Part of my arsenal consist of a 1962 Gibson J-50 and a 1971 Yamaha red label FG-300. The J-50 has laminate sides solid back and top - sounds great. The Yamaha is all laminate with a laminate top and sounds just as good if not better. In fact the Yamaha has more volume then the J-50 and I think that it is due to it having a stiffer back. Also the top is laminate on the Yamaha, and they were able to use much smaller braces for that reason, in fact it has the smallest braces that I have ever seen on a dred top.
As a whole I feel that a solid rosewood back and side set sounds as good as it does because rosewood is naturally stiff. Even though it bends easy under heat and is one of the easiest woods to bend, at normal temperatures it is stiff and dense. In guitar construction its really hard to screw up if the back and sides are rosewood. If some one ask me to build a good sounding guitar, that just plain sounds good with a lot of volume; then I say, "Well it's a no brainer, rosewood back and sides with a spruce top". But the downfall is price for materials. When building a rosewood back and sides, spruce top and mahogany neck, with an ebony fretboard, the material usually runs me around four to five hundred dollars.
Now you guys are going to laugh at me about this one. But the other day I was at the hobby store and I stumbled across some real good looking 1/8'' and 1/16" plywood, real cheap. I think that they use it in model airplane construction or boats or something. Now it got me to thinking...I could build a body out of this stuff for about $40.00. I stay real busy so I'm not gonna promise anything but just maybe in the future....mmmmmmmmm....an indestructible camp guitar!
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