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Any other good sounding plywood instruments?

#21
Eilif said:
Very cool, that's probably pretty close to the same bass that I have. What process did you use for painting and finishing the bass. It looks quite nice.
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It doesn't look all that great in person, believe me. I just used a couple of cans of bright orange spray paint from Ace Hardware, then spayed clear coat on top. There are a couple of runs and some orange peel. I don't care, becasue the idea was to be a little wild and obnoxious.

If I can just get the neck in shape so that I can get good action and no string buzz, I'll be quite happy with this bass. As I said, it really sounds great.
 
#22
WoodyG3 said:
I have an old Korean Jazz Bass that has a plywood body. I was removing the finish and hoping to do a natural finish when I discovered that it was plywood. I painted it construction orange and dropped some Fender "Original" pickups in it. It sounds great. The neck needs some work, though. Here's a pick:

JazzBass2.jpg
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geez, that blanket about gave me a seizure...
 
#24
I once played a jazz bass knock-off (a cheap Asian thing) which although it played very poorly, sounded pretty damn fine!

The body was plywood and the components were cheap, but it had a certain zest and warmth to it. Could have been something to do with the Ampeg stack though :hmm:

Sadly, the guy who owned it no longer has it as it was stolen from his car. I can see that bass fetching all of £20.
 
#26
I got a 1968 Teisco bass as the first bass I owned. I was playing an Ibanez Musician at the time (still am, just a 924 instead of an 888), and got this from a thrift shop in Pennsylvania, via the mail. Pulled it out of the box, plugged it in, was horrified at the scratchy, dim, thin sound, obscenely high action, and alien floating bridge design; the saddles floated in midair, held on by nothing but the adjustment screws, they were 1/2" away from the body of the bass. So I ripped it apart, pulled out the pickups, electronics, and nut, and left it to rot in my room for about six months.

Then, one sleepless night I pulled it out of the corner, mounted a Kramer pickup on it, did some truly horrific routing with a power drill, and put in some electronics from a P-Bass, and cut a nut out of the handle of a toothbrush. It now sounds more than decent; until I strung up my Musician with half-rounds, it was seeing way more playing time than my more expensive basses. For 50 dollars and a little bit of labor, it;s a great deal. The frets still look like they were installed by a...a....thing that can't possible wield a hammer, but it sounds quite nice. The picture with only the bass is what it used to look like, the one with my guitarist friend and I is what it looks like now. Please ignore my unwholesome grin.

v0rGmhAVCNxARrJgUIjdG72Gths0.jpg


JamieandIwithguitars.jpg


-Stephen
 
#27
WoodyG3 said:
It doesn't look all that great in person, believe me. I just used a couple of cans of bright orange spray paint from Ace Hardware, then spayed clear coat on top. There are a couple of runs and some orange peel. I don't care, becasue the idea was to be a little wild and obnoxious.

If I can just get the neck in shape so that I can get good action and no string buzz, I'll be quite happy with this bass. As I said, it really sounds great.
Click to expand...

Ok,
So no spray paint for me. The present black finish is super worn and chipped, so I think I'll just leave it alone as I really do like the reliced look It has now.
 
#31
Oh, and my first bass (the first one I owned anyway) was a '90 korean squier that was made out of plywood. I lucked out and it said Fender really big and Squier really small, so I just scratched out where it said Squier and Made in Korea and kept it for a while. Even had the frets removed at some point - as you say, the neck was straight as an arrow. Eventually sold it.
 
#32
Another plywood owner here. My 1st, made by Aspen. Bought as a worn out oldie 25 years ago. It's got way more money in mods than it was ever worth. Bartolinis, Warmoth neck, Kahler, Schaller tuners. Dumped way too much into it before I realized it wasn't really worth it. That said, I still love it, it sounds and plays great, and it will never be sold.
jcopysmall.jpg
 
#33
dang I didna know some Korean Squiers had plywood bodies. I'm going to have to check my Jazz and find out. I love that bass, but I don't know how I'll feel about it being plywood. Odd thing to think tho, isn't it? Great sounding and balancing bass goes from "wow that's a nice bass" to "meh it's just plywood" from one moment to the next.
 
#34
g00eY said:
i think this Epiphone is made of plywood. it has upgraded EMGs, and that's about it. it sounds decent. here it is:

Efull.jpg
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Good ol' Epiphone Accu-bass. I got one from a friend of mine for free. I found '89 SEP. 09 stamped on the heal of the neck. For being that old it's in great condition other than some cracks in the finish here and there.

Here's a not so great picture of it...

DSC06955.jpg


It's not pure white anymore, it's like a creamy color like in the pic. I love it.

Also here's the best info I've been able to find about it.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

According to that site, the Accu-bass was made out of maple/alder and the Accu-bass custom was made out of ash.
 
#35
That's exactly what I was looking for! I got this from my drummer:

epiphone_008.gif


And posted a thread asking if anyone knew what it was - no one knew. Looks exactly like your Accu-bass, and it's made of plywood to boot. It DOES sound great. Very deep and defined. Sorta heavy and definitely not in the league of a Sadowsky, but it has a certain charm.
 
#37
I just took the pickguard off my Accu-Bass, I had to file some wood out anyways... I put new pots in it and one was being pushed over a bit causing the pickguard to lift up. But yeah, thing is definitely plywood. For some reason it never occurred to me that that site saying maple/alder could have meant maple/alder plywood. *slaps forehead*.
 
#38
I have a plywood Epiphone acoustic guitar from the 70's that I wouldn't trade for a Martin. OK, I'd trade it for a Martin, but when you slap a mic on it and record with it, it might as well be a Martin because it sounds huge and brilliant. I have any an Upton Hawkes upright, which also sounds brilliant. I also have a Jay Turser Beatle bass which to my ears might as well be a $2000 Hofner. I am a big fan of cheap basses, and my two handmade custom basses usually sit in a stand in favor of basses I paid less than $500. Price and materials mean nothing...what matters is what you do with it. I've played arenas with that Beatle bass and only one person has ever complained...before the show. After the show, he didn't say a word!
 

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