Plywood middle with real wood wings, on Jazz bass

[ironside1966]

I changed the neck on a cheap Gould jazz bass yesterday.
It seemed to have a plywood middle with real wood wings.

Is this strange, or common on cheap basses, would I benefit by spending a little more money on a better body?

It actually sounds ok since I put a Gotoh bridge and some Wizard 84’s on it

IMHO The Wizards will make a shovel with a bit of string sound good.