A Solid Case for Laminated
Woods in Electric Guitars
Foreword
Before I even get started let me state that when it comes to acoustic performance there is no question in my mind whatsoever, solid woods win hands down. This discussion is strictly about amplified guitars and the effects of solid versus laminate woods in hollow-body electric guitars.
Beginnings
This subject seems to come up from time to time on guitar discussion boards and has been talked about for decades among guitarists. The first time I could recall hearing about it was when I first started to look for an archtop of my own. A friendly and well-meaning fellow at a music store told me that if I really wanted a good sounding guitar I've better get something made of solid wood and not laminate wood.
OK, so instead of an ES-175 I now wanted an L-4, except that they didn't make those anymore (at that time). I also was told that pickups cut into the top of a guitar were detrimental to its sound so now the entire Gibson catalog held but two acceptable choices, the Johnny Smith and the ultra-expensive Citation.
The Gigging Years
Over the years I've owned a number of guitars including several archtops. I actually ended up with a Johnny Smith a few years down the road and it was indeed a very acoustically sound archtop guitar. It also was a love-hate relationship for me almost from day one. Here's the problem, all of the features which made it a great acoustic instrument, the Sitka spruce top, the solid maple back and sides and the elevated pickup, all of these things also made the guitar much more likely to feed back. The guitar sounded great but if you are expending a lot of energy on damping strings and other feedback reduction measures you are in for a rough gig.
I had this driven home when I was playing a steady gig in a moderate sized club. The music was not particularly loud but I had been fighting feedback nonetheless. Abut that time I bought my first solid-body, a Les Paul 55/77. I took it to the gig just to try it out. When I played it amplified and at gig-volume for the first time I was shocked by two things, how good it sounded and how much easier it was to play when I wasn't wrapped around the guitar fighting feedback. For years afterwards I found myself using solid bodies of varying description more and more while I reserved my archtops for strictly low-volume Jazz settings. Then I saw a Brian Setzer concert on TV.
Brian Setzer used a Gretsch 6120 to play Rockabilly with the Stray Cats and to play all sorts of music with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, everything from fairly soft numbers to deafening romps of Neo-Swing with the power and volume of a full horn section to compete with . . . and he managed to do so without a lot of feedback problems. He had to be onto something.
Some History
Jazz guitarists, at least those of the '40s, '50s and '60s, tended to play in fairly quiet settings and they used archtop guitars to get the mellowest sound they could. It worked very well. In the '50s, when Rock 'n' Roll came along, there were a lot of people playing archtops and more than a few early Rock 'n' Rollers used archtops. Gibson ES-175s were popular, so was it's cousin, the ES-295 complete with P-90 pickups and a Bigsby. Another guitar from the same era was the Gretsch Chet Atkins model, AKA the 6120. Both of these instruments used laminated maple for the top, back and sides. The 6120 also had a sound-post, a feature that plenty of archtop players added to their guitars as the volume levels increased during the '50s.
When laminate archtops were developed wood was still quite inexpensive and was not nearly the factor it is now in the equation of cost/benefit when designing a guitar. In my reading of Gibson's history I get the impression that the use of laminate woods in some of these models may not have been purely a cost savings measure on the part of the designers. There were some benefits to using laminate woods in an electric guitar. The ES-175 came out in 1949 using a laminate maple top. It was a step up from the ES-125 that had preceded it but it did not mean an automatic "upgrade" to a solid top. The acoustic L-4, however, did get a solid spruce top. When the L-5 CES came out 2 years later it retained solid woods but had heavier bracing and other design features which made it more suited for life as an electric. Of course, all of these things also had a negative effect on the acoustic qualities of the instrument.
So in this case, what was good for the goose may not have been good for the gander. In the big band era a big, loud archtop with lots of resonance was desirable, even essential. A few short years later that same guitar could have been less than optimum for the amplified music of the era and a seemingly lesser instrument, a laminate-wood guitar would have a definite advantage as regards feedback resistance.
Plywood?
One word that comes up over and over in these discussions is the word plywood. In the context of musical instrument construction the word is almost a pejorative as if someone was trying to build guitars with construction-grade materials. Actually, laminate woods are a subject unto themselves. Some laminates are in fact fairly inexpensive products and may be very inconsistent in quality. Even among lumber yard plywoods there are many grades and levels of durability. The PT boats of WW II were built chiefly of marine-grade plywood and they were tough as nails. There are also plywoods that are free of voids hidden between the layers. One use for such woods is in building speaker cabinets.
The laminates used in guitar building are far from something that you'd pick up on sale at the local Home Improvement Center. These laminates are spec'd to be both attractive and solid. They are carefully chosen for proper thickness and the proper number of layers. Advancements in adhesives can also play a part in allowing laminates that are both durable and lightweight. Even grand pianos employ laminates which are created right in the piano factory and custom molded to the proper shape. To compare the laminates used in guitars with plywood as most of us know it misses the point, these laminates are purpose-built for their task and are far from a haphazard product.
The Great Luthiers
When I think of great archtop builders I usually think of D'Angelico and D'Aquisto. These two men were true innovators and played a big role in making the archtop guitar what it is today. Many people are surprised to learn that both of these men built some laminate instruments for their clients, I know that I was surprised when I first heard of it. I stumbled upon this piece of information when I learned that Joe Pass had two custom made D'Aquisto archtops, a solid wood model he used for recordings and a laminate wood model that he used for concerts. The laminate archtop had the advantage in durability when facing the rigors of travel. Later on, I found out that D'Angelico himself had made a number of laminate guitars.
Now, people didn't go to D'Angelico or D'Aquisto because they were trying to save a buck, they bought from such luthiers because they wanted and could afford the best, yet some of these customers preferred laminate instruments. They must have had a reason.
My Guitars
I have, among my collection, a variety of instruments including some that are all solid wood, some that have solid tops and laminate backs and sides and a number that are entirely laminate. Each of these is well suited to certain specific tasks.
For a small coffee house type of gig my solid-wood Heritage would be a great axe. It sounds terrific and at lower volumes it behaves very well. For a slightly larger venue my Gretsch Country Club does great. It has a solid spruce top and laminate maple sides and back. It also has a sound-post giving it superior feedback resistance. It's a very versatile guitar. For larger venues or higher volumes I'd definitely go with either my 6120 AM, my 6120 N or perhaps a solid body. These guitars are designed for the task and they perform well for such settings. Obviously, their acoustic performance can't match that of a solid-wood instrument but different tools are required for different jobs.
