The REAL Difference Between Laminate & All Solid Guitars | BLIND Comparison

Today we have the best example of the sound difference between a laminate back & sides vs an all solid body guitar! The Eastman PCH & E1D are almost identical with the back and sides being the only exception.
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00:00 - Intro
01:11 - Review
09:10 - Back to Back Tone Samples
10:39 - Conclusion
14:44 - Reveal
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Check out the full performance of "In The Sweet By And By" here:

Thank you for watching!
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[patricklundquist]

My first 50 years of guitar playing was on laminate guitars and enjoyed all of those guitars beginning with a 1950's Stella that had a half inch string height... Now I have four solid wood guitars and enjoy them even more. A half-hearted beginner can be demotivated by a cheap, hard-to-play guitar, A truly motivated beginner won't quit even if given an old fence post strung with barbed wire... so any parents reading this, if you get your kid a cruddy guitar thinking that if they quit you won't lose as much money, consider this, a decent guitar is a lot easier to resell. Spend a little extra and get your kid something that sounds nice and is easy to play, you'll be doing them and yourself a big favor, says the father of three guitar players and grandfather of two guitar players.

[jed]

Most high end Japanese built Takamine guitars, have laminated sides, and solid backs. This actually makes great sense, as the sides are harder to work with while building, and the extra strength is helpful if you have a preamp installed on the side. And, at 4-5” across, the sides don’t flex, so don’t really contribute to tone. Maybe this is the best way?

[mindmeaningandtime]

At the risk of sounding pedantic, traditionally ply is glued cross grained while with laminates the grain is glued in the same direction, it may sound like a slight difference but it's rather a crusial one.
Really good video, very enjoyable.

[omax]

Typically tone is a deciding factor to achieve greatness and fullness of joy to our ears! Great video

[kennybluet]

Very enjoyable video. Overall nice vibe and good banter without the silliness . Always good to have a solid top . I have a Martin DX1AE with a solid top and HPL back and sides which is good for the outdoor venues I play here in Florida . Stays in use well in the heavy humidity. Great channel you have here . Good info .

[davemoy]

Thanks for making this amazing comparison video. The post production must have taken so much work to stitch everything together.

[chatter]

It’s worth mentioning….the difference is truthfully NOT extreme and I would go one further and say the tendency is to associate ‘fuller’ or ‘deeper’ tone as better…but for an application like recording that subtle difference in fullness of tone of a solid versus laminate may not only be negligible to the point of no one being able to distinguish one from the other in a recording or dense live mix situation, you may actually need that less full sound, since in all likelihood in a full mix with other instruments that fuller sound of a solid top may might not be needed since an acoustic typically occupies a more mid range set of frequencies and is then EQ’d with shelving style curves to cut out everything but the middle frequencies to make room for other instruments natural ranges….

[nvo]

Massive difference with headphones. As expected, the solid wood guitar (A) had a lot more bass response, more overtones and sounded a lot more round and balanced. But you can‘t go wrong with any Eastman. The PCH-series is great for beginners or for outdoor playing and travelling . Would be interesting to hear the difference between the E1 and an E10 to see if the difference in price is reaaonable regarding only tonal qualities. Keep up the great work on your chanel. I love to hear you guys talking and playing!

[jamesstrawn]

There are all varieties of factors involved. You would have to have two instruments, each made by the same builder, each with the identical bracing behind the soundboard, each with the same woods and the same dimensions in thickness of the parts, each with the same thickness on the soundboard(!) each with the same mounting systems & molds. Additionally there are all sorts of laminates and then there is the set-up.

[jefferp]

I had it wrong. However I have been playing a Taylor 110e for my daily player. Maybe that is what my old ears are used to now. I have a D 28 I play a little but I end up going back to the Taylor for ease of play. Good comparison and advice, especially for a new player absolutely needing a guitar that is easy to play no matter what is on the headstock.

[consumidorbrasileiro]

i noticed a big difference and my guess was correct. i'm kinda surprised because i didnt know back&sides would make such a huge difference on a solid top comparison

[pawwalton]

In this video with cheap earbuds on my cellphone I could easily hear the difference and liked the sound of what was the solid wood guitar. The volume of each was very close but the second one was more compressed sounding vs the first being crisper including more clear harmonic overtones that gives the perception of a fuller sound with more warmth. Excellent job, thanks for sharing.

[PemaWangchuk]

The difference couldn't have been any starker. From such comparisons I've watched so far this has clearly been the most easily discernable. Switching back to all-solid was like when you swallow and your ears really open up. Great playing as always, John.

[MrAquatoad]

In your speaker analogy, the top is the speaker cone, the back and sides are the cabinet. The goal in speaker design is to avoid the cabinet vibrating. This has been embraced by some high end classical builders who do ultra thick laminate sizes.

[banjo]

I couldn't hear much difference here. However, 3 years ago I played both of these guitars in dread and OM form. The solid body was 200 quid extra and I played all four guitars for an hour or so in a private room at Peach Guitars in Colchester, England.
It took me a while to decide on whether to get the dread or the OM. It took me two seconds to know I was going to opt for the solid body. No contest! The difference was profound, and for 200 notes, a no brainer.
I bought the E1d and still play it everyday.

[joeoden]

i’ve
listened to many comparisons like this. Gibsons vs Epiphone etc. I believe they all sound great in the hands of skilled musicians. I think the critical factors are the setup, strings and being in tune. Many of the most valuable and treasured instruments are loved because they are old or rare or have family history. Within reason a good shop can set up most instruments so they sound fine and are easy to play.

[bloxa]

Most pro luthiers I talk to say back and sides has basically an insignificant effect when you compare them in a blind testing. Much more care is usually taken to make the expensive guitars, so they'll get the better bracing and top woods. That's the main difference.

[TheGuitarsquatch]

Personally I think starting off with a cheap guitar (with a good setup though) is a good way to reward yourself later. starting off you don't know what a good guitar is supposed to sound like, so upgrading periodically opens your ears. I started with a Rogue followed by a few other cheapies, the jump was a solid top Epi which sounded much better and then followed by an Eastman E2. That E2 was like enlightening, an expensive enlightening into high end stuff.

[johnlay]

Laminated back and side don't really matter that much. The back is just a reflector. The main thing is the top. The back does vibrate, but not significantly. When you are playing the guitar, parts of the back touch your body, depends on your body shape of course, so it is partially dampened.

[raysauter]

Alvarez Yairi makes top-tier guitars with laminate sides and backs and they also command a premium price these days - more than many of the Chinese built all solid wood guitars. One of the big advantages of having laminate sides is you do not have to worry so much about bumps or keys in your pocket creating a crack in the sides - laminates are much more durable. My all solid wood Martin D-18 completely blows away all of my other guitars (as it should) but my Yairi would be more suitable for the usual playing out at open mics and casual gigs.

There is absolutely no excuse these days for not getting a solid-topped guitar these days! I just bought a brand new Mitchell travel guitar at Guitar Center for my 4-year old grandkid. I paid $125 at Guitar Center and it came with a solid spruce top! This was unheard of back in the 70s when I first started playing guitar. Back then, my parents bought me an entry-level Epiphone with a laminate top for right about the same price and you had to get into the $300-400 range (1970s money) to get anything with a solid top.