Design I'm Working On.

[j. pierce]

Nothing too fancy here. Working on a matching guitar/bass set. Recently started the fretboards, (inlay routed, hope to get the pearl set in today) necks to follow shortly after.

Rough design:

Sort of jaguar-ish, with a flatter bottom. May flatten the bottom a bit more. (so hopefully I can do the two-strap buttons on the bottom so the guitar can be leaned against the amp without falling over thing)

No, they won't be blue with bright coloured fretboards, just makes it easier to get my profile mocked up. Right now, I'm working with some beautiful streaky ebony fretboards and headplates. The inlay is block-type, but made as 1/8" "outlines" of blocks made from purfling strips.

I'm thinking mahogany body core with some sort of (carved) top - originally it was to be a walnut top, to match the walnut necks I was planning. But somehow, I ended up coming home with this great piece of paduak from the wood merchant instead of the walnut I left the house planning to purchase. So maybe now a paduak top? I don't know. Maybe I'll get these two necks finished, and use them for something entirely different.

Set necks on both.

Some subtle tweaks between the guitar and bass will take place in my final versions, but the body I worked up for the guitar, with a bit of extra length to allow using the B7-bisgby type trem appears to work for bass. I'm uncertain about the short upper horn on the bass, however. Could equal a head-dive disaster. I designed the headstock around the Hipshot ultra-lite tuners, which seem to be the lightest tuners I've seen - hopefully this will counteract things. I also probably won't chamber the bass like the guitar. (The bass player in my band has a good back, unlike me!) The plan is to proceed with my neck, and get an idea how the balance will be before proceeding. (Any way to mathmatically calculate the balance roughly?)

Guitar is a Dimarzio minibucker and some sort of humbucker - leaning towards the Iommi pickups from Gibson. Bass is a couple of Rio Grande Pitbulls at this point, but something more traditional may go in the bridge position. I've got a sacrifical cheap p-bass copy I'm planning to throw one of the pitbulls into to experiment with and get a better idea of the sound before I commit to it, as I haven't a lot of experience with that p'up.

A quick, junky mockup with some wood grain and binding to get an idea of what it would look like not all blue:

mockup

[Ben]

very nice. Although I'd flip the headstock shape so the curve matches the body.

[j. pierce]

very nice. Although I'd flip the headstock shape so the curve matches the body.

Hrm, good point. It's sort of a tweak of the headstock I've been using (sort of like a rounded version of the old Electra headstock, although the one in that pic is slimmed a bit to avoid using ears) to aim for a straighter string path. Full-size it seemed to work better with the "wave" cresting downwards, but you're right - these headstocks do look better flipped around. Wouldn't have even occured to me. thanks!