Laminated top acoustic guitars. I've heard and read countless stories on how most guitar players agree that a solid top guitar is vastly superior in tone to a laminated top guitar. If this is true, there must be a lot of guitarists out there who have been misinformed. To start off with, I've been a guitar player for over 40 years now so I think I might know a few things about how a good or a great guitar should sound and feel. I, too, was of the same opinion regarding laminated wood guitars - many years ago. Laminate-constructed guitars made several decades ago were horrible sounding, very boxy and dead. The technology for laminating woods, specifically guitars, has advanced dramatically since then but the notion of inferior tone has continued up until the present time and seems to still be stubbornly ingrained in a lot of people. Most descriptions of laminated-top guitars will say "select spruce top" or "select top", showing just how entrenched the mindset is, as if the manufacturer would be too embarrassed to admit the truth. My view changed when I bought a Yamaha 12 string acoustic back in the 80's. I had tried out the guitar at a local music shop and thought it sounded wonderful. It never occurred to me to find out if the instrument was solid wood construction. It sounded great, played great, so I bought it. A few weeks later, I came across an article in a guitar magazine on the subject of imported guitars. The article, written by a well-respected guitar expert and dealer, stressed how inferior in tone and construction imported acoustics and laminated guitars in general (specifically Japanese and Korean instruments) were compared to solid wood ones and American manufactured models. It went on to describe in detail how to tell a laminated wood guitar from one constructed from solid woods. I examined my acoustic using the details provided by the author and discovered to my amazement that my Yamaha was a laminated wood guitar - top, sides and back. I was puzzled because I had, sitting in my living room, an import acoustic that seemed to defy the logic of the author's argument and my own opinion as well. Needless to say, from then on my viewpoint regarding laminated guitars and imports in general, changed forever. Today, the process has been improved even further, resulting in laminate-construction guitars that sound as good as solid wood instruments. Even the venerable Martin Guitar Company makes an all-laminate koa dreadnought that sounds like a $1000+ guitar, for around $400. Some of their models have laminate sides and backs. I own another import, all-laminate mahogany guitar that sounds as good as another brand all-solid wood model costing much, much more. The recent advent of computer-controlled guitar making machinery has improved mass-production guitar quality immensely resulting in better-sounding, better-built instruments overall. So, while a laminated guitar's only real virtue, in the past, was its durability, they can now sound and play as great as their solid wood counterparts. I'm also well-aware of the fact that imports, acoustics especially, have a very low to virtually NO resell or trade-in value at the present time. But, my view is if the guitar sounds great, looks great, has excellent quality, workmanship and plays wonderfully, why would I want to part with it? Guitars are not investments or collection pieces. They are instruments meant to be cared for and played by the people they're made for - musicians.