Your 80s MIJ may actually have a Basswood body, while your MIA is likely Alder or Ash. One of the reasons Fender uses Alder is the consistency and relative ease to work. Basswood is popular for being soft, which saves on tooling costs, but has an unremarkable grain pattern.
How can you tell how many pieces the body is on an instrument with a solid finish?

My MIA is solid red and the 2 part lines are clear as day in bright light.....My SRV you can see the grain different and the MIJ has no indication whatsoever that there is any joining....And it being a 25 year old guitar you would notice the joins as the paint contours into the part lines in every other old strat i've seen.... Even if my SRV was solid you can still see the contour in bright light and its only 7 years old......

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what about for a vintage guitars 54 strats are one peice and it sounds amazing

To have a properly balanced presentation of your postulation, the still existing 54 which you refer to vs. the actual number of Strats made that year would have to be considered and compared. Guaranteed, there surely would be some 'non-amazing' ones. I can't help but think that some didn't survive in part, due to body warpage.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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You dig?

The number of pieces of wood that a guitar's body is comprised of has little or nothing to do with the overall tone.There are so many dynamics that contribute to the overall tone of a guitar that's it's virtually impossible to narrow it down to one or two.The sum total of all these dynamics together is what determines the final tonal signature of the guitar.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I cant see any lines in my Olympic white MIA. I'm not ready to swear that its a 1 piece body, I just don't think you can always tell.

Hi jnastyNE: Leo Fender told Trev Wilkinson and Trev Wilkinson told me that the reason they used alder was this.

Back in the '50s cherry was a particularly well liked timber for furniture and so Leo thought that would be nice for his guitars to give them popular visual appeal. Unfortunately, it was rather expensive. However, alder took a stain well and coloured the right way looked quite a bit like cherry and so was extensively used in the furniture industry as "cherry substitute". It was reliably available and cost effective. For these soley commercial reasons Fender used it for their guitar bodies.

The same applies to ash: another timber popular in the American furniture business at the time and therefore easily and affordably available.

The reasons for maple in the necks were similarly commercial and practical. Nobody had heard of debates over "tonewood" in those days...

Cheers - C

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Ah the old 1 piece verses 2 or more piece tonal wood question! i have rarely (in fact maybe never) found a stock Strat from Fender with a 1 piece body. Now when i have picked up the nice split down the middle 2 piece bodies, such as one can find in a natural Ash, I am always super happy. The reason is not tone, but less chance of the seam shrinkage. I have a few older Strats in solid colors that obviously have 3 piece bodies as one can see each seam where they are glued together through the finish. Wish that did not happen—but they still sound and play incredible—sustain all day long and all that stuff!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

I'm sure we've talked about this before, and you may be one guy who has actually seen a guitar (any brand) with a warped body (IIRC). But this statement makes it seem like the streets would be littered with warped old one-piece body Fenders.

That is just not true. If warpage was ever a problem, we'd also see cracks and splits in the bodies. But we don't see any of that. Because it is just not an issue. The wood they used was high quality and well prepared.

You can get one piece bodies from Warmoth. I asked them if they ever had any warping issues. They said never. Of course, they could be lying.

Disclosure: I own two old Strats with one-piece bodies. One is, in fact, a 1954. Unfortunately, its sonic signature is no better (or worse) than any other ash Strat. Look elsewhere for sonic nirvana. And I would love to see a picture of any guitar with a warped body. Please find one for me!

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Agreed. Contextually, my response was to a unilateral statement and solely based on that statement, that is why I asserted that criterion. And yes, I've seen several old bodies so badly warped so badly that they were deforming and pulling the pickguard. As to where I should find one, this is a bit preposterous, don't you think?

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You dig?

When did Fender stop making 1 piece bodies? In my post before yours I stated I have never seen a Fender Strat 1 piece body, thinking of 1990s onward. As you indicated, there were some old Strats made this way. So I am thinking the 1970s saw the end of factory 1 piece bodies? Also you are right. The only planks I have seen warped and split were out behind my shop exposed to the rain, snow and summer sun! I hope no one would allow that with their Strat! Sealed with a finish and tucked away in a house and a case, it should NEVER warp.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Mr Man from Mars! I know you have been around the block a few times with guitars, so I trust what you are saying. I have just never seen, for myself, a Strat body badly warped. I have seen some necks that were so bowed that they were ready for an arrow! So I imagine there might be a few bodies out there that were neglected in some way that ended up twisted and warped.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

They sell them long before they warp. So they sure never had warping issues.

Cheers

David

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"Humans think they are smarter than dolphins because we build cars and buildings and start wars etc...and all that dolphins do is swim in the water, eat fish and play around. Dolphins believe that they are smarter for exactly the same reasons."

We know (from The Man himself) that the Custom Shop gets first crack at the "premium" timber. Since, rightly or wrongly, one-piece bodies command a premium in the minds of some players that means planks of ash and alder big enough for that task would probably be grabbed by the CS, since they can charge the highest price for the resulting product.

So at a complete guess I suppose one-piece bodies coming off the factory line probably dried up around the same time the Custom Shop got started.

Though now someone is going to say they've got a recent Corona Strat with a single piece body. So let's see pics!

Cheers - C

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I take it back, I have found a warped Fender Strat!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com