Laminate

A wood panel made from several thin layers glued together with their grains running in different directions, rather than cut from a single solid piece.

In an acoustic guitar, a laminate top or back is stiffer for its weight and far more resistant to changes in humidity than solid timber, which is why inexpensive instruments are built this way. The trade is that a laminate top does not develop the response of a solid one and is generally less lively and less complex, since glue lines interrupt the vibration. In electrics the same technique produces a cap or a whole body from layers that would be unsuitable as a solid slab.

Example: a laminate-back acoustic will survive a winter in a dry flat where a solid rosewood instrument might crack.

Laminate

See also