Visable differece w/ plywood?
When you look at an unknown bass, how do you know if its carved or plywood? I would assume that w/ plywood, you'd have visible seams/gain changes.. I'm not sure if the top of my bass has these, or if its just my eyes playing tricks.Its my first bass (and i got a great deal on it for its sound regardless of construction), so be nice! I"m just trying to learn more :)
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Hi Billy,
I can spot a plywood, but won't try to give advice here because there are people reading this site with vast amounts of knowledge who will, no doubt, answer your question much better than I could at some point. I just wanted to say that I have a plywood that is well set up and plays really well. I played it solo (arco), outdoors at a wedding yesterday, and it did a good job - I think that playing solo outdoors is a pretty good test for a bass, projection wise. If I ever manage to get a carved bass, as I've been trying to do, I'll keep my plywood as a 'road bass' - I've used it to play with some pretty good jazz musicians over the years; it's never let me down. |
One easy way to quickly determine if the top is laminate or solid is to look at the edges of the f-holes. If it's laminate, you see several layers sandwiched together. That's assuming those edges have not been covered by some sort of spray-on finish that hides that detail.
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In the more modern carved basses I've seen, the luthiers like to create a flourish towards the purfled edges on the top. The edges are usually carved a little higher than the purfled area next to it.
I haven't seen this done on Plywood basses, probably because it's not possible. With a carved top, a luthier can carve any section to his/her preferred thickness. But with a laminated top, the plywood sheets are glued together in uniform thickness. |
I remember seeing and playing a double bass in a music shop in the 1970s or early 1980s that was made of metal (tin)! The neck was made of wood. I wonder where it is now?
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