I'll try to answer both questions.
"When you have a bass body that's not solid but glued together in layer (sorta like plywood), is that looked at as a "cheap" bass? I pieced together a bass that had the "plywood-like" layers (I posted pics earlier in this blog) and I did a black sunburst to hide the layers of wood shown from the sides."Cheap is relative. How does the bass sound? What woods did you laminate? A Black burst is a great way to hide plywood layers and looks cool too.
Now. Multi layers can present a problem which why we have "Core Wood". Layers and layers, like plywood may be too soft or not dense enough. Ideally, you want good density without being too dense, too soft and too heavy. It also has an effect on the sound. Less dense woods absorb vibration, dense woods reflect vibration. Think of a room. Solid floor, walls and windows. Sound echoes. Everything is dense. Throw a carpet, a couch and couple of pillows in the room. The echo stops. The soft stuff does not reflect sound. The same is true of your instrument. Dense woods will reflect string vibration and the pick ups...well... pick up the string vibration. The more string vibration that the pick ups get the better. Of course it can go to extremes. Ever hear a Dan Armstrong Acrylic Bass, A Kramer Aluminum Neck Bass, or even a Carbon Fiber neck? All made from dense materials. Not warm. IMHO. But some folks like it.
"I was just wondering, is that along the same lines as the basses with pinstripes and wings or is this something different?"Yes mostly and mostly no. Yes we are attaching wings to the sides. Yes the thin pinstriping is like a form of ply laminate. No. The wings we are attaching are solid wood that adds mass to the bass. Solid wood is the obvious thing here. Adding mass is the other. The thin pinstriping is of no consequence. There is not enough of it to make a diff. But the 3+ piece laminate in the neck, thats a different story.
Dense Maple and less dense Mahogany. Good balance. The neck shouldn't need any carbon for stiffness because the grains of the woods are different and run vertically.
"A question. Why not build a guitar out of 1 solid piece of wood? Instead of taking 3 different kinds and gluing them together? I'm a newbie "Sure why not? It's been done before. I think there are a couple "Wishbasses" that are one piece. What a building pain! You will be carving more than cutting and shaping. What wood would you use? Itried to think of how I would make one. Maybe a solid piece of mahogany. The bass will probably end up in the +15 pd range! Heavy. Using different types of wood lets us exploit tonal qualities, various woods for different purposes and having a beautiful design.
"I got another one I'm kinda working on (that's on hold) that has the layered wood. I was thinking of a way to hide the sides without doing another sunburst or should that even matter?"Once again, Yes and No. Yes it matters. Are the edges cool? I mean are they different types of wood of different thicknesses that may a nice pattern? If not. Then it's gonna be looking like Home Depot. Hide it!
Here's a new and old trick. When you laminate woods like that you expose the end grain which is very porous. If you try to paint it without sealing it, the pigment will absorb into the wood FASTER than the SURFACE. Leaving you with pits. Ugh! You can get a grain-filler from Stew-Mac or LMI. Or you can use shellac OR Ace Hardware Sanding Sealer (I love this stuff!). Then paint over it. You can seal off the edges and do some creative stuff. These folks at
RE-Ranch http://www.reranch.com/index.htmhave paints etc. and good tutorials.
