There's nothing enlightening or helpful in saying i'm polishing a turd, that's the whole idea of the project,... which I outline from the beginning, this IS a poor guitar and it WAS in a terrible state.
I've now bought it up to date with a New Tom set up, a brand new wiring loom, with all new pickups and components..
The build quality of this guitar on the body itself was pretty poor but only in the cavities, The neck is pretty good, No worse than a £200 Epiphone LP SP neck IMO
The 'Does wood really matter to tone, given the huge selection of pickup types and variables?' Argument has been debated over and over again and i do not wish to re-open it in my thread, but i will however say this. I agree that Good pieces of wood will lend a certain character to the guitars sound i.e. sustain, warmth, clarity. However where would we be without pickups, and you've seen how easy it is to change the sound of the guitar simply through the pickup selction. I have a Danelectro Pro56, that's made of glorified MDF, sound great.. sustains forever and does all the jangly stuff. My good friend routed his for a humbucker on the bridge, lowered the action... now it's a shredder, Still the same wood, completely different sound (and rather good i must say!!)
My point is, The Guitar is still Plywood with a very thin Maple top, If this wood is so unresponsive and useless, then the original unpleasing sound, was all down to the pickups and electrics. But these have all just been replaced. So i imagine, so has the crap sound. Also you've gotta remember that guitars have to be played in, just like a cricket bat or baseball bat.
Thanks!