Can plywood ever sound good?

[Musician78]

Basically, someone at work is moving and gave me two guitars today. A Hondo POS and some other one, which I can't really seem to make out the name. Anyhow, the Hondo is a V which is cool, but it is plywood... which is not so much cool. I have a set of good Seymour Duncan pickups kicking around, and the neck is easy enough to replace through Warmoth, or Mighty Mite or something. Would it ever be able to sound good, or is it a case of "no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd"?

I know the other one I am going to set up as best as I can and see if I can find some school to donate to or something... I sure as hell don't need it. The answers I get here will determine what I do with the Hondo. It probably should be a really easy decision, but damn, I love flying v's.

And yes, I am aware that there is a search feature, but I simply an not seeing it. I don't know if it has to do with my platinum membership expiring or what not.

[wilkinsi]

Err.. as long as it doesn't turn your pickups brown. Polish that turd!

Well, if BC Rich can do it, so can you.

[rjohnstone]

Hey, if the Mythbusters can polish an actual turd, you can make plywood sound acceptable.

[Devotee]

Hell, put some EMGs in it, the guitar could be made out of cardboard and you wouldn't know the difference :P

[Musician78]

Hey, if the Mythbusters can polish an actual turd, you can make plywood sound acceptable.

Did they polish an actual turd? They must have had one of their 3 lackies do it..... I know I would.

[toejam]

The first "real" guitar was one my parents bought me for Christmas in 1987 (or was it 1986?)... a Kramer 600ST. It was plywood, but it sounded and played great once I replaced the pickup with a DiMarzio X2N and the single-locking Floyd II was swapped for a real OFR. I retired it several years back after the wood-screw Floyd posts started tilting forward.

[tcwil8]

If you have most of the parts, I say go for it. I've polished a lot of turds with mixed results. Some came out smelling nice and other stunk. Did I really just type that??? Anyway, I have an old 80's BC Rich Platinum series that is made out of plywood and sounds pretty decent with a Dimarzio D-Sonic in it. The D-Sonic sounded terrible in a couple of my other solid bodied guitars but fits the plywood well.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I had a Striker, too (300ST) and it wasn't a bad-sounding guitar at all. Yes, plywood can sound good. The main problem is, you'll always know it's plywood.

[rjohnstone]

Did they polish an actual turd? They must have had one of their 3 lackies do it..... I know I would.

Nope... Jamie and Adam actualy polished the turds themselves.
So they busted the myth that you can't polish a turd.

[84sups]

Nope... Jamie and Adam actualy polished the turds themselves.
So they busted the myth that you can't polish a turd.

Me too! It was a parts mutt when i was done with it. Traded it to a friend of mine for a clytch for my truck at the time.

[Sunbane]

I had a Kramer ST-100 at one point, and a Hohner Strat. Both sounded nice, and both were made of plywood.

However, I've also had a couple of plywood guitars that were pieces of junk that no brand of pickups could save. I had an Explorer-shaped one (possibly a Hondo), that I did everything to: changed pickups, changed bridge, switched neck; and it was still a piece of crap.

Hell, put some EMGs in it, the guitar could be made out of cardboard and you wouldn't know the difference :P

[DonP]

Can plywood ever sound good?

Anything is possible.

Depends on the quality of the plywood

[bratfink]

I suppose since plywood is quite heavy it could in theory have a good resonant quality. Problem is that the weight doesn't come from the wood but the resin used to stick it all together. So I guess in that way by having a plywood guitar you have something in-between the horrible BCRich transparent resin body and a wood body. If the plywood has lots of air pockets and inclusions then it would probably sound worse than if it were a good quality ply.

[markD]

i had a kramer 100-ST striker (basically a plywood baretta), and like joe, after swapping the pickup and bridge i was very happy. i had a couple korean squier strats that were plywood that actually sounded AWESOME. it is possible to have a good sounding plywood guitar.

funny observation - i actually liked the plywood strats a bit better than my japanese E series strat.