azz230 Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 I've herd rumors that if u use to much glue in a guitar (set neck, 3pice body, 5 pice neck) that it can start to dull the sound qwality of a guitar. Anyone else herd this rumor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 I think nearly evryone has heard it, but that doesn't change the fact it's untrue. It's basically bragging rights - you spend more, you tend to get a one piece body, and so people claim it sounds better, or than glue is bad etc. Also, older instruments tended to have one piece bodys, but this is because wide boards to make one piece blanks were widely available, and it saved labour if you didn't have to joint the body. One piece bodies look nice, and people are prepared to pay a premium for them, so they get used on a lot of great instruments, and I like using them myself, but they don't sound any better or worse than 2 or 3 piece bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 Gibson Les Pauls have a big hunk of maple glued on top of a big hunk of mahogany. That's a heckuva lot of glue, but they sound ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardd Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 Apparently lobbyists who work for the wood industry are more powerful than the ones who work for the glue industry. Or at least they don't have names like Elmer. Next time it comes up, maybe the glue people should send that Gorilla. Be Cool, d ward Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mammoth guitars Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 It may be possible if the neck joint is not tight and you blob it up with a lot of glue like caulk, it could hinder the sound quality. With a correct fit and correct clampling all the un-needed glue will squeeze out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoser Rob Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 It's true about the neck pocket ... if it's not tight enough the glue isn't really the problem. There's no question that one or two piece bodies sound better ... that's one of the reasons those vintage guitars, made when the wood selection was a lot better than it is now, sound so good. But it's not because of the glue, it's becausethe wood itself in a one or two piece body resonates better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 There's no question that one or two piece bodies sound better ... that's one of the reasons those vintage guitars, made when the wood selection was a lot better than it is now, sound so good. But it's not because of the glue, it's becausethe wood itself in a one or two piece body resonates better. I completely disagree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 There's no question that one or two piece bodies sound better ... that's one of the reasons those vintage guitars, made when the wood selection was a lot better than it is now, sound so good. But it's not because of the glue, it's becausethe wood itself in a one or two piece body resonates better. I completely disagree. I completely agree... with Setch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javacody Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 I don't think there's any question that any varation from one guitar to the next is going to sound different. Better or worse is subjective and how much any one thing impacts the sound is highly debatable. I suspect that its not good for tone (very, very generally speaking) to have a guitar body made out of 7 pieces of wood (including veneers) like you have with the Fender MIM Standard series. However, I see no harm with a two or three piece body. If you look at a Les Paul, it has several glue joints (headstock, fingerboard, neck, maple cap) and there is no negative impact on tone. LP Standards still use one piece mahagony in for the bodies, but I believe that the LP Classics are two piece. You could test drive several of each model and see if you come to the conclusion that that single line of glue between the two pieces of wood has that much impact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 I have to believe that those umpteen-piece jigsaw puzzle bodies used in lower end guitars don't sound as good, if only because the wood probably isn't as high quality, and all the pieces resonate slightly differently, attenuating a wider range of frequencies. On the other hand, I've heard really cheap guitars (like this one here) that sound very decent--and I have no idea what's under that orange finish, but it's probably not wood. It seems that we luthiers have a habit of nitpicking the details. Any well-executed glue line won't affect the tone near so much as a player's technique will, and in a loud, live setting (we do, after all, play these things, right?) the difference couldn't possibly matter. Conversely, a poorly executed neck joint or glue line will affect the tone, but it's not the glue that's the problem-- it's the quality of the luthier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tirapop Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 I think about acoustic guitars, which remove pickups as a variable in tone, volume, and sustain. They're held together with glue. They probably have more glue, as a percentage of total weight, than a typical solid body electric. Acoustics would be more sensitive to any negative effects of glue. And yet, they sound pretty good. Yeah, acoustics and electrics are apples and oranges. Joinery and wood quality are probably much more critical in tone than the presence or absence of glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 Thinkof an alembic bass or guitar, or similar hippie-sandwich designs. These things are made up of many, many more pieces than most solid colour Fender-styles. Good joinery, and good wood, will produce a good guitar. Glue isn't an issue, and neither is the number of pieces comprisining the body. Until somebody can tell me the difference between a 1-piece and multipiece guitar of the same desing in a blind test, I'll be happy to conclude they're blowing smoke when they wax lyrical about the advantages of 1 piece bodies. IMO, 1 piece blanks have only 1 advantage - no need to plane that centre joint! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted April 1, 2006 Report Share Posted April 1, 2006 (edited) The way I see it, because the magnetic pickups only "hear" the strings and not the wood; I think the only way the kind of wood matters is because it makes the string vibrate diffrent and therfore sound diffrent. A multi peice body may or may not make the string vibrate diffrently and cause a good or bad sound. I've heard tons of 1 peice bodies that sound horriable and many multi peice bodies that sound great. In the end it's more about the perticular peice of wood (not neccessarily the species or number of peices but the acoustic properties of your peice) and -most importantly- the player. Edited April 1, 2006 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 I agree with Setch. What about glued on fingerboards, can we do that too or is the glue going to destroy our sound? I think that there are tons of other things that affect your tone more than if the wood is glued together. I would love to see the data that supports the theory that wood glue will effect the tone enough for you to even be concerned with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javacody Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 In my experience bridge material type, string type, and pickups have THE largest impact on a guitar's tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 What Setch Is Saying. For he's wise. Only reason I use 1-piece bodies from time to time is because, well, it saves joinery, and it does look nice. I don't think they're tonally superior to my 2-piece bodies, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I agree with Setch. The amount of glue "actually used" in the construction of the guitar (any guitar) is miniscule to the amount and density of wood that's actually there. The wood is so tightly compressed, even with 2 and 3 piece bodies or necks that there isn't going to be much, if any, difference in how much the wood actually resonates the sound and gives you your tone. We're not talking about HUGE gaps between the pieces of wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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