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Plywood bodies, any experience?

#42
I actually just restored a bass with a plywood p bass body.

The previous owner had covered it in 4 different layers of Krylon and used the back for a cutting board. (I'm not joking)

After I stripped all the paint away and got her sanded down, I found a plywood body underneath. I refinished it in nitro inca silver, put a spare neck and pickups in her, strung her up, did a setup and she sounds incredible. One of the most resonant basses I've ever owned. Hands down my current favorite.
 
#43
heres some pics. the middle one is the plywood bass.
 

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#44
I am always amused at those who assume that "plywood" bodies (a misnomer of course, because they are laminate but emphatically not the product named plywood) MUST be inferior.

Lexan bodies are OK....solid bodies made up of 7+ pieces of wood glued together with 1/16" of veneer over the top are fine - but oh no, laminates must be inferior.

Bunk.
 
#47
I wanted to have a beater bass to use as back up to my Gibson so I picked up a red Epi EB-0. Like Ric5 I found out when I took it apart that it had a plywood body. I called Epiphone and asked them what was up with that? I learned about the two different EB-O's that they make. I figured I would finish the project anyway. While I was working on it a black one popped up on CL for a cheap price so I went to look at it ,with a screwdriver in hand to pull the cover to be sure it was the mahogany body. It was, so I got that one. I used a Jazz pick up at the bridge in both of them like Ric5 did and put the Gibson SG neck pick up in the plywood body and a DiMarzio Model 1 in the other. I planned on selling the red plywood one but after playing them both I'm keeping it. It weighs a little over a pound more than the mahogany one but sounds great. It sure changed my mind about plywood.
 
#48
I bought Squier Affinity P starter bass pack some time ago and I've since upgraded my bass and amp. I found this thing really sounds crummy with a decent amp. The tone is very muddy. Are these things plywood? New strings may help, but I don't really want to spend any money on it.
 
#53
I currently have a Vester Stage Series Jazz bass which has a laminated body. I picked it up for £70 to muck about on, having a Jazz-shaped hole in my collection and upgraded it with a bargain set of Fender Highway One pickups, which someone let go for £30.

It plays nicely and sounds like a Jazz bass should - naturally not as nice as the 1998 Fender American '62 RI, or the 1998 MIM 5-string Jazz I used to own. It does feel pretty heavy, although I don't mind heavy basses. The first bass I owned in the late 80s was a Kay Precision copy which I bought for £20, which was laminate and rather battered. Someone had routed holes for another pickup near the neck, which the scratchplate covered, but the cavity was messy. I was staggered at how heavy it was at the time.

I've never had a problem with laminates - had some very nice-sounding instruments that had laminate bodies. As others have said, at that sort of price point, the pickups and electronics are usually the weakest and easiest-addressed link.

One thing I don't like about laminate bodies, is that it gets ugly when they chip - where you'd have a ding on solid wood, you could end up with a shard breaking loose, or a nasty gouge between layers on a laminate. My Vester has such a chip where the body meets the neck on the treble side. I just coloured it with a black Sharpy to mask it.

Never strip 'em down to 'natural' either! ;)
 
#57
darkstorm said:
Poor qaulity sound that often has a somewhat hallow trait to it. Plywood bodys should be avoided, theyre garbage imo. Plywood bodies obvious giveaway is that theres layer every 1/8 inch or so
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Not mine. Full sound. Far from garbage. Layers in plywood? Well, duh! ;) (Just kiddin', not flaming.)

dave120 said:
...The biggest downside I can think of is that they are sometimes quite heavy.
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Weight is an issue, I agree.

C.Linton said:
Aren't the Affinities made from Alder?
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Newer ones are, but in the past they have been made with a variety of woods.
 

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