Is this a One piece back or not?

[DorCohen]

Hi guys, i want to buy a les paul.
i searched online and came across a great store that has high resolution pictures of every guitar in the store.
i searched for a one piece body LP, i found 2 LP's that seems to have one piece but i'm not sure.
need your opinion guys!
i'll post the 2 pics of the 2 guitars here.
let me know what you think and is any of them got 1 piece body,
cheers.

 

[Olivil]

Hard to tell with that resolution, and the best way to tell is a picture from the bottom where you see the strap button, but that 2nd one looks 100% 1 piece back to me. Unsure about the 1st one.

 

[drmmrr55]

The only way to tell for sure is a very close inspection of the end grain. It's easier to spot a lamination there, because it's difficult to match the back grain AND the end grain. Gibson is pretty good at matching grains to make it look like one piece.

 

[musicmaniac]

Why does it matter?

 

[Fritz]

I inflated it in photoshop and messed with the clarity. Looks solid to me.

 

[Fritz]

Why does it matter?

Because otherwise it's just another piece of Ikea furniture in a box from Walmart?

 

[01GT Eibach]

Because otherwise it's just another piece of Ikea furniture in a box from Walmart?

Walmart sells Ikea stuff now?

 

[Christosterone]

Atoms are mostly space….so it’s technically a multi-piece back with electron sharing creating the illusion of connectivity…all matter is technically multi-piece

either way, it came from 1 piece of wood as far as I can tell…

 

[redcoats1976]

im willing to say weight,neck angle,and top figuring would mean more to me than a 1 piece back.

 

[519tbarr]

Check the strap pin area on the bottom of the guitar. That's usually where you can tell best if it is two pieces. In some of the recent Gibson factory tour videos you can clearly see where standard production guitars are 2-piece mahogony bodies glued together.

 

[gball]

Honestly, neither look like 1-piece to me. And a 1-piece on a USA Standard is going to be a unicorn anyway, so I wouldn't worry about trying to find one - it's not going to make the guitar sound or play better.

 

[efstop]

Certain high end models are all 1 piece backs, but Gibson randomly uses them for other, lesser guitars. I saw a new 2017 Tribute T with a 1 piece back. Almost traded for it but it wasn't worth the beating I'd get.

My 2013 '50s Tribute is almost a 1 piece, the second piece is a 3/4" sliver under the control cavity and can't be seen from the back.

 

[mjross]

If we are all looking this close and struggling to figure it out, does it really matter? Yeah, this confinement thing is really getting to us. Lol…

 

[Fritz]

Walmart sells Ikea stuff now?

Yes. And Gibson Les Pauls. (Don't forget to fact-check this.)

 

[ARandall]

Its funny this fascination for 1 piece backs......I mean its the 1 bit that you don't tend to see at all either on the stand or whilst playing.

And then I guess the threshold for 'Ikea Furniture' vs authentic Les Paul guitar must be some random number above 11......because 11 separate bits of wood is the minimum what goes into a Les Paul.

Ah the absurdities of some trains of thought.......

 

[bryvincent]

Its funny this fascination for 1 piece backs......I mean its the 1 bit that you don't tend to see at all either on the stand or whilst playing.

And then I guess the threshold for 'Ikea Furniture' vs authentic Les Paul guitar must be some random number above 11......because 11 separate bits of wood is the minimum what goes into a Les Paul.

Ah the absurdities of some trains of thought.......

And nobody seem to mind the 2-piece top

 

[LesPaul60sTribute]

First image is 99% 2 piece - second image really hard to tell - 75% possible one piece