5 piece wings

[Ronen Tat]

Hi Ken,
I was wondering, when adding the two thin laminates on the 5 piece wings, does it come on the account of the top & back or the body core?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ronen Tat

Hi Ken,
I was wondering, when adding the two thin laminates on the 5 piece wings, does it come on the account of the top & back or the body core?

I am not sure I understand your question. It is a sandwich. A 3 piece is a hamburger in a bun, bread on both sides, right? Put a slice of cheese on top and under the burger and close it. Now you have a 5 piece sandwich, right?

So, the burger is the core. The Bun is the top and back and the cheese is/are the laminates.

Was that the question? Close?..

In wood, your food looks like this;

Rear view;

Do not confuse the body laminates in the sandwich with the 'feature' stripes between the neck section and body wings.

Also, here are some side views of both 3 and 5 piece body wing sandwiches so you can see the differences between them. Left to right, the first two are 3pc without a contrasting laminate. The other two show the contrasting wood laminate making it a 5pc.;

[Ronen Tat]

Obviously I was not clear enough, I hope this makes more sense:
Providing the total body thickness is the same no matter how laminates it contains, my question is which (top/back or core) needs to be cut thinner when you add more laminates.
Looking at your pictures it seems to me that with 3 piece wings the body core piece is thicker than it is in a 5 piece wings... while the top & back stay the same. Is that right?
Yes, my bass has the 5 piece body wings option...

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ronen Tat

Obviously I was not clear enough, I hope this makes more sense:
Providing the total body thickness is the same no matter how laminates it contains, my question is which (top/back or core) needs to be cut thinner when you add more laminates.
Looking at your pictures it seems to me that with 3 piece wings the body core piece is thicker than it is in a 5 piece wings... while the top & back stay the same. Is that right?
Yes, my bass has the 5 piece body wings option...

The way we make it is the correct way in our world!

[Ronen Tat]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

The way we make it is the correct way in our world!

No argue about that!

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ronen Tat

No argue about that!

Really though, there is no exact measurement foe the laminations. The Core is the thickest and then the Top and Back, and last the laminates. Some woods need to, or come out thinner in the top woods. Sometimes the core comes out thinner when leveling before gluing. All woods vary in sound, weight, and other factors within the same species so we don't go crazy in getting exact lamination thicknesses bass to bass. Just that the top woods are all exact to each other and the laminates as well within themselves. The Core is a single piece per side so it doesn't have to match other layers.

Sometimes we have a beautiful piece of figured Top wood and it comes out thin in the end because it started a bit thin. In that case we build the rest of the body (core and laminates) around that. For the most part, we make them fairly consistent to specific numbers unless something in nature changes. Heavier woods like Ebony and Cocobolo are kept to a maximum in thickness for the Top/outer plates due to their weight and density for the tone. Maple and Walnut are the lighter Top woods so they have more leeway in thickness. Like I said, not an exact science but a guesstimate as to what we think will work for the sound. So far, our 'batting average' is quite high!