When Designing Bodies...

[Moreau]

I'm making a bass, and ive got the shape, and was curious about the upper horn, and the size it should be. Ive noticed many basses, If you look at them in playing position, the horn is lower than the forearm rest. Is this important to making a design? Can you make it higher than the forearm rest? whats the effects of doing this? Thanks

[mledbetter]

I'm making a bass, and ive got the shape, and was curious about the upper horn, and the size it should be. Ive noticed many basses, If you look at them in playing position, the horn is lower than the forearm rest. Is this important to making a design? Can you make it higher than the forearm rest? whats the effects of doing this? Thanks 

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Generally speaking, and especially on bass.. the upper horn has a lot to do with balance. To short a horn and your headstock will dive to the ground. Too long a horn and the bass will want to center way to the right of your body.. It's a matter of getting it just right for balance while not looking goofy. You don't want you horn to have so much mass though that it makes your bass even more top heavy.. unless you have some massive bridge that you are trying to counter.

As far as how far out it sticks.. Traditionally guitars are divided into two halves. The lower bout is 99% always larger than the upper bout. Electrics evolved from acoustics and acoustics were designed that way for acoustic design reasons. Electrics, it's mostly aesthetic and most people do it because to differ too much and people won't accept your design. Look at the swept wing guitaar, it's kinda strange looking but it's perfectly fine to do it thatway. I would say if your top bout is too much wider than the lower bout, it will throw your balance off. unless your strap button is placed close to the neck.

[fryovanni]

That sounds like a great explanation to me. Balance is really important with a bass because it is fairly heavy to begin with, and if it's out of balance it is really uncomfortable to play. I am attaching a link to a bass that has a pretty heavy upper horn, but it works because it is a seven string with a lot of weight to counter. Picture is at the bottom of the page.

Bass at bottom of page

Peace, Rich

[sirkentesquire]

As far as the actual position of the upper horn relative to the rest of the body, don't worry about it too much. I made two similar basses with the upper horns being an inch or so wider than the back part and there's no problems at all. If you're just moving it up or down, it doesn't have the same effect as moving it forward or back, which as was stated affects the balance a lot.