Visable differece w/ plywood?

[Drake Chan]

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.