"If the spec sheet just says mahogany, is it solid?" We hear some version of that question every week, usually from someone shopping their first real guitar with a budget around $500. The answer on solid vs laminate acoustic guitars is simpler than the forums make it, and we tested it blind with two Eastman dreadnoughts that share a maker, a shape and a solid spruce top. The all-solid guitar won, and it won more clearly than almost anything else we've compared side by side. That doesn't make laminate a bad buy, though, and the reasons why matter more than the verdict.
What laminate actually means on a spec sheet
A laminate back or side is plywood. The maker glues three layers of wood together, with the grain of each layer running against the next. The outside layer is a paper-thin veneer of the wood you see, like mahogany or rosewood, and there's a slightly thicker layer in the middle. Some makers use the same wood all the way through. On the least expensive guitars, the middle can be whatever pale wood the mill had plenty of that week.
"So any wood that is white and was on sale will fit there."
Manufacturers rarely put the word "plywood" on a guitar, so you have to read the listing carefully. Watch for these words:
- Laminated: layers glued together, the honest term.
- Layered: it originally meant every layer was the same wood, but we're seeing makers stretch it, so treat it like laminated.
- Manufactured hardwood: a polite way of not saying plywood.
- Just the wood name ("mahogany back and sides") with no "solid" in front of it.
"If it doesn't say solid, then it probably isn't solid. It's gonna be a laminate."
There's one caveat. On a $4,000 or $5,000 guitar, "mahogany" with no qualifier almost always means solid. The vague wording is a sub-$1,000 habit, and it's most common around $500. If you want the full list of red flags, our guide to spotting a laminate guitar goes through them one listing at a time.
The test: solid vs laminate acoustic guitars from the same maker
To keep it fair, we used two guitars from Eastman, which makes this comparison unusually clean. Any guitar that says Eastman on the headstock is all solid wood. The PCH line is the only Eastman series with laminated backs and sides. Eastman did make laminate guitars with its own name on them years ago, but those are long discontinued.
The two guitars:
- Eastman E1D: solid Sitka spruce top, solid sapele back and sides, ebony fingerboard, bone nut, satin finish. $699 the last time we had one.
- Eastman PCH1-D: solid Sitka spruce top, laminated sapele back and sides, rosewood fingerboard, bone nut. $399 the last time we had one.
One thing tilted the test toward the laminate guitar. Eastman had already thermo-cured some spruce and put those tops on early PCH guitars, and our PCH1-D was one of them. That's a real upgrade at that price, so if anything, the PCH started with a small head start on the top.
Jump to: why laminate is plywood (2:03) · the blind test (8:25) · what we heard (10:19).
Solid vs laminate, blind: what we heard
Volume and sustain came out close to even, and both guitars have plenty of each. The difference was tone. The E1D had a lot more roundness and fullness. If you could put both guitars on a spectrum analyzer, the laminate PCH1-D would show most of its energy bunched in the middle, while the E1D spreads that same energy across a much broader, more even range. You hear it on single notes too, where each string had more definition on the all-solid guitar.
We've compared seven Tony Rice-style big-soundhole guitars, neck joints, and sinker mahogany against regular mahogany. Those differences were subtle. This one wasn't.
"I think the most clear and concise difference was between a laminate guitar and an all solid wood."
Why solid wood sounds fuller
Think of an acoustic guitar like a speaker cone. The wood has to flex to push air and make the sound waves you hear. A solid piece of wood flexes freely. Three glued layers with opposing grain are built to resist each other, which is exactly what you want in a staircase and exactly what you don't want in a soundboard. That's the whole solid vs laminate argument in one picture.
That's why the top matters most. A big portion of a guitar's tone comes from the top, so most makers keep costs down by pairing a solid spruce top with laminated back and sides. The back and sides don't move nearly as much as the top, but our test shows they still make a difference you can hear.
