Music Man 91 said:
my guess is that warmoth is not so keen on hollow ro semi-hollow designs, it probalby takes thatm so much more time to make a hollow ls5 body than the regular solid ones. they probably dred having to cut the front, back and sides separately. if they had to do that more often, if they offered a 335 shape, they would probably hate their jobs. unless of course there are ways t omaking hollow bodies guitars without all of those steps? Gregg, is there some secret process that you've been hiding from us?
First of all, the L5s offered by W is flat, not carved. Secondly, in its hollow incarnation, its cut just like a Telecaster thinline, that is, routed out from a single piece of wood, then capped with a 1/4 inch thick top. The sides are integral with the back and center.
On a 335, the tops are fit to a solid center block (maple, also the neck is attached to the block), but the sides and back are made like those of an acoustic guitar - attached with kerfed linings. Ideally, the back will contact the center block and keep things from shaking up to bad. In practice they usually fit -"ok" to the back... and I'm not sure how they do that!
The 335 type body is not the type of thing W is set up to do on a production basis. It does not fit with their way of doing things. If they routed out a 335 body from solid , it would not sound the same, and... would weigh a ton. Thin laminate top, back and sides and the 335 is already in heavy LP league as far as weight goes. My 333's weigh in over 10lbs each.
There is a guitar called the CS-336 and another called the "Johnny-A" that are made with solid backs, and fitted carved top tops. W could do something like the 336 (335 shaped but about 2/3 sized), or Johnny-A. I'm not sure if the demand would be sufficient to justify the expense of gearing up for it.