Different Wood Pieces Not Joined Along Center

fenderlover · Little Guppy Joined: 31 Dec 2003 Posts: 31

My MIA 3-tone sunburst are made of several (I think 3) pieces of wood. I noticed that while on mine the pieces are joined along the horizontal about 1" below and 1" above the edges of the bridge, others seems to have the join along the center of the bridge much like a Les Paul. I think this is better since it makes it more symmetric. Is there any disadvantages to its value along the long run even though they both cost the same now?

weelie · Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 3:48 am Post subject:

I guess it looks better if it's center joined, to my eyes at least. But some people claim that it's better for a body to be off-center joined. I don't remember reason given for the supreiority... was it alleged tone benefit or maybe stability reason...?!

Yoda · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 7:43 am Post subject:

I've heard that argument too. I believe the thinking behind it is that the bridge needs to be mounted to a continuos piece of wood without any seams in order to have the best resonance. Whether there is any merit to that argument, I do not know. I am fortunate that both my MIA Tele and my MIA Strat are unusual in that they have one piece bodies. At least there are no seams that I can discern. I like the way they both look because of that fact very much. They both have great Fender tone as well.