Myth or fact?

[kiwigeo]

Found this on a blog associated with the website of a major US Acoustic maker:

"Question: I have a few questions regarding the laminate rosewood on the back and sides of my ****. What exactly is the difference between it and “non-laminate” rosewood? Also, I’ve read that I can actually expect my guitar to lose its tone over the years because of the laminate body. Will it lose tone, maintain its tone, or sound better as it ages?

Answer (from major US acoustic maker): It’ll sound better as it ages; it doesn’t matter what anyone says. The top isn’t laminated, and it ages. An all-solid guitar will age better because of the backs and sides aging, but your guitar will improve. It won’t lose sound — you can scratch that off your list of worries and start worrying about your sugar intake or something. Your veneered back and sides have three layers of wood with glue between them. The outside layer is rosewood, and the inside layers are less valuable. They are strong and make a good guitar, but they can’t produce the complexity of tone that you hear in a solid wood guitar. The solid wood guitar is a piece of rosewood all the way through."

So...who much DO the sides contribute to the "complexity of tone" of an acoustic guitar??

[demonx]

Not an answer to your question, but certainly on topic. Get on YouTube and search for the Torres cardboard guitar. It's a classical with a traditional top, however the back and sides are paper mâché.

[simso]

Okay, my opinion

Laminated rosewood sides are less prone to cracking, providing the laminate is criss crossed.

I do not believe acoustically it would make a difference, as the sides and back are too stiff to start with, so making them slightly stiffer IMO wont make an audible difference.

Apart from the framing of a chamber, I am not a believer that it will make a large difference in sounds between many hardwoods, I do believe re-shaping of the chamber makes quite a difference

All of course, my Humble Opinion....

Steve

[charangohabsburg]

Myth or fact? Both. It's a fact that it's a myth!
... unless the laminated back or sides would delaminate. If this happens, also the rest of the guitar would start to disintegrate, respectively would have disintegrated even before, right? It is mass and stiffness of these components that matter to tone.
It is also a fact that myths never die.

[Kim]

It all depends Marty,

If you own, run, or work for a major guitar making company, particularly one which marks up their solid wood products at a premium, then of course solid B and S really does make a 'huge' difference to the instruments tone...especially over time...just like red wine..If on the other hand you don't own such an enterprise then I suspect any difference in relation to all other variables, are probably beyond chemically unassisted human perception...

[DarwinStrings]

It depends on the glue, as we all know from reading the internets hide glue gives a much better tone so if you have two guitars made with hide glue, one with solid back and sides and one with a laminated back and sides the laminated one will have much more hyde glue in it and will sound much better than the solid one, simple stuff really.

Jim

[Taffy Evans]

I think I'd sooner repair a solid back or side than a laminated one, I find the solid timber easier work with.
Many years ago I had a top shelf Maton acoustic, late 1970s but the solid back kept splitting. After sending it back a few times it was returned with the note that they had devised a new back. Anyway I sold the guitar as I started playing guitars that I had built.
The guitar was returned to me some years later in many pieces after an accident, it was then I could see that the " new back" had been laminated. I did not notice any difference in tone as I remember. Inexperienced ears maybe
Cheers.