Three String Fretless anyone?

[robocorpse]

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='770656' date='Mar 10 2010, 05:23 PM']All these comments about going back to the era of MDF.[/quote]

...are true, and there was a new era of MDF starting on ultra budget stuff in the late 1990s. This even makes the crappy Korean plywood guitars look good. I still see it occasionally today on noname budget guitars, and its really hard to tell until you take the neck/plate off and look, or (if you are unlucky) it starts to swell or crack. I have seen it with my own eyes on a less than 5 year old MDF Telecaster.

[Annoying Twit]

[quote name='robocorpse' post='770800' date='Mar 10 2010, 07:09 PM']...are true, and there was a new era of MDF starting on ultra budget stuff in the late 1990s. This even makes the crappy Korean plywood guitars look good. I still see it occasionally today on noname budget guitars, and its really hard to tell until you take the neck/plate off and look, or (if you are unlucky) it starts to swell or crack. I have seen it with my own eyes on a less than 5 year old MDF Telecaster.[/quote]

I once tried out a no-name precision bass. Despite being full sized, it was amazingly light. The first thing I thought when I lifted it (with extreme ease) was "balsawood". I've since been told that some cheap guitars actually do have balsa wood as part of their construction as it's cheap. And, it's technically a "hardwood" too.

[robocorpse]

And expensive ones, Parker Flys use balsa in the construction, thats totally acceptable as its a filler wood, and the main guts of the instrument are man made. They sound incredible too. I object to ply and MDF though, thats pure cheapskating in the quest to find ever CHEAPER ways to make money out of building instruments, not a conscious decision to aid the design and playability of the instrument. I would have no problems if someone came up with a guitar that used MDF as part of the design to exploit some characteristic of the build or the tone, although that is highly unlikely.

[hubrad]

Even after it's been explained to me, I still don't fully understand why ply is cheaper than solid.. surely all that sawing and glueing has to cost rather alot?