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I understand why a body made of one solid piece of wood is more expensive to manufacture than a 3 piece body as you have less wood waste and you can use smaller ie cheeper cuts.
But in the finished product is a one piece body really any better. I see reviewers looking down their noses at multiple piece bodies
the one advantage I can really think of is that it looks nicer if you have a clear or translucent finish
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However, equally there are examples of multi-piece bodies that sound great (the inverse is true too - I’ve heard a meh sounding one piece).
Perfect example of this is early to mid 90s US Strat standards - some had multipiece bodies and so therefore they “all” sound rubbish. However, in my experience most of the issue with these is the bridge and the pickups.
YMMV. Always read the label etc etc etc
Still sounds great though!
So I would expect multi-piece bodies to be more consistent, but maybe never produce a truly great-sounding guitar... or a truly bad one.
A more interesting question is whether a two-piece body is better than a three-piece - with a three-piece, all the hardware is mounted on one piece of wood with effectively a couple of ‘wings’ glued onto the sides - with a two-piece, the hardware is mounted on two different pieces of wood. So my expectation is that a three-piece may actually respond more like a one-piece than a two-piece (usually thought more desirable) does.
If any of this matters at all...
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
No one ever complains about fender body's either just weights
As long as it's well joined with suitably matching orientated grain I'll use it
(formerly customkits)
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I’ve used both one and two piece and there’s no noticeable difference. Obviously a one piece looks better under a translucent finish but that’s about it.
(formerly miserneil)
As for "when am I ready?" You'll never be ready. It works in reverse, you become ready by doing it. - pmbomb
Bit like massive thick figured maple tops, when a plain maple top with a veneer of the same figured wood would look and sound exactly the same.
Wizard necks are multiple aren't they? Sure there are many more. I'd say it's more about stiffness.
But, tonally there is no difference imo.
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
PRS, for example, always use one-piece mahogany bodies but when they made some korina guitars about 10 years ago most had two- or three-piece bodies due to availability of timber. I had a two-piece McCarty Korina and a three-piece Mira Korina. There was nothing wrong with them but, irrationally, it rankled that they weren't one-piece.
I did eventually track down a one-piece McCarty Korina. Is it any better than the two-piece one? Nope, but I'm glad I found it.
When it comes to necks, I can totally see the logic of the three-piece neck @FelineGuitars uses. It's not about looks, it's about stability and stiffness. But then my first good guitar was a Hamer and they always used three-piece necks, so it's a concept which sunk in early.
(^ And by the way, "Tone Search: the best gear to buy instead of actually learning guitar." Yes, that is me.)