adorshki
Reverential Member
If it was my personal opinion I would have said so.
Bob Taylor built a guitar with back and sides made from shipping pallets to demonstrate the point, and the principle itself has been understood since at least 1862 when Torres built a classical with a papier mache body. Quote from Wiki:
While Torres was not the first to use this method he was the one who perfected the symmetrical design. To prove that it was the top, and not the back and sides of the guitar that gave the instrument its sound, in 1862 he built a guitar with back and sides of papier-mâché. (This guitar resides in the Museu de la Musica in Barcelona, and before the year 2000 it was restored to playable condition by the brothers Yagüe, Barcelona). [4]Maccaferri did one too.
Your original observation was about what a laminated top guitar might sound like in 10 or 15 years.
I still don't think old vs new growth makes a difference because I don't think laminated tops open up and that's what I was originally responding to.
I suppose it's possible a difference would be discernible between two approximately identical tops using the two different woods (old vs new growth), but even then, since lamination tends to mute out a top, I'm still skeptical.
Most people who do believe in opening up also believe it's not the simple aging that causes it, it's the amount of playing time. It needs to be played to open up. A laminated top won't react to that "vibration treatment" the way a solid top will. It can't, by it's very nature.
The center slice(s) can't lose residual moisture and aromatic compounds and the cross-grain construction for strength inhibits loosening up, it's intended to create stability.
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