Quote Originally Posted by fender3x View Post
Book matching may account for the price difference, here and there. I tend to think that's more of an acoustic or veneer thing. I think a nicely figured piece of wood can be really nice. I know people go crazy about quartersawn necks, because they are supposed to be more stable. I haven't really had stability problems with flatsawn necks, though, and they tend to make for much nicer patterns on the headstock.
I'm admittedly a bit of a novice - and as such I've always only thought of quarter sawn pieces of wood to be a decorative issue only (to my mind bookmatched veneers are a case in point)... I might (probably?) be missing something..... but the vast bulk of Fender guitars are not quarter sawn.

Like you , I think a "nice piece of wood" is just as good in a practical sense - and in some cases (for a tele, for example) fits with the concept of a "working guitar" as opposed to the bookmatched bodies which seem to be more a "image" thing (which is fair enough).... for that matter - in my internet "wanderings" I've seen 4 to 6 piece bodies in a number of body shapes with a clear finish that seem to "fit" aesthetically ....