I've been looking at manufacturers' web sites at the specifications for 12 string electro acoustics as I'm expecting to buy second hand. I've quickly learnt that manufacturers generally avoid using the term "laminated" when describing the top & the sides/back. They will use "solid", if it's the case, but the absence of the adjective I now assume to mean "laminated".
Would it be myopic to always go for solid top/back/sides or has a solid top with laminated sides/back combination got merits? I appreciate that the former combination is always going to be more expensive.
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Whether that is part psychological to protect my brain from the horror of paying 8 times the price for the same thing I can't say
: )
(Or only those makers who only build all-solid guitars can afford to be really honest. Hard to say which is which.)
Yep: if they don't say "solid" it is laminate every time.
Should you go all-solid? This depends very much on your budget. At the lower end (around $1000 AUD, that's something like £700), I'd say no. You are better off accepting laminated back and sides and just looking for a solid top. Up around $2000 AUD the boot is on the other foot: you have companies like Taylor and Martin and those Sheeran by Lowden things selling very expensive laminate back and sides guitars for the same price that companies like Furch and Larivee and Maton and Seagull/Gudin sell all solid guitars for - instruments which are superior in all respects. (Not to mention all sorts of things coming out of the low-wage countries.)
Now you are looking to go second-hand, so you will need to make the appropriate allowances, but the basics still hold true.
I'll lay down a general rule here: laminated instruments simply don't have the sound quality or subtlety of a real wood instrument.
Now I'll contradict it. The other week I played a Taylor 1 Series guitar - not the 2 Series which is their laminated but fairly decent offering in the $1800 price range, a cheap little 1 Series Taylor, and it was bloody excellent! Here was the exception to prove the rule. It really was a beautiful little guitar. I've played quite a few Taylor laminated things, and for some reason this one was way better than the usual competent-but-uninspiring standard they meet. Maybe I should have bought it.
Bottom line: follow my general rule, but ignore it if you find something you particularly like.
The good news is that most manufacturers use solid tops on the majority of their lines. It tends to be the ultra cheap models that have laminate tops.
Solid back and sides will come at a price but some makers, Faith and Eastman for example produce all solid instruments for around £500. The trade off is plain satin finishes, no binding, no bling, etc.
Overall the choice and quality of acoustic guitars at all levels of construction and price is vast.
You just have to do a bit of homework and of course, if possible, try before you buy.
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Laminate back and sides crop up on high end instruments Django style guitars not as a cost cutting feature but for the tonality of the instrument.
I love the sound and style of those kind of guitars/Gypsy Jazz.
Often it is because laminated woods are cheaper than beautiful solid woods.
The material cost doesn't *always* correlate with the built quality and therefor the final price- look at Custom Shop ES335's for example.
So a cheap piece of shit guitar doesn't sound/play bad *because* it is a laminate wood guitar.
There are plenty of good sounding guitars that use that technology.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
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https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/standard-series/D-28.html
Vs. the LX1
https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/little-martin-series/LX1.html
You'll note Martin do it differently. They forego use of the word "Solid" but clearly specify where laminate (HPL) is used.
Gibson specify neither "solid" nor "laminate" as they only manufacture all solid (top, back and sides) instruments.
... but it is one of the biggest myths about guitars that you will commonly find.
Old laminate/plywood guitars don't sound like old solid-wood guitars, but they don't sound like new plywood guitars either. They certainly age and change, often a bit more slowly than solid-wood guitars, but nonetheless they still do (and arguably improve) with age.
Play a 60s Yamaha or something like that, or even an Eko Ranger, and you'll find it sounds like a nice old ply guitar, not like a new ply guitar.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
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Is it worse than some of the borderline legal marketing horrors we see in the motor trade, in politics, in food and general retail? Of course not. But it's not a lot better either.