Guitar made of single piece of wood (SG Thread)

[Fusioninspace]

Hey, the SG - Solid Guitar thread got me thinking... Has there been any production guitars made from a single piece of wood??? Neck/body/wings everything from single chuck of wood?

With today's CNC machines that might be a reasonable product...

 

[Light]

Hey, the SG - Solid Guitar thread got me thinking... Has there been any production guitars made from a single piece of wood??? Neck/body/wings everything from single chuck of wood?

With today's CNC machines that might be a reasonable product...

A piece of wood that large would be incredibly unstable, particularly when you consider the fact there is very little old growth logging going on any more (old growth lumber is far more stable, for a whole lot of reasons). Additionally, it would be a HUGE waste of a precious resource which is already disappearing at far too great a rate. Lastly, glue joints are good. They help to improve the stability and stiffness of the instrument, which leads to a better sound.

And no, I do not know of anyone who is or has made one.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[DJL]

Hey, the SG - Solid Guitar thread got me thinking... Has there been any production guitars made from a single piece of wood??? Neck/body/wings everything from single chuck of wood?

With today's CNC machines that might be a reasonable product...

That might be kool (added sustain?) for someone like me who likes maple necks, maple fretboards, etc... but, not so good for someone who likes a variety of woods... like someone who likes a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard and etc... but I think everyone likes a balanced body/neck factor. Anyway, I bet a hand made guitar like that would take a long time to make and cost a lot of money to buy... it would take a master craftsman and each guitar would be a "one of a kind" work of art... that would be kool. Oh, and I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure the answer is no.

 

[Ed Dixon]

Although not wood, the Steinberger guitar kind of took that approach:

http://www.gibson.com/products/steinberger

Never played one, but the concept seemed neat.

Ed

 

[DJL]

Good call... I forgot all about the Steinberger.

 

[mishagolin]

theres a shop here in orlando that makes custom built neck-through-body guitars. i played one and they sound and feel very good. i know the shop has made one for jimmy buffet but i'm not sure what his opinion is on it. they've done very good work on anything i've taken to them and seem to be very knowlegeable so i'm sure their neck-through-body isn't just a fad/gimmick. they do use a different wood for the top of the guitar though. most of the ones i've seen are mahogany body/neck with a maple top. i think this is for the looks and resonant qualities of maple.

edit: aren't parker guitars also neck-through-body construction? i seem to remember this with a friends parker fly.

 

[Hard2Hear]

There are several Neck through designs, like the simple Gibson Firebird. I was thinking of Parker in this thread, I have owned 3 of them. The Fly Deluxe has a one piece exo-skeleton, I am not sure how the wood inside is put together, I can't remember. Neck thru guitars are all sustain monsters. My regular bass player has 2 Hamer Bass guitars that the Hamer custom shop built especially for him. They are neck through basses and are the best 2 basses I have ever played in my life.

H2H