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Help identifying how many pieces Wood is
- Thread starter VegasCustom
- Start date
To me that looks like a 2 piece body joined right down the middle. It looks like it was leveled by a large end mill rather than a planer or sanding planer. I think the milling marks are potentially making it look like more than one piece (where they overlap). The difference in colour between the two halves may lessen when the body gets block sanded level. Nice body though! 
I agree with Beej. That looks like a 2-piece body, which was surfaced in their CNC router. That leaves it with a few slight lines and steps in the top surface. But they are very shallow and will sand out easily.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Looks to me like they did a really nice job matching the wood.
Looks good to me, but it's often easier to see joints by looking at the end grain.
Looks like a fine two-piece to me.
I do see a line of color shift that terminates inside the lower cutaway horn, which is also where it's most evident, it creates an illusion of a seam.
That line doesn't break any crossing wood grain along the full apparent trajectory of where the seam would follow through if there were in fact a seam; therefore not a seam.
I do see a line of color shift that terminates inside the lower cutaway horn, which is also where it's most evident, it creates an illusion of a seam.
That line doesn't break any crossing wood grain along the full apparent trajectory of where the seam would follow through if there were in fact a seam; therefore not a seam.
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Could be a 3rd join between the pick up and the control cavity but you'd need an end shot to verify the grain waves from that perspective to know for sure. Even a back side pic would help.
The good news is, it really doesn't matter. I have a 6 piece Squier body that sounds great and is one of my lightest basses.
Also Fender Mexico uses multi piece bodies and even the US bases are commonly 3 piece with 2 piece reserved for transparent finishes and custom shop. Alembic has always had multi piece laminations and they sound great.
String choices and the speaker cabinets chosen will make greater audio differences.
The good news is, it really doesn't matter. I have a 6 piece Squier body that sounds great and is one of my lightest basses.
Also Fender Mexico uses multi piece bodies and even the US bases are commonly 3 piece with 2 piece reserved for transparent finishes and custom shop. Alembic has always had multi piece laminations and they sound great.
String choices and the speaker cabinets chosen will make greater audio differences.
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Does Fender really sell alder bodied guitars with transparent finishes? If so, I’m out of touch.
Alder is pretty nearly never finished with clear, transparent or natural because there’s no interesting grain to alder. The color differences are unimportant under a solid finish.
My look at the bass suggested to me it's 2 piece, but with that joint off center - a look at the end grain is really how you figure this out.
I see two or three joints from the picture, but that's only my guess from one picture
anyway, the number of pieces definitely doesn't matter much, if it's done nicely, it's more an aesthetic thing and usually alder isn't the wood with a notably beautiful grain, so I'd say, you're good if you like it, no matter, how many pieces
anyway, the number of pieces definitely doesn't matter much, if it's done nicely, it's more an aesthetic thing and usually alder isn't the wood with a notably beautiful grain, so I'd say, you're good if you like it, no matter, how many pieces
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Looks like a very nice two-piece. If you wet it a bit, it'll make the grain and any joints stand out.
Fender used to charge extra for clear finishes which require the premium wood such as sunburst.
