Luthiers' Point of View on "exotic" Tops on Cheaper Instruments?

flamed maple is cheap. You can get tops on ebay (pretty good figured ready to work with) at even $9.

 

There are a number of lower priced basses coming out with fancy wood tops. I saw an LTD 6'er the other day with a great spalted top. However, the top on these basses are really thin, more like a veneer. I think the idea is to make them look more like boutique basses with fancy tops, so that people who gas for a fancy boutique bass but can't afford it can get somthing that kind of looks like it.

 

Here is the LTD I was talking about. It is a pretty attractive bass and only cost about $450 IIRC. If this bass was out 10 years ago, I would have bought it.

 

That is a whole can of worms you're opening right there... There are a number of threads that can be found that talk about that.

 

I've heard many explainations. Some say it tightens up the lowend, others say it is just for looks. I just think they're pretty, and if they bass sounds good as well as looks good, that is all that matters to me. People can debate this stuff all day long.

 

Agreed. What I find amusing is that many guitarist will go gaga over flamed or quilted Maple that most of us take for granted.


People tend to have a skewed view of what wood actually costs.

 

Most are thin IME.

 

that would be for the top plus the actual work involved in putting it together. It's quite a bit more work. Flamed maple is cheap, but really nice, dense and deep figured quilted maple can get quite expensive.

 

The more A's you got on you bass, the less $$ you will have in your pocket!!!

 

The expense can be for more figuring or how far from the norm the wood is, it can also be tied to how difficult a wood is to work with.

A lot of the wood we covet used to be in low, if any, demand AFAIK.

 

IMO people like thick tops because people don't like the idea of veneer. We're all used to crappy furniture made out of cheap wood with a veneer on top and some folks don't like to make the mental connection.

It depends on the wood, of course, but burls and spalted woods are usually spongy and really no good for tone. So, I'd say it's mostly psychological.

 

very true, for example:
a 4A quilt maple with some color and maybe a burl cluster can be 1/10
of perfect 5A white and flawless these are highly coveted and theres no roof on the price sometimes.

and i saw a $150 gutar with a flamed top it was stained a semi trans wine color to hide the fact that it was a 3 pc body with uneven seams and 1/72 veneer on top and the dark stain covers the truth , that veneer would cost only $9.00 at most.