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Do todays solid color Fender Reissue bodies really have up to 7-piece bodies? And does that really affect the tone of that body in a major way?

I'm going over my newer Fender 50's Esquire RI with a fine tooth comb to see whats holding it back from getting a quot;vintage tonequot; and aside from the body itself and the cheaper Mexico wiring and pots, i don't know what else a person can do. BTW, I did put a SD Broadcaster pickup, and a set of '52 brass saddles on it right after i got it. Anyone have any ideas??
FenderBender

replace those electronics with some quality pieces, if i remember an esquire correctly there are a couple of caps and a resistor that could be changed. It will make a small difference but it might do the trick.

What color is your esquire? You can usually find out how many pieces the body is made of, unless it is a black one. The finish on that body is super thick.

A lot of that great tone is the resonance of the guitar. I look at the multi-piece bodies as being quot;cheapquot; because they use laminations of smaller pieces of wood which is less expensive for sourcing wood. I don't actually know that it's killing the resonance of the guitar- as I love Les Pauls, the whole top of of the guitar is laminated to the body and the neck is glued in. I think the big key in this case is the thick poly finish on the neck and body:Originally Posted by mrfjonesThe finish on that body is super thick.
If all else fails, you can always call Warmoth and have them make you a nice ash body for your Tele.

If all 7 pieces are quality tonewood, it should still sound great, and certainly far better than a one piece body made of crapwood.

A proper glue joint between two pieces of wood is stronger than the rest of the wood and should transfer the vibrations just fine.

My 1988 American Standard has 7-8 pieces.... in some light you can count the glue lines thru the Inca Silver finnish... This strat has the swiming pool rout under the pickguard that says to hurt tone too... but the guitar kicks butt!!!! It is an amazing sounding strat!!!!!

My 1976 Les Paul is made up for lots of small wood pieces and glue.... It still sounds great! Not as great as other LP's but it is still an LP and sounds good....

Thanks for all the insight everyone. My esquire is actually black so i have no way of seeing the wood beneath to get any idea of its construction. It does make me feel better about it to know that other guitars do sound good with multi-piece bodies. That leaves me to believe that the only thing left i can do is upgrade my pots and wiring. I'm real close to ordering a quot;prewiredquot; control plate from acmeguitarworks.com which includes CTS pots, Switchcraft switch, Orange Drop compacitors, and vintage braided cloth wiring. The only thing is, it priced out around $75 and has a lead time of about 4 weeks. :-/
FenderBender

A bass player I used to play with had a hard tail strat in sunburst that had poor sustain. It was puzzling, as hard tails generally have good sustain, We found that they had not only probably made the middle of the body out of three or four peices, but also had put top and back veners on to have a good looking wood grain under the sunburst. A new alder body cured the problem. That's one example of having too many peices, and too many glue joints. Some guitars are hurt by this, while others don't seem to be hurt as much.

A PRS Swamp Ash Special will ofton be of three peices. One is in the center so both the neck and bridge are attached to the same peice of wood. Then the out board two peices have been glued to this. On most good Fenders over the years your dealing with a two piece body with the seam right down the center. In this case both the neck and the bridge are attached to both pieces of wood. IMO opinion the fewest glue joints possible the better.

Sometimes you must weigh the plusses and minuses. For example, it may be a good idea from both a sonic, and cosmetic perspective, to have a maple top over a two piece mahogony or other tone wood back, so the use of additional glue joints are unavoidable. What's gained offsets the trade offs. Nonetheless, in a non lamintated top body design, such as classic tele of all the same wood, the fewest peices as possible the better, imo.

my samick teleCLone is all ply/laminate, each sheet being as thick as match. That thing sustains and has lots of bass-resonance. I'd hazard a guess that that thick lick of paint might be holding things back a little. I stripped my 90 ibbie superstrat, and now it sustains and sounds quite a bit better. Is there paint between the bridge ashtray and the body. What if you just take that off? a long shot....

It's a snobbish opinion, but you get what you pay for with Fenders, and most other guitars. There's only so much you can do to a MIM Fender to make it sound better. After that, the best option is to spend a lot more money on your next Fender....ie, a good American Series, Deluxe, or Custom Shop, depending on your budget. Companies usually choose which grade of wood and craftsmanship on a price point. They definitely don't use the same quality of wood on an entry level guitar as they do on a $2300 Custom Shop.

When I look at guitars at stores, I just swipe the strings with a pick, while they're hanging on the wall, and the ones that ring like a bell get pulled off and played.