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ok so for a summer project i want to make a 4 string bass, preferably neck through, with a 2 piece maple neck with a thin veener in between for pretyness. and either walnut or mahogany wings, with no drop top(or any top)

so i need criticism for my plans, its a single cutaway, with a 2 by 2 headstock. a p bass pickup in towards the neck and a jazz bass pickup towards the bridge

body plan

headstock plan.

i made it a combination of contemporary body style (headstock shape and treble side of body) and traditional (bass side of body and headstock design)

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I like it, the headstock is very original, and ive always liked single cutaways.

few suggestions-

smooth out the body a little more, it looks a bit choppy to me (i have the same problem when drawing plans) And to me it looks like the bass side body contour is a little deep, but its late and my eyes are tired so i dont know really.

The woods sound very nice, it should have a very good tonal sound.

What are the specs? like width at nut and bridge, scale lenght and all that.

im very intrested to see how this devolopes.

best of luck

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its gonna be a 1 11/16th inch string spread at the nut

\

and a 2 3/8 in at the bridge

using the gotoh 206 bridge (second one down) i like it since you can either go through body, or hook the balls in the back of the bridge, i will be drilling the holes though,

i dont know about electronics but im thinking maybe, a volume for each and an overal tone pot.

and thanks for the input. i will be smoothing the body countours out and probably decreasing the bass countour since it is on the big side, but im wondering wether i should move the lower "horn" a bit lower, since it seems to protrude too much forward, oh and the drawing are rough scetches, i will e smoothing them out and then going to kinkos to print it on poster board

also i need some tips on basses, is there anything i should consider, since i have never played, seen (besides pictures), or picked up a bass guitar :D

oh and i almost forgot that its going to be a 34" scale, its only my second project and my first time doing anything with a bass so i dont want to be too crazy

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Good eye for the lower horn, you're absolutely right that it's too far forward.

My personal opinion is that since it's so much like a tele already, why not use a tele for A/B comparisons for the curves and so forth? It's either that, or move further away from the tele shape, because it-between (the way it is now) makes it look 'wrong' to our brains. The tele shape is etched deep into our subconsiousness..es..

:D

Edit: on second thought, go completely different-- a tele body won't look good with that wicked headstock

Edited by GregP
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NOOOO!!! go 35" scale

It's weird at first, but it plays SO much better thatn a 34 incher!

I could do without the body, but if you want to do a singlecut, I think it'd look better if the singlecut side swung out more, and it'd help with the balance.

I like the headstock a lot, but I think it'd look better if the curves were more pronounced.

Good luck! :D

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Use the headstock as a jumping off point-- aggressive back-angled curves... the bass wants to look like it's moving forward, judging by that headstock.

That's about all I'll say for my opinion, as I don't want to jump all over your personal creativity. :D

And now that I've looked at the headstock again, I agree with the above post. It's already slick, but even MORE pronunciation on the curves would be sweet!

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ok i redid the body, but still kept the contemporary traditional feeling.

i think its pretty nice, but i cant put my finger on whats wrong with the cutaway and horn, it looks odd to me :D

new body

p.s. i know its messy, its a rought scetch and my eraser wasnt that good. and the reason you can see the old cutaway is because thispiece f graph paper is taped on top of it and i dont feel like taking off the tape as it might rip B)

so any criticism is welcome :D

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Looks better than the first one and it definately matches the headstock shape well but it still looks kind of "chunky" to me. Try bringing in the waist a bit and maybe softening that lower horn. I think that you might have a little too much going on at the moment. The shape has potental but I think each piece (upper/lower horns and the upper lower bouts) dont compliment each other. Maybe you could try and get it each piece to flow into the next a little more. Your definately moving in the right direction. I can tell you that the bodies I have done from scratch ALWAYS end up being trashed and revised several times before Im happy. One more suggestion, grab some poster board, its much larger and much more durable when you need to burn off some of those lines with an eraser :D

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i think the upper horn area needs a bit more definition and a slight cutaway like a bc rich eagle and the waist portion needs more of an offset and still needs to be taken in a bit, but thats just my opinion based off the headstock and the fact that the body seems too square and needs that element of alembic-esque organic shaping.

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your gettin there, just a hint it may be easier to sketch at a smaller scale in the beginning just to get your general shape plus you can draw more shapes quicker and then scale it up when you get a design you like, also using trace paper helps

MzI

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yes but i am unartistic person (in an artistic family :D ), for me its damn near impossible to draw something twice and it to be the same, so just play around untill i get it right on the main thing, and this is tracing paper except it has graph lines, and they say (on the pad) that its unphotocopiable paint so when i copy the lines wont show up, not that i care tho

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The way I just did my full size plan, was draw it small, and get it RIGHT

Then draw grid lines on the paper and make sure they are all perfect squares

Then scale it out using the nut measuring technique or what ever you want to use, and draw bigger squares on a larger sheet of paper, and have the bigger squares be proportionaly ratio-ed (is that a word?) to the smaller ones. And then just go from there, drawing one square at a time. And sketch it lightly, and get a good eraser (you will need it)

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the Headstrock is Kewl, very Nice, but o be honest, i dont like the body at all at all, no ofence but looks a bt to Square, i no you want it to be origanal. but try make it have more shape, Thanks.... Keith

Ps Keep it up Im sure it will be kewl.

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