Acoustic builds vs. electric builds

[PieterK]

I'm really not sure how to title this, but here's the curiosity:

Split, book matched solid wood backs are pretty standard on flat top acoustics, often with an inlay in the center of the back.

On ES style semi-hollow and full hollow laminate wood electric guitars, single piece tops and bottoms are the most common.

If a fully hollow laminate wood ES-330 or ES-295 style guitar has split tops and bottoms rather than a single piece, is there any technical inferiority to this type of construction?

I've encountered some opinions in the electric guitar community which consider this a compromised, or flawed design over using a single piece of ply for the top and bottom.

Can anyone illuminate this?

There's a Gibson ES-330 I'm very interested in, but it has the split style construction. They were only produced that way by Gibson for a short time. Most of them were single pieces. I'm just not sure if I should look for an example with the single piece construction.

Obviously, split backs are more than good enough for even the finest acoustics, so I'm inclined to think it doesn't matter at all. But better minds might know better.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by PieterK

If a fully hollow laminate wood ES-330 or ES-295 style guitar has split tops and bottoms rather than a single piece, is there any technical inferiority to this type of construction?

If it is truly a laminate, as in plywood, then the appearance of having a "split" back (or top) is cosmetic, a function of the exterior veneer, not the substrate/layers beneath the veneer. It has no bearing on the function.

[PieterK]

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

If it is truly a laminate, as in plywood, then the appearance of having a "split" back (or top) is cosmetic, a function of the exterior veneer, not the substrate/layers beneath the veneer. It has no bearing on the function.

Ah! Interesting. I never even thought about that possibility.

But why go through the trouble to build it that way then? Why not just use a clean back?

If it helps clarify, there's no book matching in the pieces either.

They are definitely plywood, as I believe all of the thin line ES guitars were.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by PieterK

But why go through the trouble to build it that way then?

Who said it was more trouble to build that way? It's plywood. Often, plywood has seams in the exterior layer of veneer. If the plywood being used has a seam, where would you like the seam to appear in the finished instrument - towards one edge rather than in the center?

I don't know why Gibson would chose to use plywood with exterior veneer seams. Could be as simple as that's what they could get at the time or that it was "more cost effective". It's plywood. There are advantages to plywood and disadvantages. On acoustic instruments, none of the advantages have to do with sound quality. Electric guitars are a different animal.

[PieterK]

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

Who said it was more trouble to build that way? It's plywood. Often, plywood has seams in the exterior layer of veneer. If the plywood being used has a seam, where would you like the seam to appear in the finished instrument - towards one edge rather than in the center?

I don't know why Gibson would chose to use plywood with exterior veneer seams. Could be as simple as that's what they could get at the time or that it was "more cost effective". It's plywood. There are advantages to plywood and disadvantages. On acoustic instruments, none of the advantages have to do with sound quality. Electric guitars are a different animal.

Fair enough. Thank you very much!

This is the corrective I needed. Assuming the seam is just the veneer layer, then there genuinely is no reason to dismiss a guitar with those tops and backs as inferior. It also gives the lie to the assertion by some people that there is an actual compromise in those guitars.

Much appreciated!

[redir]

If anything it's more work to book match veneers to make up the plywood then just laminating a solid sheet. But in either case it won't matter at all in terms of tone.