Varying Monaco Elite Body Thicknesses ???

[TwoIron]

I have 2 Monaco Elites. The first one I bought about a year ago. It has a flame top and is equipped with a pair of Duncan Custom Shop Pearly Gates humbuckers. It’s got a real thick, LP-ish body. This thing is maybe the best guitar I’ve ever owned to be honest. It’s just pure bliss. With the Duncan PGs in there, it’s nothing short of amazing. I can’t believe I waited as long as I did to rip out that Custom Custom.

 

Anyway, I liked that guitar so much I bought a 2^nd Elite very recently thinking it’d be virtually identical aside from the fact this one was a Gold Top with P-90s. Oddly enough, when that guitar showed it I found it had a thinner body more akin to what my Sunburst (Studio) has. What’s up with that? I have to admit I purchased it thinking that the thicker, more traditional body was one of the perks of the Monaco Elites. Thankfully, the thickness (or lack there of) doesn't seem to have a negative effect since there's sufficient low end in the P-90s. 

[kizanski]

The top arches are shaped by hand, so they're all going to be slightly different, even though Mike Shishkov (who most-likely did the shaping) is a master with machine-like accuracy in his hands.
If you're looking from the side, the amount of wood from the bottom of the binding to the actual back of the guitar might vary from guitar-to-guitar, but the overall thickness of each Monaco Elite should be the same (from the very top of the face to the back). I'm not aware of the body thickness changing from year-to-year, otherwise.

[TwoIron]

Yeah, the tops are similar. I really hadn't looked at that. 

What's weird is that the mahogany backs are very clearly different. My 1st Monaco Elite is big and fat like a LP. This new Gold Top Monaco Elite with P-90s is noticeably thinner...like a typical Hamer Studio or something like that. 

Maybe this is just true of the Monaco Elite vs the Monaco Elite P-90?

I will say that while you can notice the mass and the low end of the regular Monaco Elite, the Gold Top with P-90s still has plenty of bottom end. Maybe Hamer went thinner to get the P-90 guitars to be lighter knowing the pickups themselves would provide sufficient low end? 

 

Just curious if this was a standard thing or if I have one that was customer ordered or something? 

[kizanski]

24 minutes ago, TwoIron said:

Maybe this is just true of the Monaco Elite vs the Monaco Elite P-90?

It's something I hadn't considered. I suppose anything is possible.

[hamerhead]

Might be a C/O. I believe Austin had a Studio or Studio Custom done with a thicker body.