Drop Top Tone Question

[lkja8uatt33]

Does adding a maple drop top add brightness to a guitar's body (alder, ash, mahogany) compared to not having a laminate top.

I know that the drop top is only 1/8" thick.  Warmoth says that it does not significantly alter the sound of a guitar, but I was wondering if some of you that have a large stable of instruments with both laminates and non-laminates might want to chime in with your personal opinions.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

A 1/8th inch laminate will make little to no difference. A 3/4 inch top will.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Great Ape]

What he said...

 

[lkja8uatt33]

Thanks for the replies.

Considering the demise of all the G style bodies and necks, it might be a good idea to try for hybrid Strat and Tele bodies that would incorporate the bottom 1" core as mahogany and the upper 3/4 top as maple.
Since the forearm contour would show where the two slabs were joined, it would be beneficial to have a laminate top to cover that junction. 
The neck could be whatever, but probably a mahogany one would serve the purpose of sounding more like a LP, especially if it were a short-scale conversion neck.
Just a thought.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

I just had an all mahogany strat "on the bench". Home made stratocaster spec body and a Warmoth mahogany/rosewood neck. All in all a little to the heavy side weight wise.

Guess what it sounded like?

A stratocaster. Not dark or muddy. But stratty and quacky.

 

[Cagey]

I find it hard to believe that a Stratocaster sounded like a Stratocaster. Are you sure you've been holding your mouth right?  :icon_biggrin:

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Yeah - weird things happen in this strange part of the world.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Death by Uberschall]

I would say it might have had something to with pickup selection too.

A carved top mahogany Tele with LP layout would get you close to a LP.

 

[lkja8uatt33]

Yes, keeping Strat pickups will still keep the quacky Strat quality and replacing those with something like Burstbuckers would move it closer to the LP type vibe.
Obviously such a design as I mentioned would still be different than the former Warmoth LP design since the overall thickness of the body would not be as deep.
But I do think that the combination of woods and scale length that I mentioned would at least move such a build in that direction. Adding the humbuckers would get it closer.
A stop tailpiece vs a trem would also be a factor though I've heard LPs with trems that still sounded great. The point is that the G style bodies are gone now but the idea of using mahogany/maple for the body should still move any bolt-on in the direction of what Warmoth offered with their LP style parts.
Many of you purchased the LP style bodies from W which obviously used bolt-on necks. Some of you used long scale and some used short scale conversions.
What say you? How close did they sound to a real LP?

 

[jay4321]

An all mahogany Strat (rosewood fretboard) with a SD in the bridge and an Alnico 2 Pro in the neck didn't sound much like a Strat to me at all. Not nearly as fat as a Les Paul but it had some beef to it and way less shrill on the high notes. A little muddy though, esp in the neck. Probably could have used a nice maple top or neck or something, another pickup maybe.

I do have a TOM Strat-type lined up next, haven't settled on wood yet though.