Slapping on a carved bass?
 

I know that plywood basses better endure the rigors of playing out because of the heavy duty construction. But while watching an instructional video the instructor seemed to imply that a carved wood bass could get damaged from rockabilly slap playing. Is there any truth to this?
I have an old carved czech that I love and recently I've been working on my slap technique. I know that it's probably never going to be a gig monster, but I don't see how I could damage it just by playing it this way. Has anyone damaged a carved bass just from slapping?

thanks!

Slap playing really only causes stress on the board. You're more likely to damage the bass by taking it to dive bars and hot rod shows or jumping on it. Slapping alone won't wreck your bass.

I have three old carved basses and play slap on all of them regularly. No problems to report that weren't there already.

I've done lots of slapping on my hybrid Eastman, with no damage.

No Problemo
 

I slapped all the time on my carved bass, then it fell face first on the floor and cracked all along the bass bar about a month ago. :hmm:

So, I'm slappin' my ply until I get my carved back up and running and then I'll slap the bejeebers out of my carved once again. :smug:

Cheers,
FF

Depending on the strings you use, you'll go through fingerboard planings and eventual replacements a lot sooner. Outside of that, it shouldn't hurt the bass. Just don't climb on it or throw it in the air. And factor in some maintenance with a good luthier for the eventual planing!!