USA Strats with (4) pieces of wood

[SLOgriff]

RANT!

I've been looking for a nice Fender Strat for a while now but keep seeing 3 & 4 pieces of wood in the bodies! I understand and can live with a 3-piece body, which are pretty normal, but 4 piece or more is just unacceptable to me....especially a new USA Strat. I found a couple new ones that play well and sound great (but have 4 pieces of wood....I CAN SEE THE SEEMS UNDER THE PAINT), but I just cant get get past this to make a purchase.

This has bugged me for years and I have tried other companies like Anderson and Suhr models "knowing" they have better quality and ONLY use 2-piece bodies....but I've never bonded with those guitars because they just don't feel and play like the Fender's. I know most will say it doesn't matter as long as it plays well and sounds good....just my OCD coming out.

... I found a nice NEW American Standard Strat at a local dealer with the color and specs I want...its just the 4-piece body that's keeping me from buying it.

Thanks for listening!

 

[iplayloudly]

That is a little surprising for a USA I guess. I've never really thought about it that much, but even my MIM Tele only has 3 pieces. You can see the seams under the black paint only if the lighting is just perfect. I also have a MIM Strat, and you can't see the seams at all, so I'm not sure how many pieces it has. Maybe I got lucky on that one.

 

[rupe]

Knowing that you have 3 or fewer pieces of wood is far more important than playing well or sounding great...stick to your guns!

On a serious note, I've seen 70's Fender Strats with up to 7 piece bodies (and some dumb asses consider those to be collectible)...if it plays great, sounds great, and is put together well, I'd try to worry about things that don't effect those characteristics.

 

[snowdog]

Warmoth sells one piece bodies.

 

[sytharnia1560]

Warmoth sells one piece bodies.

but how many grains are there in that one piece of wood??...I think it matters

 

[messenger]

It is pretty ridiculous that they can't can't make 2 and 3 piece bodies for that price.

 

[Badronald]

Knowing that you have 3 or fewer pieces of wood is far more important than playing well or sounding great...stick to your guns!

On a serious note, I've seen 70's Fender Strats with up to 7 piece bodies (and some dumb asses consider those to be collectible)...if it plays great, sounds great, and is put together well, I'd try to worry about things that don't effect those characteristics.

I had a '78 Stratocaster once. What a turd that thing was. I think it was made out of granite.

 

[sytharnia1560]

It is pretty ridiculous that they can't can't make 2 and 3 piece bodies for that price.

I think its worse that signature series US made strats get the 4 piece thing. Considering how much more they cost than the US standards....hasn't stopped my malmsteen strat from sounding awesome though (and its 4 piece)

 

[SLOgriff]

I did a Google search and seems this has been brought up before. I read that an Eric Clapton strat that was owned by him had 5 pieces of wood.

I may just suck it up and buy the one I'm looking at....

 

[SLOgriff]

Here are some interesting images...

 

[Chubtone]

Warmoth sells one piece bodies.

Yeah, if you specify and pay an upcharge. Here's what happens when you buy a painted Warmoth body from their showcase and then decide later you don't like the paint color.



6 piece body! Yes 6.... you can only see 5 on the end but on the top, the very outermost curved pieces are additional pieces. NICE!

 

[snowdog]

Hmm, I have two Warmoth bodies and they are both two pieces of wood.

 

[Chubtone]

Hmm, I have two Warmoth bodies and they are both two pieces of wood.

Surprised me too. My favorite Warmoth out of the dozen or so I built was a 3 piece body though. That also surprised me but taught me not to stick my nose up in the air too much.

 

[thiswaythatway]

The only strat I played in the past few years that I liked was one of those select series with the big head stock and the maple channeled neck where the rosewood sits in it. It had a nice raw feeling neck. All the standards feel like plastic to me.

 

[JiMB]

Reminds me of the old Ed Roman (RIP) rants.

 

[Travis]

I say meh to all this body piece talk. I have two 2 piece body strats, two 3 piece body strats, and one 3 piece tele. My favorite sounding one is a 2003 3 piece body that's a hardtail. I think it has a lot to do with what the bridge is mounted on. I know Blake Mills' coodercaster is a 3 piece too for a similar reason. If the bridge is mounted on two separate pieces of wood then maybe they have a harder time vibrating together? That's the theory I guess.

Bolt on guitars seem to be completely an "as per example". There are so many variables.

 

[d1469d]

I would use my ears and fingers. Maybe some of that wood has all the right mojo for a great sounding guitar. The photo's kind of look like a bunch of cheap 2 x 4's regardless. You would think the glue between the pieces of wood would interrupt the vibration of the wood. Anyone know about wood and how this may effect the tone of the guitar ?

 

[jlb32]

I personally would not let it bother you if the guitar still looks great and plays great.

Using multi-piece bodies is nothing new from Fender or others for regular production guitars. Guitar manufacturers do not waste wood so as long as the wood is of great quality, the amount of pieces isn't really a huge deal or something out of the ordinary IMO.

Most manufacturers keep the one piece bodies for the more expensive Custom Shop models but even at times they can be 2 pieces or maybe even 3. The wood quality is usually sorted from highest to lowest also.

Custom Shop gets the best highest quality selection of wood coming in, USA production gets the next highest quality wood and the lesser (but still great wood) goes for the lower level/made outside the USA models.

 

[SLOgriff]

I personally would not let it bother you if the guitar still looks great and plays great.

Using multi-piece bodies is nothing new from Fender or others for regular production guitars. Guitar manufacturers do not waste wood so as long as the wood is of great quality, the amount of pieces isn't really a huge deal or something out of the ordinary IMO.

Most manufacturers keep the one piece bodies for the more expensive Custom Shop models but even at times they can be 2 pieces or maybe even 3. The wood quality is usually sorted from highest to lowest also.

Custom Shop gets the best highest quality selection of wood coming in, USA production gets the next highest quality wood and the lesser (but still great wood) goes for the lower level/made outside the USA models.

I get it, but would you have purchased that beautiful PRS in your avatar if it had 4 pieces of mahogany on the back?

 

[Zap]

Knowing that you have 3 or fewer pieces of wood is far more important than playing well or sounding great...stick to your guns!

On a serious note, I've seen 70's Fender Strats with up to 7 piece bodies (and some dumb asses consider those to be collectible)...if it plays great, sounds great, and is put together well, I'd try to worry about things that don't effect those characteristics.

Those guitars are as collectible as a Mustang II.