Plywood bodies

[stingrayPete1977]

Like many double basses the back and sides of mine are plywood although I did decide to splurge a few extra quid for a solid carved spruce front, its the prettiest plywood I have ever seen though so I doubt it came out of a rack at b and q
[IMG]http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af100/stingraypete/20130831_231335_zpsad78a9a1.jpg[/IMG]

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='lee4' timestamp='1384199943' post='2273972']
....
If you want to build a body from ply,get something that is hardwood throughout and not softwood with a hardwood veneer.There will be less defects in hardwood ply.
[/quote]

It's a pity Squier didn't know that.

[3below]

Plywood basses - Gibson EB2 springs to mind, then we get onto many, many 6 string semi acoustic guitars, Gibson 335, 175 etc etc. I seem to recall the EB2 (and other Gibsons) have a 'Chromyte' centre block, or as we might call it balsa wood. Pretty much the ultimate low cost composite body?

The plywood on my double bass is something else - flame maple. The degree of flame would be impressive on a Les Paul / PRS etc.

Discussion makes me wonder about a Birch ply neck experiment.

Edited November 11, 2013 by 3below

[LukeFRC]

Ply is a kind of lamination but not all lamination is ply.... Just throwing that out there!

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1384176168' post='2273532']
My first bass had a ply body...and so did my second. So I upgraded to a Jaydee and never looked back because the ply bodies dampened a lot of the lows and didn't sustain anywhere near as well as the Jaydee. I've not tried the multi-hued ritter in RR's post above but generally I would take a solid body of super cheap meranti over "birch ply" any day.

The Kubicki necks are laminated but the laminates are a lot thicker than those in ply wood. It's probably not doing the design any justice to call the neck plywood any more than calling it is to call a steinberger 'plastic'.
[/quote]

True enough, I get the whole dismissive "plastic" thing a lot with my Status basses. Usually till they actually try one of them

I just wonder if with some experimentation with different types of engineered timber has been done, by keeping the glue content down and aiming for a fairly light weight (with chambering probably) I wouldn't be surprised if they could get some good results. But probably not with standard types of ply that's available at the moment.

Edited November 12, 2013 by Fat Rich

[EMG456]

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1384179681' post='2273581']
I used to own an Antoria J bass that had a butchers block of mahogany strips with a thin layer of something between. Sounded lovely. I'll find a pic and post it.
[/quote]

Here's my somewhat modded Antoria P.

I've owned it for 35 years and it's a great bass.

The second pic shows the laminated body construction.

cheers

Ed

[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10817952815/"][/url]
[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10817952815/"]antoria_1[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/eddiem/"]emg456[/url], on Flickr

[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10818081754/"][/url]
[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10818081754/"]antoria_2[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/eddiem/"]emg456[/url], on Flickr

Edited November 12, 2013 by EMG456

[iconic]

My yamaha rbx4 a2 sustains like a church bell and could be described as ply construction...hardwood outer softwood inner....hard and soft as in hardness not if the tree drops leaves!

any rosewood n maple neck is a ply construction isnt it.

[Musky]

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1384254992' post='2274421']


True enough, I get the whole dismissive "plastic" thing a lot with my Status basses. Usually till they actually try one of them

I just wonder if with some experimentation with different types of engineered timber has been done, by keeping the glue content down and aiming for a fairly light weight (with chambering probably) I wouldn't be surprised if they could get some good results. But probably not with standard types of ply that's available at the moment.
[/quote]

The Edmond I mentioned earlier in the thread (a B2V) has a chambered body and comes in at a good weight, although I seriously doubt there was any experimentation going on as to what sounded best.

I'm not sure what kind of effect glue would have on the sound, and it opens a whole "which glue is best for metal" debate! Are Status' not put together with what is effectively glue?

Ultimately any manufacturer would have a hard time persuading the public that plywood is a good basis for a bass - there are just too many ingrained opinions and the association with cheaper basses would probably be too much too overcome. Neither Gibson's nor Ibanez's attempt to sell MDF as tonewoods were particularly successful.

Still, there's always the 'hand selected custom laminated
Timber' route for them.

[ead]

[quote name='EMG456' timestamp='1384259098' post='2274488']
Here's my somewhat modded Antoria P.

I've owned it for 35 years and it's a great bass.

The second pic shows the laminated body construction.

cheers

Ed


[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10817952815/"]antoria_1[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/eddiem/"]emg456[/url], on Flickr

[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10818081754/"][/url]
[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10818081754/"]antoria_2[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/eddiem/"]emg456[/url], on Flickr
[/quote]


Here's a pic of the butcher's block Antoria Jazz I used to possess and a couple taken during the refinishing (it used to be black).

[attachment=148437:Antoria Jazz 1975 06.JPG] [attachment=148438:Antoria refurb 291012 02.jpg] [attachment=148440:Antoria refurb 181012 01.jpg]

Edited November 14, 2013 by ead

[mcnach]

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1384175890' post='2273522']
You tap it and rings out loudly because of it's dense [b]mass (not weight)[/b].
[/quote]

are you building basses in another (smaller) planet now?

[ead]

Is dense mass like dark matter?

I think "......because of it's density" would suffice re the above.

[alyctes]

My Vox Standard is built something like that.

[quote name='EMG456' timestamp='1384259098' post='2274488']
Here's my somewhat modded Antoria P.

I've owned it for 35 years and it's a great bass.

The second pic shows the laminated body construction.

cheers

Ed


[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10817952815/"]antoria_1[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/eddiem/"]emg456[/url], on Flickr

[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10818081754/"][/url]
[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10818081754/"]antoria_2[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/eddiem/"]emg456[/url], on Flickr
[/quote]

[discreet]

No reason why top-quality hardwood ply shouldn't be ideal for a bass body.
It's easy to work with, it's (relatively) light, but most of all it's incredibly strong and [i]very [/i]stable.

As for imparting 'tone', well... I have made my views on that subject very clear elsewhere on this forum.