Long-upper Bout Singlecut Design

[TemjinStrife]

Looking at some of the custom basses and guitars I've seen, I've noticed that some luthiers build singlecut instruments where the upper bout of the body extends to the 12th fret or beyond (up to the 8th on the Teuffel Tesla!)

When designing this sort of body with a set neck, would it be easier and/or better to leave a sort of "side ridge" on the neck to attach to the extended horn on the body, or would it be better to cut the upper part of the body so that it matches the neck's taper?

[Mattia]

I don't think there's a 'better' here, just personal preference in terms of look.

For what it's worth, I'm planning a singlecut, extending to about 13th fret (off the top of my head here...it's a few months away from being started yet), and planning on tapering the neckthrough section fully and accurately and adding wings to that. Because I don't want the neck to look like part of the body.

[WezV]

here is how mine turned out

I started the neck carve before glueing the wings on

Once the wings and rest of body wood was all glued on i used a template and round router bit to make a nicer transition -

there are things i would do differently next time - maybe make the transition less dramatic but it turned out ok

[TemjinStrife]

Cool. Thanks guys, and great pics and bass, Wez!

[WezV]

have a look at skelfs work in the in progress section as well - he always gets the transition looking great!!!