On the body of the P bass.. there's a dark horizontal wood line.. kind of looks weird.. ( this is for the fender p bass owners or people that know what im talking about) on the sunburst finish under the paint.. you notice that you can see the wood.. but mine.. theres like dark black wood lines.. is that normal on the new 2012 fender american standards p bass' ? just imagine your sunburst bass with lets say.. hmm its look like a line of black sharpie marker lines on on the wood.

(this is not mine but the thing I mentioned is on this fender bass).....

http://www.drumcityguitarland.com/drumc ... 8C572.aspx

- YOU SEE on the BOTTOM LEFT CORNER side EDGE ( those random lines that look like chicken scratch marks...? theyre normal, right? I have alot of those on the body of my bass...

Personally I wouldn't worry about this tiny cosmetic issue since the bass is playable.

What I see in the photo you linked to is caused when different pieces of wood are glued together by the blank supplier to make the body blank. Visible seams actually are a good sign because it means it is a solid wood blank and is not a laminated blank used in cheaper Fender instruments such as the MIM Standards. Laminated instruments often look like a one piece body as there are no visible seams in the blank. Of course there are seams in all body blanks, but on laminate bodies the laminate top layer on the front and back hides the seams. On laminate blanks there is no telling how many pieces were glued together to make the blank, 5, 8, who knows? You can't see them to count them.

Usually you'll see 2, 3 or 4 seams at the most on a real solid wood body. As a general rule the fewer pieces used to make the blank the better the potential for increased resonance should be, however that is not always the case.

There are some mutants such as finding a laminate blank that shouldn't be very resonant but actually resonates more than a poor example of a non-laminated one. I haven't figured out yet exactly why that is the case but none the less it is the case. It may have to do with some sort of cancellation effect where one piece used in the blank is just the right size or density that it doesn't vibrate sympathetically but instead dampens the vibration of the other pieces in the blank, acting sort of like an acoustic tile or tone sponge if you will. Whatever the exact cause is, the result is a dead sounding body with no resonant vibe to it. On a remarkably resonant laminate blank it could be that all the pieces, including the laminate layers, are just the right size and density to vibrate sympathetically in unison.

I've put a tuning fork to lots of bodies and I'm no longer surprised when I find a less expensive bass with an extraordinarily resonant body. This seems to happen a lot more frequently lately with basswood bodies, laminate or not, than on alder or ash. People are always looking down on basswood as an inferior tonewood, but I don't. It is softer but it also gives you a better chance at getting a very resonant body on a cheap instrument than a 5 or 6 piece laminated alder body does. I'd rather have a very resonant basswood body than a dud of an alder one. You just have to be slightly more careful with it because it will actually dent pretty easy.

I'm more interested in how resonant the instrument as a whole actually is more than in the type of wood used or in how many pieces were used in the blank.

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Bookmark my electric bass resources page at: http://brotherdave.com/resources.htm (The more people I meet...the more I like my Fender Basses!)

The "chicken scratch" is actually wood grain. There is all kinds of grain in wood.

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1938 Dioscillator,, Carolina Rig, Pop Ice

I don't think this dipshitscicle has even taken a moment to consider the fact that the WOODEN body of his WOODEN instrument is made out of WOOD, and therefore susceptible to significant variations in WOOD grain. It always amazes me the questions that people will ask before taking a second to think about how easily they could answer themselves with a second thought and a third look.

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Liam

-Candy Apple Red Precision Bass (Maple fingerboard) carrying Rotosound Steve Harris Strings
-1980-something Bentley Series 10
-Fender Rumble 15

It's just a bit of light burl grain in the wood running through that part. Some grain has more than that, some has none at all. It's real wood, no two grains are totally alike.

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Rickenbacker 4003 Mapleglo / Rosewood
D'Addario ETB92 Nylon Tapewound Strings
TC Electronics RH450 head / Ampeg SVT-410HLF cab

watch out you'll have the "save the World" crew talking about being kind to newbies even though they possibly are "dink wheats"- and maybe possibly guys who left here at one time or another who have the $@! with this site and come back under another name and post lame stuff--- which is silly but possible.

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1938 Dioscillator,, Carolina Rig, Pop Ice

Hey SV, let's go get some Lasagna. I had spaghetti just the other day.

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Rickenbacker 4003 Mapleglo / Rosewood
D'Addario ETB92 Nylon Tapewound Strings
TC Electronics RH450 head / Ampeg SVT-410HLF cab

Spaghetti sounds good. I want some cheesy garlic bread with mine please.

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Bookmark my electric bass resources page at: http://brotherdave.com/resources.htm (The more people I meet...the more I like my Fender Basses!)

I had that tonight, pretty good.

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Rickenbacker 4003 Mapleglo / Rosewood
D'Addario ETB92 Nylon Tapewound Strings
TC Electronics RH450 head / Ampeg SVT-410HLF cab

MMMMMmmmm... Scabetty !!!!

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1938 Dioscillator,, Carolina Rig, Pop Ice

And meatzballs too! And pinball completes the scene......

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Rickenbacker 4003 Mapleglo / Rosewood
D'Addario ETB92 Nylon Tapewound Strings
TC Electronics RH450 head / Ampeg SVT-410HLF cab