Veneer Top Info?

[Monkus]

Guys,

Whats a veneer top? Is it better? Are they getting better?

This PRS has a veneer top: http://www.prsguitars.com/se245/specs.php

Whats the deal?

[marnold]

Veneer, in this case, is just another wood (usually a prettier one) on top of the main body wood. Obviously for an opaque finish, there's no sense of putting a pretty top on there. Veneers can be vary dramatically in thicknesses. The thicker the veneer, the more expensive the guitar will be, and also the greater the impact will be on tone. I've heard that a maple top makes things brighter, but I'm no expert on wood tonality and would probably be hard pressed to tell a substantial difference.

[jtees4]

Veneer is generally considered cheap and the consensus is it doesn't sound as good...but I say it makes little difference. EXAMPLE: Early 80's Hamer USA Specials had veneer tops. In the 90's they were re-issued with full maple caps. Guess which ones are sought after and "sound better"? You guessed it, the older ones. It's all nonsense IMHO...thicker caps do not automatically make guitars sound better or worse for that matter. Will the tops on the same guitar sound different? Absolutely....but it may be better and it may be worse.

[deeaa]

I'm sure 99 % of the pretty flame tops etc. Are actually very thin, almost film thick veneers. A real flame top is an expensive rarity, and thick flame slabs the size of half a guitar cost more than the average chinese guitar.

But they know how to use it, very very difficult to notice any seams or joints even on natural-colored guitars.



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[Duffy]

You may be familiar with fine wood veneers on old wood furniture, especially many so-called antiques. You may have seen where it has chipped off or is delaminating, curling, and in general just looking terrible. That is veneer.

When they use veneer on guitars they generally cover it with a thick coat of poly that armors the top against moisture and other deteriorative elements; so I think a veneer top, so common on guitars, is not a problem. Having a real slab of thick, solid flamed wood would totally be more pleasing to me, but like Dee said, these type tops are very expensive. Some of my plain tops have solid slabs of maple on top of the mahogany.

I'll take a veneer flame top over a photo-finished flame top every time. You can have those photo-finished ones.

[jtees4]

Some of my favorite guitars had veneer tops. There is nothing wrong with them at all though some will say otherwise. The late 70's early 80's Hamer USA Specials had veneer tops and were considered some of the best Hamers ever made, and until this day they are some of the most sought after. In the 90's they re-issued the Specials with flame maple tops 3/4" thickness. Those guitars were equally as good, I owned two.....but to this day thew real demand is for the originals with their "lowly" veneer tops.

[deeaa]

Yeah, it doesn't do anything negative to the sound I'm sure.