Acoustical effect of back woods

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Petecane
Blackwood
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:09 am

Re: Acoustical effect of back woods

Post by Petecane » Sat May 04, 2019 8:36 am

I will try to keep what I have to say within the confines of this thread.
Re Laminates....why not?
I have heard it said now by numerous people that there is little difference in sound quality, sustain etc .
One of my instruments is entirely laminate, sells for $300 and sounds great.( Riptide Tenor Ukulele)
I know it is a far cry from a fully blown steel string guitar or classical but the principal is the same.
My take on laminates are.
The wood will go further and we could all have a slice ( literally).
The dreaded Humidity problem is eliminated.
It will be cheaper.
The differences in sound projection are equal to solid.
I have already tried to source some but to no avail.
For guitar tops
Well I will have to leave that to experts to decide.
As far as I know and have learnt solid tops sound better.
But maybe a laminate top with the ideal bracing could also match it?.
I do not know.
I think there may be some wood snobbery going on here.
I am also guilty of it as I am currently building an instrument from solid Koa.
Why??.....because I have been told it has excellent tonal qualities and er........I think it is beautiful.
I am guilty of contradicting myself.
The irony of this is that half of all that beautiful and expensive wood went into shavings, sawdust waste wood and then in the bin.
This criminal waste could be avoided by using laminates?
If its tonal qualities are said to be as good as solids then why not indeed include them in the experiment?
I think if Trevor and Peter Coombe got together to conduct the experiment in a different methodical approach and to use a base line to go by, we would have a scientifically proven and exhaustive account on it.
Pete

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