This is the age of the grain.

Strat54

Just counting down the seconds till someone posts the Microwave guitar video......

Frizer

Makes you wonder if wood is even the optimal material for an electric guitar. I suppose its major advantage is it can be worked by hand easier than a composite.

breezytele

ICBM said:

The reasoning given there is bollocks, but there may be something in the idea that the grain direction - or cut of the wood - makes a difference to the resonance of the body.

One of the highly-regarded amp builders in the USA reckons that for a single-piece mahogany body like a Les Paul Junior, the best sound comes from a body which is cut so it has an arch in the grain facing towards the bridge side, like the piece marked 'slab' here, if the bridge is on the top...



Whether there is any real truth in that I don't know - but the best-sounding modern LP Junior I've played had a body exactly like that. Coincidence?

In a Standard I think it's much more of a stretch, since the maple cap will have a large effect on the resonance of the back piece.

I’ve never heard of this

But it prompted me to look at my guitars, and one,
 a custom made  mij Les Paul I favour,
has a one piece body with a grain, cut, and gentle symmetrical curve,
as illustrated above. 

However, In my case, the bridge is on the ‘inside’ of the gentle concave curve..
(Well, the inner concave side joins the maple cap which hosts the bridge)

And  my LP is a lefty. ..

 I often wonder if builders, even bespoke ones,
are in auto pilot, ie, righty mode, and only ever ‘make it a lefty at the last minute’.

Either way, the guitar, ordered online, via dubious translation etc, turned out very fine
( a Momose , as it happens)

LastMantra

Ever heard an electric guitar plugged into a computer without any amp/speaker involved? 
Not the most toneful of things.