HPL

So I was looking at some Martin guitars online and I found some that were pretty cheap, like suspiciously cheap, looking into it I found that they are made out of HPL or High Pressure Laminate, not actual wood. does anyone have any experience with these kinds of guitars?

Well I don't have experience with the guitars, I don't play acoustic, but I have a boat load of exp with wood. High pressure lam is pretty much like ply wood (ply) being the key word....its the cut off the log when they trip it and they use all of the log, mix it with glue, smash it togther and call it high pressure lam. So it is wood, but shavings mixed with glue. Not true wood.

Alright dude, I actually just traded my Dean ML and Ovation for a Martin. I got it free, with a case, and about 150$ cash-back, but the important thing is, they sound amazing. I tried a bunch of the stores acoustics, Taylors, Alvarez, but the Martin by far sounded the best. Mine was about $450 for the guitar. They just have this really nice, full sound. I could care less about the wood, it sounds better than any other acoustic I've played.

My two cents

Ozz

Here is my take on cheap guitars...some are good....such as a mom strat...semi cheap...

but the super cheapos will leave you wanting more.

save your money a bit longer and get the real deal. its worth the wait!

There's one thing you need to know about acoustic guitars:

The less pieces of wood the body is made out of, the better.


That should be enough to answer your question about the high pressure laminate.

I agree with JustJeff but I also agree with Ozzfan. If you play it and you like it, that should be all that matters. However, I'm kind of a wood purist myslef. If you look at the edge of the soundhole in a acoustic you can see if the top is laminate or solid. I don't know how to explain it but the sound from a solid top sounds more natural and has more of a bass sound. Laminates project the sound more in some cases but have more of a treble sound. Think tube vs. digital.

Laminates are cheaper because laminates are cheaper to produce.