Does more bling mean better tone wood

Kitarkus

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Another guy I forgot to mention is our member Grot (Kurt) who has the largest collection of Guilds I know of and is the envy of at least a few of us:
http://www.guildsofgrot.com/home.html
:friendly_wink:

Wow...I just read Kurt's entire history....amazing quantity of Guilds that he owns! It reminds me when I walk into HUGE homes and think to myself "boy would I hate to have to clean this place". Loads of fun....but boy is that a lot of guitars to take care of!!....and entire fleet of them! He should probably sell me that 1967 F-20....you know...just to help him lighten the load.
 

sailingshoes72

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I think I got lost in this thread is it just about the bling models getting higher graded wood... fancy three pc necks don’t mean much to me...

Three and five piece necks do look attractive, but I always thought that there was a structural and stability component as well. Taking slabs of maple, mahogany, and sometimes walnut, glueing them together into a block, and then carving it into a neck shape would give the neck additional strength to resist twisting and warping under the pressure and pull of steel strings. At least that was my impression.
 
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Rayk

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Three and five piece necks do look attractive, but I always thought that there was a structural and stability component as well. Taking slabs of maple, mahogany, and sometimes walnut, glueing them together into a block, and then carving it into a neck shape would give the neck additional strength to resist twisting and warping under the pressure and pull of steel strings. At least that was my impression.

Yeah laminating can strengthen , but I ve never really seen or had bad solid necks , I mean other then a neck being built with bad lumber from the start .

As for the center strip ? how much does it really stabilize once you remove the fret board and account for the truss rod slot, there’s not a lot left .

So for me it’s more a cool look thing unless they use dark stain and you can’t see the center strip lol

Anyway I’m neither pro or con over it .
 
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JohnW63

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^ That was what I heard too.

Sorry for the ginormous picture.
_6_212.jpg
 

PittPastor

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Hey, that reminds me:
Ever heard of the Taylor pallet guitar?

Taylor-Shop-Pallet-Guitar-Closeup.jpg

Cool! Are those nail holes?

I saw an interview with the Martin rep who was explaining the MIM Martins. And she told a story of a renown Spanish (I think) guitar Luthier who once made a gorgeous guitar with an amazing top -- and paper mache back. Of course he told no one what the back was made of until after they had fallen all over themselves talking about how rich and vibrant the guitar sounded. His point was that, in his opinion, the only thing that truly mattered for good sound was the top wood.

I don't know any of the details -- it was just a story told in passing on a video I watched. But I would love to read more about that if anyone recognizes the story and wants to pass on more info.
 

sailingshoes72

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Yeah laminating can strengthen , but I ve never really seen or had bad solid necks , I mean other then a neck being built with bad lumber from the start .
As for the center strip ? how much does it really stabilize once you remove the fret board and account for the truss rod slot, there’s not a lot left .

Ray... that's a good point. After they have routed the neck blank to make a slot for the truss rod, there's not much material left for strengthening the neck. Here's a good looking five piece neck with the dark stain removed the old fashioned way!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1961-Guild...924980?hash=item3d56d6d574:g:PfgAAOSwcN1aY5Sg
 

West R Lee

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Ooooo I’ll show you mine if ..... Rosewood I’ll show you my Rosewood if you , um , post , a , pic of yours , Rosewood !

Here's the back of the Collings Ray. Very tight rosewood grain. I don't know if that's a bad or a good thing, but it's different from the rosewood used on most Guilds.

4yrj11H.jpg


West
 

davismanLV

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Laminated wood (if it's done right and well) will always be more impervious to warping and twisting. It's just the nature of wood. Jim, that rosewood is INCREDIBLE!! And I think Collings (RIP) makes some of the best guitars in the world. Thanks for sharing that! And NICE light fixture!! LMAO!! :encouragement:
 

bobouz

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One-piece mahogany necks are very stable.

Maple is more susceptible to twisting. Hence, necks made with maple are often laminated for structural strength.
 

Stuball48

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I am of the opinion that a tight grained piece of wood is stronger than a course grained piece. Pretty sure that opinion came from selecting baseball bats in my college days - let's see - 50 years ago. And my "learnings" from 50 years ago have to be true --- right!
 

beecee

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Me too, Jim! Me TOO!! It's like announcing to people that "This guitar is gonna sound INCREDIBLE!" LOL!!! :encouragement:

Not with ME playing it!!!

Hence the move to blingless guitars.

I'll just go hide in the corner and mangle Blackbird again,

That being said, this D-40 of mine sure is a nice sounding collection of 3 tonewoods
 
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Rayk

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Here's the back of the Collings Ray. Very tight rosewood grain. I don't know if that's a bad or a good thing, but it's different from the rosewood used on most Guilds.

4yrj11H.jpg


West

Pretty ! we need a new thread called “show us your backs ! “ Lol
 
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