It is entirely dependent on finish....
If clear coating or sunburst a 1 piece or then a 2 piece book-matched body is most desired, if painting colors then it can be a three piece body but I still stress that the pieces come from the same tree section and that the grain patterns are oriented in the same direction.

That being said, my MIM Deluxe Crimson Transparent does not fit my criteria but sounds excellent.
It used to be a Power deluxe which I deleted the push/push switch, swapped the Vint. pups to SCN's. top quality pots and tone pot to all three pups not just N and M.
The vint pups were used for my Stratopartster I build with TBX Tone pots.
Go to my thread " Stratopartster I and II Build " Details are there.
You can also go to Forum's The Nutter, he has a thread dedicated to builds, that will be the easiest way to research and find build threads on this forum

Again Thanks Nutter....

The glue joint will be critical in that it has to be thin and bonding the pieces for max transfer of resonance.

If you go to < http://www.lmii.com > their list of books on this subject should answer your questions.

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