What's the advantage of one-piece bodies?
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Hellion
New member
Re: What's the advantage of one-piece bodies?
Lew can probably tell you more than I, but to my ears, a one piece body seems to focus on the fundamental note more than a body that's made up of pieces or laminates, which seems to emphasize harmonics a bit more, again, to my ears. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (consider Alembic basses, which sometimes had over 60 laminates).
Lew can probably tell you more than I, but to my ears, a one piece body seems to focus on the fundamental note more than a body that's made up of pieces or laminates, which seems to emphasize harmonics a bit more, again, to my ears. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (consider Alembic basses, which sometimes had over 60 laminates).
big_black
Opaqueologist
Re: What's the advantage of one-piece bodies?
My ears can't tell a difference. For me it is more of a quality issue. It means they found one good piece instead of half a piece here, half a piece there. Theoretically, you would get better resonance because all the wood fibers would line up in the single piece naturally and better than two or three, but I'm sure you know that.
My ears can't tell a difference. For me it is more of a quality issue. It means they found one good piece instead of half a piece here, half a piece there. Theoretically, you would get better resonance because all the wood fibers would line up in the single piece naturally and better than two or three, but I'm sure you know that.
JB_From_Hell
Jomo's Nimions
Re: What's the advantage of one-piece bodies?
Honestly, I think it's one of those things you'd never even think about until one day, the question arises, and you're paranoid about it forever. I never even used to know what kind of wood my guitars were made of, and I spent a lot more time playing and less time fretting about various details
Honestly, I think it's one of those things you'd never even think about until one day, the question arises, and you're paranoid about it forever. I never even used to know what kind of wood my guitars were made of, and I spent a lot more time playing and less time fretting about various details
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: What's the advantage of one-piece bodies?
Thanks, but I don't think I've owned a Strat or Tele with a one piece body. So I couldn't say.
I can see how the density of the wood would be more consistant and how the sound waves might travel through a single piece without being changed when they hit the glue joints of a two or three piece body.
But that said, I'm not sure if it actually makes any real diff at all. My '54 Tele is a two piece body as is my '63 Strat and my '53 Custom Shop Tele and my '57 Custom Strat.
They all sound great.
I think the advantage is one of looks. One piece just looks cool!
Remember that the most valuable acoustic guitars all have bookmatched tops and backs with a glue line running down the middle. So there's probably no advantage at all to a one piece body.
Hellion said:
Thanks, but I don't think I've owned a Strat or Tele with a one piece body. So I couldn't say.
I can see how the density of the wood would be more consistant and how the sound waves might travel through a single piece without being changed when they hit the glue joints of a two or three piece body.
But that said, I'm not sure if it actually makes any real diff at all. My '54 Tele is a two piece body as is my '63 Strat and my '53 Custom Shop Tele and my '57 Custom Strat.
They all sound great.
I think the advantage is one of looks. One piece just looks cool!
Remember that the most valuable acoustic guitars all have bookmatched tops and backs with a glue line running down the middle. So there's probably no advantage at all to a one piece body.
Last edited:
Xeromus
Tone Ninja
Re: What's the advantage of one-piece bodies?
Well here's the thing. Some high end guitar manufacturers "tap tune" or "tone tap" their building woods. This doesn't go for solid bodys as much as acoustics, semi hollows, or especially classicals. Every piece of wood is different and has a different resonant frequency. For example, if the top of a guitar resonates at C and the sides of it resonate at F it's probably gonna sound like a pretty crappy classical.
Well here's the thing. Some high end guitar manufacturers "tap tune" or "tone tap" their building woods. This doesn't go for solid bodys as much as acoustics, semi hollows, or especially classicals. Every piece of wood is different and has a different resonant frequency. For example, if the top of a guitar resonates at C and the sides of it resonate at F it's probably gonna sound like a pretty crappy classical.
JammerMatt
New member
Re: What's the advantage of one-piece bodies?
Or, if you want to go extreme. Portland's own:
http://www.artguitars.com/guitars/fracturecaster.htm
Or, if you want to go extreme. Portland's own:
http://www.artguitars.com/guitars/fracturecaster.htm
Zerberus
Baron Von Shred
Re: What's the advantage of one-piece bodies?
Having used (built) both one piece and 2 or 3 piece bodies: The difference is that one looks better and doesn´t have a glue joint running through it. This is the ONLY difference, other than a one-piece body being more likely to warp if improperly dried.
BTW, Xero: when tap tuning, the pieces of wood are PURPOSELY matched in thirds or fourths by most luthiers. The reason behind this is that if all materialy had the same resonant tone, the result would be a so called "Wolf tone", a not that will ALWAYS overpower every other note, regardless of which octave it´s in (think of it as if you were to "tune" your trem springs to e, keeping the bridge position. The springs would go ballistic every time you play an e). So that particular combo (c and F) would almost certainly work well
Having used (built) both one piece and 2 or 3 piece bodies: The difference is that one looks better and doesn´t have a glue joint running through it. This is the ONLY difference, other than a one-piece body being more likely to warp if improperly dried.
BTW, Xero: when tap tuning, the pieces of wood are PURPOSELY matched in thirds or fourths by most luthiers. The reason behind this is that if all materialy had the same resonant tone, the result would be a so called "Wolf tone", a not that will ALWAYS overpower every other note, regardless of which octave it´s in (think of it as if you were to "tune" your trem springs to e, keeping the bridge position. The springs would go ballistic every time you play an e). So that particular combo (c and F) would almost certainly work well
Xeromus
Tone Ninja
Re: What's the advantage of one-piece bodies?
There you go, I didn't exactly know what I was talking about so I figured someone here would. I remember my guitar teacher telling me about it at length last week.
I had a cheapie yamaha classical and I had a woof note on it big time, THAT'S WHY!
Zerberus said:Having used (built) both one piece and 2 or 3 piece bodies: The difference is that one looks better and doesn´t have a glue joint running through it. This is the ONLY difference, other than a one-piece body being more likely to warp if improperly dried.
BTW, Xero: when tap tuning, the pieces of wood are PURPOSELY matched in thirds or fourths by most luthiers. The reason behind this is that if all materialy had the same resonant tone, the result would be a so called "Wolf tone", a not that will ALWAYS overpower every other note, regardless of which octave it´s in (think of it as if you were to "tune" your trem springs to e, keeping the bridge position. The springs would go ballistic every time you play an e). So that particular combo (c and F) would almost certainly work well
There you go, I didn't exactly know what I was talking about so I figured someone here would. I remember my guitar teacher telling me about it at length last week.
I had a cheapie yamaha classical and I had a woof note on it big time, THAT'S WHY!
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