"Fully carved....."

Major-Minor · #1 07-21-2009, 12:20 PM

I'm intrigued by the term "fully-carved double bass". In all my 40 years of professional DB playing I had never heard this phrase until a few weeks ago while reading posts on a UK based bass chat forum similar to this one.
Fully-carved ... ? As opposed to ? .... what ? semi-carved ? a quarter carved ? a bit carved ?

I thought every bass was made from wood that has been carved and then bent or steamed into place. So where has this term "fully carved" come from ?
Or am I missing something here ?
Can anybody fill me in here ?

kurt ratering · #2 07-21-2009, 12:34 PM

i think its meant to differentiate from "solid wood" which i guess can mean solid plywood.

carteru93 · #3 07-21-2009, 12:59 PM

Fully carved means that the back, front, sides, etc. are all carved out of (separate) solid pieces of wood. Opposed to hybrid, where only the front is carved from a piece of wood and the sides and back are plywood, and then there's the plywood/laminated basses, where the front, back AND sides are all made of a laminate plywood and steam bent in most cases.

E.P. Miller · #4 07-21-2009, 12:59 PM

My use of those terms have always been the following:

• Fully-carved means hand-carved.
• Solid wood means the bass has been shaped by a machine.
• Neither of the two terms describe a laminate bass.

But I think it depends on who you talk to...

bejoyous · #5 07-21-2009, 04:35 PM

"Crack resistant" also means plywood. The term is usually applied to low quality instruments.

"Laminate" also means plywood but on a higher quality bass such as the New Standards.

Gary Lynch · #6 07-21-2009, 05:13 PM

To be safe, one has to asked some detailed questions when bass buying. And hopefully you can get a straight answer.

Roger Davis · #7 07-22-2009, 03:30 AM

[quote=bejoyous;7706224

"Laminate" also means plywood but on a higher quality bass such as the New Standards.[/QUOTE]

Well, that's a new one!

bejoyous · #8 07-22-2009, 05:09 AM

Well, that's just what I noticed while cruising the 'net. I could be wrong though.

dchan · #9 07-22-2009, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bejoyous

Well, that's just what I noticed while cruising the 'net. I could be wrong though.

I recall Ideal Music, from bassesonline.com (which doesn't seem to exist anymore), used the term "laminated" to describe the lesser Wilfer plywood bass, and "spruce plywood top" to describe the supposedly better Wilfer plywood bass.

Major-Minor · #10 07-22-2009, 02:21 PM

Thanks everyone - I know understand "fully-carved".
As I'm lucky enough to own two "fully-carved" basses and am surrounded daily by other fully-carved basses in the pro symphony orch I play in, it never occurs to me that basses can be made of plywood or be laminated. Its a very long time since I played a school bass !

MT Spaces · #11 07-22-2009, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bejoyous

"Crack resistant" also means plywood. The term is usually applied to low quality instruments .....

Now Wait Just A Minute There My Canadian Friend

!

My "Fully Plywoody" basses (69-year-old Kay and 49-year-old Epiphone) have never spontaneously exploded and have never let me down under all kinds of adverse conditions (and they don't sound half-bad either

).

I guess the definition of "Quality" is open to international discussion. Maybe it's just me but I think "plywood" is a "laminate". No doubt the search for new and improved laminates (plywood) for "low quality" double basses will continue and these basses will find good homes with satisfied players. One thing is for sure .... I'm "crack resistant" .... Never tried the stuff

.