What wood essence is this?

[Beej]

I don't mean to be a hoser, but who cares if it's agathis (kauri)? It's another perfectly fine wood to use in a fender-shaped-object. I know it's been beaten to death, but generally the consensus among builders is that the wood in a solid-body instrument is a tertiary consideration when thinking of tone. The signal path is arguably a lot more influential on the tone in an instrument like this than nearly any other consideration (within reason). And speaking from the top of my ivory tower, even more influential over our perception of tone is our cognitive bias.

My point is that nearly any wood that is in the same density, stiffness and hardness range as the 'big ones' in fender history will tend to perform in the same range. That includes woods like kauri (agathis). Which has several lovely varieties.

 

[InstantEctobass]

Well that depends on HOW long ago we're talking about. If it's 20+ years I think Squier mostly used alder even in Affinity series instruments? These days it's poplar/pine/nyatoh of course. But if it's an Affinity and somewhere between (approx.) 5-15 years old I guess it could be agathis???

I have a 2012 Squier Affinity PBass body, on the official specs sheet it was supposed to be Alder, but turns out the body was Maple (and thus heavy)

I had a 2016 Vintage Modified PJ bass, was Agathis, sounded dark in my opinion. I just hope it's rather nice under the paint job! Time will tell, I guess, that single photo can't give a sure answer. But even though I looked on Google Images for naked Squier Pbass bodies, I couldn't find any one body with that routing.

 

[TrustRod]

it was supposed to be Alder, but turns out the body was Maple (and thus heavy)

Fun fact, alder and big leaf maple have overlapping weight ranges. A maple body can be lighter than an alder one.

 

[InstantEctobass]

Fun fact, alder and big leaf maple have overlapping weight ranges. A maple body can be lighter than an alder one.

I believe you, but the 3 maple bodies I had, even thought named "soft maple", were all on the heavy side (as much as ash)! Very solid tho

 

[TrustRod]

Oh yeah, it goes the other way too. Generally hard maple is just one species and other species almost as hard get named soft. I have had some quilt that was very light, would love some more of that.

 

[WestyBassBob]

There’s a big range of densities and hardness within species. Even within the same tree. That’s why luthiers pay too dollar for select lumber. The only way to know what you’re getting is for someone to actually inspect and sort the lumber by whatever quality you’re concerned with.

As for the value of this information. Knowing what species you have is an existential question for any woodworker beyond the engineering questions.