True True my Friend. Close study shows that. I to do not like the black paint in the cavities but it is a nice looking body. I have no problem with veneer bodys because you can get so many different looks with the exotic woods . Also as you no when a log hits the mill and they determine it to be the quality they need for use as a veneer log thats when it becomes big money for funiture and such.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Paul Reed Smith, in recent advertisements for some of its imported models, bravely admits to using veneers. They want people to feel that there's nothing wrong with it.

And I guess there isn't anything wrong with it. It's all about getting a nice looking guitar, sort of like relicing. Just looks.



Edited to experiment with the naughty word filter. Weird. I only tried to end a sentence with the word "isn't" (followed by a period/full stop).

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

With the forearm contour you'd have to use an extremely thick maple cap if you wanted to carve the form out of it, rather than just bend a veneer into that contour. And then the problem is that the figuring where you've excavated the contour ceases to match the grain on the other side, which rather defies the point of bookmatching it in the first place.

I believe even on expensive "super Strat" models figured fronts are often bent veneers - "drop tops" - rather than thick carved caps. Take a look at Tom Anderson drop tops, for example. The ones where it is a real cap rather than a veneer don't have the arm contour.

The body in the OP is unusual in that the join is not covered up by a sunburst of some description.

Cheers - C

PS Never thought to see Orvilleowner getting his language censored by the filter! Don't worry: I know what you wrote. Take's the weird mind of Fender's software to find that offensive...!

It's a nice looking body. Maybe I'm not getting the extreme close up viewing that some of you are seeing, but I believe y'all that it's a thin veneer.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I agree it is a vaneer, but I also don't think there is anything wrong with it. it looks great, and being thin its affect on tone will be subtle. probably brighten it up just a touch. Might even enhance the quack just a bit.

Ceri, you shouldn't be against the black paint. it's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but i am almost willing to swear that it is the same as the paint that fills the cavities of my Ibanez. the slightly matte look, and the texture seems the same. if this is truly the case then it is conductive paint. That body appears to have shielding paint in the cavities, to reduce hum caused by electrical interference. it is applied and then not mucked around with much, because it usually doesn't need to look pretty.

or it might just be poorly applied primer.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

You are right 12bar the only way you are going to get some of these great looking bodies in the price range that most can afford is to use vaneer or a wood cap. My Lp has a book matched cap of Flame maple over Mohogony and it is a beauty.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Hi Twelvebar: got nothing against the black paint per se (though it seems unnecessary). My observation here is that you can see sloppy brush marks in it and also one of those brush strokes has carried over the figured front, but not been wiped off. All of that speaks to the haste with which the work was done and so is an indicator of the level of Mighty Mite's quality (what we were originally being asked about).

From everything I hear about Warmoth their quality is pitched at a higher point - and Orvilleowner's photo of his friend's sunburst Strat seems to bear that out.

But I'd stress, all of this is just hyper nit-picking. For the price this bod seems excellent value.

I wonder if the OP will actually buy it and build a guitar? If so, post the pics, please!

Cheers - C

I haven't read through all of the replies here so please forgive me if I add anything terribly redundant.

First I would like to say that the MM body isn't really a "laminate" in the typical sense...when most people think laminate, they think "plywood" which is what I was expecting here. This is actually a very nice body and it's been my experience that Mighty Mite puts out some really good stuff. I'm guessing that most folks would be quite happy with this body.

As far as the maple cap, this is a very common practice with many guitar makers. I'm not sure if or how often Fender has done this in the past but I know Gibson has done it a lot over the years...mahogany body with flame maple cap, etc.. Also I know that -many- companies will do "glue ups"...bodies made from various pieces of a given wood as apposed to making it out of a single piece. For a nicer look you'll see lot's of "book matched" bodys (or caps) and for solid finishes, bodies could be made from 3 or more pieces of wood...and I have yet to ever seen one break or fall apart. It's not anything to be worried about and in the case of this MM body, it does carry a lifetime warranty as well...Mighty Mite has been around for a long time and I'm sure they'll still be there tomorrow in case you have a problem .

Just my $.02 worth,
Jim

The flame maple laminate on the ultra series of guitars holds up fine in my experience... no issues whatsoever since '92.

I haven't kept up with things over the years, but that quilted maple reminds me of the Tom Anderson guitars and parts that were available in the late '80s (probably still around now; I don't know). Good stuff.

I wish I could remember the book extract I read this in, but I seem to recall Dan Smith saying that a few different Fender models actually went out with laminate tops (hidden by the paintwork) because they were getting negative feedback from dealers about some sort of effect occurring under the clear coat... not checking, but paint stress of some kind... anyway, this was back before it became desirable to have evidence of paint sinking into the wood, etc. I remember him saying that they used techniques honed in the production of the ultra series, and that they always tried to accommodate the dealers.

I'm defenitely going to build another. I thought I had decided to build a #00001 replica, but now I'm not so sure. Then i considered an olympic white with fat 50's and a reverse headstock. But geez! these natural finishes look soo good.

Might have to flip a coin to get this decision made.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Hey Dude,
I feel your pain about the finishes. I've always wanted to do the classic 2 tone burst that I'm doing right now but somehow I always managed to get side-tracked on it. Ended up with a blue burst, a jet black, etc.. Even as I was getting into this one, I really wasn't sure what I was going to do until I started doing it! LOL!!! I had really considered doing a solid color because it's not the greatest body but I finally decided f--k it...if nothing else this would give me some practice for when I do go to do a nice one (and if it looked too bad because of the body, I could always restrip it)...each refinish I do gets a little better and I learn a little something along the way. Once I finally get "the classic look" out of my system I'm probably going to do (at least) one more and go for one of those flame maples or something because they're so sweet.

Peace,
Jim

When you see builders take a center board and then glue on multiple layers of different exotic woods its so that when they cut the body blank and the mill it down and sand to shape they are removing different woods at different degrees along the cuts and contours exposing the varies woods and colors at points through out the body. This style of building a body blank is very time consuming and costly and done mainly by custom builders and small shops only. It is much different the laying out a veneer on a body blank and both are very different then lumber yard plywood.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson