same as our idols. These companies were under dubious ownership at the time, too.

 

[alex1fly]

My thought is that they were just using up some extra pieces of wood.

Could be. Any reason to think this affects the resultant quality of the guitar, as opposed to if it were a solid piece?

 

[greekdude]

Could be. Any reason to think this affects the resultant quality of the guitar, as opposed to if it were a solid piece?

ppl claim that the less pieces of wood a guitar body is made of the better the quality, whereas for guitar necks it is the opposite : laminate 3,5,7-piece necks are considered supperior to 1-piece

 

[Mincer]

ppl claim that the less pieces of wood a guitar body is made of the better the quality, whereas for guitar necks it is the opposite : laminate 3,5,7-piece necks are considered supperior to 1-piece

When they talk about bodies, they are generally talking about plywood. Many-piece necks are usually made of aesthetically pleasing wood chosen for the look and strength. Look at some of Orpheo's multi-laminate necks. He can tell you how that differs from multi-piece bodies glued together.