2 piece or 1 piece alder strat body? Tonal diference?

You are totally overthinking it.
I have never heard anyone argue that they could hear a difference in the resonance of two piece versus one piece bodies. There are way too many other variables for you to pick out that one difference.

The benefit of a one piece body is aesthetics.
 
If you want a classic Strat sound, you'll need 3 to 5 pieces....and I'm only partially joking.  It is quite common for Strats to be multipiece bodies.

If you are looking to spend more money on your build then get a one piece body.
 
IMO there is none but you will find opinions on the net that will claim otherwise.

Pick a nice light body 3ibs 10 or somethin' and enjoy your music. 



 
Glued joints, actual joints and not multiple pieces of wood suspended together with glue, are stronger.  Multi-laminate necks boast superior stability.  A tonehound told me a 2 piece body with the glue joint down the middle should sustain better.  However, it's one more thing to obsess about.  People will look for tone everywhere, usually in the wrong places.  2 and 3 piece bodies are the norm, and offer no tonal disadvantages.  I'm in agreement one piece bodies are for looks.
 
I got a one piece ash body for my Mary Kaye strat because I liked the way the grain looks on the one piece body.  The pickups will make much more of a difference than the one or two piece body, so you might want to focus on that.  I warn you that it is opening a can of worms asking which pickups sound better. . .  (But the answer I go with is, ask Ken at Roadhouse Pickups)
Patrick

 
There is a "school" that claims three-piece bodies are superior, if the neck mount, pickups and bridge are all attached to the single slice in the middle. Because they all resonate more happy... there is another school which claims two-piece bodies are more stable and more resistant to "cupping" than one-piece bodies. I strongly suspect that people with one, two and three piece bodies figured all this out after the fact.
 
My 93/94 MIM body is clearly 3 piece.  Get it in the right light and you can see the glue joints reflect.
(Have to look hard to spot it, but it's there)
 
I once played a Gibson LP Jr with a trans finish, I counted nine distinct pieces on it. Sounded amazing. Tonar's strat body that I play is also amazing, it's one piece and just barely 3 lb. Get a pretty body and put some great pickups and a good bridge on it. The rest is your amp and your skills.
 
I'm pretty sure that my Gibson SG is at least 4 pieces. I might count five, but the line isn't as distinct as the other ones, so maybe it is just the grain. It is my favorite guitar I've played to date, and sound incredible. So like line6man said, I think your just overthinking it.
 
so a particle board body would have the best tonal characteristics since its made up of millions of pieces of wood all glued together?  :laughing7:
 
lafromla1 said:
so a particle board body would have the best tonal characteristics since its made up of millions of pieces of wood all glued together?  :laughing7:
Click to expand...

Maybe.  There's a lot of them out with solid finishes that many are none the wiser about.  But plywood with air gaps and glue slopped onto to otherwise cheap wood probably sounds more like glue than wood.  I wouldn't say it's the same as a few good pieces of wood with a few good glue joints.  Let's just make guitars out of glue.
 
lafromla1 said:
so a particle board body would have the best tonal characteristics since its made up of millions of pieces of wood all glued together?  :laughing7:
Click to expand...

I have a particle board, "Hondo," and it is not great sounding.  It is all in the particular piece or pieces that you get I suppose.  I like the one piece bodies for the look (Mary Kaye, or enhanced grain bodies) but beyond that, I haven't ever put much thought into it.
Patrick

 
I can't refute that claim, though it seems most everyyhing else he did was cost related.  However, Tele Leo was much more of a penny pincher than Strat Leo.
 
I like me a one piece body. They are fancy, something I like when I dropping a bunch of dough on a warmoth. Might as well right!?!
 
At some point even Penny Pincher Leo might have figured out there is profit margin to be made up on the other end by projecting an aura of discrimination (whether real or perceived), though certainly not anywhere near the level of artform that today's practicioners have perfected.  He did add the third pickup to be competitive, and later the 5 way switch because players wanted it.
 
The story about the 5-way switch is he got a boatload of them at surplus pricing.  Then again, if you ask Buddy Guy, he'll tell you about how he invented it.  Either way, a 5-way switch is all but useless without a middle pickup that's RWRP.  Penny pincher Leo never did the 3 bolt neck at Fender, but he must of thought it a good idea because they're on G&Ls to this day.  And his 3 bolt necks don't move around in the pocket like CBSs did, proving it ain't the number of bolts but execution.
 
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