mistermikev

oh jeez... how much was done... well technically I did it on cnc but it was my first ever cnc gtr so I had to redo so much, it would be fair to say it was all done manually.  All the edge profiles cuts stopped short of the actual edge so had to manually massage them.  there were all sorts of "artifacts" in my 3d model that I didn't realize... so had to do aggressive sanding of the contour.  Didn't plan initially on a piezo so had to drill a channel for that to meet the pickup cavity and then drill a hole from top down.  I learned all I know about the 3d side of it (which is not a lot) by watching youtube videos and really studying the material.  I must have spent 200+ hours developing this bass (not well spent... just tripping over myself).  As such I can't really impart a lot of real knowledge on you but I can tell you the "gotchas" that I learned...

always get your neck design done first.  this is the most complicated part and admittedly I procrastinated on it because of that... and it cost me.  once you learn how to design a 3D neck... body contours are pretty straight fwd.  if you can master the transition from neck-profile(backside) to heel and neck-profile to headstock... everything else will seem easy!  All of this is very specific to the tool u use... and I'm not sure it matters what tool you use... they all do some things well and others not.  If I had to do over again I would learn an open source tool.

Fusion360 is a very popular tool for guitar making and there is LOTS of videos for it... I don't think I'd rule that tool out afa being the way to go.  If I had to start over I think that is what I'd try.

I don't think there are any "easy" tools for cnc... there is going to be a learning curve no matter what. 

In general the way I completed things like neck/heel transition was multiple intersections of shapes.  for example... looking at sideview you would setup a simple s curve.  looking at top view you would setup a simple "c" shape.  at first try, the transition between those two was very crude so I had to think about how the "slices" of a 3D shape would change in that transition... then create a modified "slice" between those 2 initial points and transition between the 3. 

when that wasn't satisfying... I split the design of that area in half two more times and repeated the process to assimilate the transition I saw in my mind into the 3D design version of it.  Def not the most efficient method... but that is how I did it.  afa the body... sm thing.  I started with an arc'd shape for the top and another for the back.  Then I did a 2 rail sweep for the edges using triangular shapes.  I transitioned that triangular bevel into an roundover.    

that is about the best I can explain it... I hope you find something useful there... again I've really only been doing cnc for a couple years so a total newbie and not a great teacher (sorry).    Also, members here like curtisa and mikro were huge helps in terms of answering questions.  Def take advantage of the forum here and even fusion 360 specific forums... you will likely find all sorts of good input.

well... depends what you mean.  I freq start off w photoshop/gimp just doing a mock up and figuring out how I want the guitar to look as this gives me ability to snap a photo of a top and see what that actual top will look like and how best to orient it.  photoshop also has ability to do 3d and I tried it once but not for me. i do cnc so 3d design via a few programs there but not sure if that's what you mean.