glued seams on hybrid upright basses

[abdl]

I'm looking to purchase a hybrid upright bass and notice that some carved tops consist of two piece of wood (book matched?) with only a seam in the middle, and others have 4 pieces with glued seams running through the f holes in many cases.

In general, is the carved top on a hybrid bass more likely to crack at the glued seams or along a grain line of the wood? Also, are they more likely to crack at a glued seam that runs through the f hole versus a glued seam that doesn't run through the f hole?

Appreciate any information on this.

[mojoluthier]

The number of pieces in a top shouldn't matter to the instrument as long as the joints are well executed. On the other hand they do matter to the maker in two ways, more perhaps. Each seam represents more labor and therefore higher costs, but the other reason balances it out; narrower pieces of wood are more plentiful and lower in cost. Tops (and backs) with more than two pieces are more common all the time, and not limited to hybrids.