A laminate top is a different story. It just doesn't want to flex, so you lose a lot of tone and the guitar sounds pretty dead. That's the one construction we'd steer anyone away from. Here's how our two solid vs laminate guitars line up:
| Spec (Shopify) | Eastman E1D | Eastman PCH1-D |
|---|---|---|
| Top | Solid Sitka spruce | Solid Sitka spruce (thermo-cured on our test guitar) |
| Back and sides | Solid sapele | Laminated sapele |
| Fingerboard | Ebony | Rosewood |
| Nut width / scale | 1-3/4" / 25.4" | 1-3/4" / 25.4" |
| Last price | $699 | $399 |
| What we heard | Rounder, fuller, broader range | Focused in the mids, similar volume |
Where laminate earns its place
Plywood has real advantages, and we'd rather you buy the right laminate guitar than stretch for the wrong solid one. Cross-grained layers are extremely strong. A glued joint is stronger than a single piece of wood, and if a laminate guitar dries out and a crack starts, it tends to follow the grain of the outer veneer and stop, because the layer underneath runs the other way.
That toughness makes laminate a smart choice for a kid or a younger student whose guitar may not get humidified the way it should. It'll put up with more abuse than an all-solid guitar. It's also cheaper to build, which is why most starter guitars have laminated backs and sides.
Playability is the other reason not to overthink it at the start. When you're learning, you're playing chords and simple runs, and tone isn't the biggest factor yet. What matters is action that's set well, so the guitar isn't hard to play. On that count our two guitars were very comparable, with only a slight difference in neck thickness between them. Every guitar we sell goes through our 23-Point Professional Inspection before it ships, so the playability is there whichever construction you pick.
Is all solid worth the extra money?
Our answer to the solid vs laminate money question is yes, if you can get there. The price gap between these two isn't dramatic. If waiting a few more months and saving a little more gets you an all-solid guitar, it's worth it for the tone. Figure out your budget, then push it as far as you comfortably can, because better tone keeps you playing. Anything that keeps you motivated, whether it's the looks, the feel or the sound, is worth paying for.
If your budget is fixed, buy a solid top with laminated back and sides and don't look back. There's also a good case for starting there on purpose. If you stick with it, upgrading to an all-solid guitar becomes the reward for all that practice, and you'll appreciate the difference more than you would have on day one.
"If you get a guitar that's lesser expensive than that and it's got a laminate top, you'll probably regret that purchase."
Here's how we'd shop the solid vs laminate acoustic guitars question by budget:
- Under $500: a solid top with laminated back and sides. Never a laminate top. Our best acoustic guitar under $500 guide lists the ones we'd buy.
- $500 to $1,000: this is where all-solid starts, and it's the step we'd push for. The guitars under $600 we tested show how close the two camps sit on price.
- A guitar for a kid, or one that won't get humidity care: laminated back and sides with a solid top, on purpose.
- Your second guitar, after a year of practice: all solid. Once the back and sides are solid, the next question is which woods, and our mahogany vs rosewood comparison picks up from there.
Solid vs laminate acoustic guitars we have now
The E1D and PCH1-D from our test have both sold. For the same comparison today, the laminate-back side is Eastman's PCH series, every one with a solid spruce top:
- The Eastman PCH2-D-CLA dreadnought ($499): solid Sitka spruce, laminated rosewood back and sides, gloss finish, the closest match to the guitar we tested.
- The Eastman PCH1-GACE-CLA grand auditorium ($459), with a cutaway and electronics.
- The Eastman PCH2-TG-BK travel guitar ($459), for a smaller body.
For the all-solid side, the E1D belongs to Eastman's Traditional series, and every guitar with Eastman on the headstock is all solid, so our Eastman guitars page shows what's in stock on both sides of the line. You can also browse every dreadnought guitar we have, or shop acoustic guitars across every brand. We're the #1 worldwide dealer for Eastman guitars and mandolins, so if the model you want isn't listed, ask us.
Related reading
Who should buy which
The solid vs laminate choice comes down to where you are as a player. If you're buying a first guitar and don't know yet how far you'll take it, a solid top with laminated back and sides is a great option. It plays as well as the all-solid guitar, it holds up to a missed humidifier, and it saves real money. If you already play, or you can wait a few months and save, the all-solid guitar is the one we'd buy. In our test it was the clearest difference we've heard between two guitars, and it's the sound that keeps you picking it up. The one guitar we'd tell anyone to skip is the one with a laminate top.
