It's my understanding that the grain lines up in the same direction.There are plenty of higher priced guitars than the seagull with laminated back and sides and there is some debate over how much the back and sides affect the tone.I remember reading about a luthier who built a guitar with a body made of papier maché but a soundboard of solid spruce apparently all who heard and played this insrument were in agreement that it was the best sounding guitar they had ever heard.The reason he did it was to prove that the soundboard was where the tone of the guitar originates.