Cort & Spark

Once upon a time an acoustic maker who spec’d out its instruments with the ‘all-solid woods’ merit badge to the forefront could be king or queen of the heap. But times have changed and conservation now rules the roost, meaning that now some of the six-string formulae of yore are considered to be all but invalid. We speak to luthiers all the time and many are saying that sometimes laminated sides are actually a very sensible idea, especially when you look at things from the point of view of structural integrity.

“Think of the body of an acoustic guitar to be a little like a drum,” one luthier told us. “You need a rigid frame with a resonant, flexible top to make it