adorshki
Reverential Member
Just realized I walked by this initially, but "tone wood" is generally taken to mean the back and sides, because that wood colors the sound according to the frequencies it reflects the best.Does the poplar, larch, alder or soft maple part of the laminate "age" like tone wood?
Maple being very hard has a reputation for being bright or too treble at the expense of bass response, Mahogany's regarded as "warm" and a good overall balance between bass, treble and midrange, and Rosewood is said to enhance bass the best.
An individual guitar's construction can enhance or degrade those characteristics. Archbacks make maple sound warm, for example, and most Guilds with maple bodies are archbacks.
The issue with the back and sides is, it doesn't matter so much if they're laminated, because their primary job is to reflect, not resonate. So whatever wood's on the surface layer will do what it's supposed to do regardless of what's underneath it.