Paint Grade Laminates

[bobbyc]

I don't see it on the website, so my suggestion is for adding "paint grade" tops to the selection of laminate tops for the body options. I would like the option of having a maple laminate top on a guitar body that I would have Warmoth paint, or paint myself, and it would suck to pay for :headbang1: a flame maple or quilt maple top and then put a solid color on top of it. What a waste! I also think it would be a cheaper option to get the tonality of the maple top on a mahogany body or something like that without paying the premium for the flame/quilt stuff. Seems easy to me, but it's late in the morning, and the coffee is wearing off.........

 

[-CB-]

Top wood does make a difference, but not as much as you think... imho very little in fact.

Case in point - take a Gibson LP VM, and Gibson LP Std (faded) 50's neck.  Tone is identical.  Both have same pickups, same neck, just one is all mahogany and crap finish, the other a slightly better finish.  And the LP Std has that thick maple cap.

Case in point Vic's Tele Thinline mahogany with walnut, vs mine that has mahogany and maple.  When I was swapping necks around, no difference.  In fact... the tone followed the neck.  Howbout themapples?

And finally... in neck swapping, maple with pau-ferro didn't sound any different than all-maple. 

So, to me, neck wood is #1 tone shaper of wooden parts, followed by body type (ie, solid vs hollow), followed by body wood, ... and down the list... fretboard and top lam.    Thats all just my 2c based on having had several bodies and necks here, all same neck construction, and bodies that had overlapping identical pickup types (57Classics and 52Ri Tele set).