Andyjr1515

Another way is to take a few mm off the whole thickness - maybe down to 38mm? - then do a more modest 'arch' carve? Probably would take out more weight than just an arch.

I think 'Close, but no cigar' springs to mind. Or, considering this is MrsAndyjr1515 we are talking about, 'Not a chance....and DEFINITELY no cigar!!!!' Alfred (just in case...)

There are a few things to consider: You need enough depth for: the pickups and fixings; pots; jacksocket or - if planning a top-loaded jack position - the jack itself; neck pocket floor Whatever, I wouldn't go thinner than 25mm at the thinnest point. Even then, I tend to have to cut the pickup fixing screws shorter so they don't poke through the bottom! Personally, I'm generally comfortable with a neck pocket bottom of, say, 15mm (depending on the wood). However, if that makes you nervous, you can always taper the carve so the body becomes progressively thicker from the tailstock to the heel Visually, that looks fine to me - and will take out a LOT of weight - but make those checks and consider the 'how am I going to' aspects of each of the elements. Hope this helps Andy

And fingers crossed time. All packed in high-density foam in a sturdy flightcase surrounded by expanded polystyrene in a sturdy box; 'No CITES timbers' declaration signed with original invoices for wood species attached; delivered in person to the main regional courier depot. With US Customs officials having not been paid for 30+ days due to Trump's considerate management of his country, what could possibly go wrong....

Well - as it happens, every challenge is an opportunity First of all, checking the walnut against a full-size template, by just shortening the bass by 1/2", which wouldn't change the look at all, I can actually fit it all on... : Top Back But in the PM discussions with @fleabag, we kicked around Plan C in any case and... ..we're going for it A Sapele back - still with the purpleheart in between - means I can widen the rear bout to P bass size (which @fleabag would prefer) and the difference between the two widths of the top to the back gives me scope for a 'sucked lozenge' carve between the two. It has every chance of looking fabulous Oh...and this has just arrived Call me presumptuous, but I reckon that could be a neck and bridge

Ah...may have hit my first snag. There are options so not the end of the world, but maybe a rethink in terms of the 'Walnut top and back' approach... Or maybe I can design the issue out. When I was visualising the back and top from the same planks, I was banking on the shorter lower horn making space for the solid upper horn: But I was thinking 'normal' configuration where the top has a cutaway for the neck pocket Just now, drawing the back: ...I'm remembering that, to fillet underneath the neck, both the top and the back go beyond the centre-line. So - as pictured - it's not going to fit. I'm going to get the planks out and see how much leeway I actually have. This is a shorter body than the 'P' I used for the original chalk marks, so it MIGHT just fit. Plan B, if it doesn't quite fit but misses by just a tiny bit is to shorten the body length a tiny bit more Plan C, if it doesn't fit by a lot, is to use a different wood for the back. I've actually got some of the same Sapele as I used on the back of @scrumpymike 's build so it wouldn't be the end of the world:

It's not so unusual for there to be an isolated high spot. As @gary mac says, not a big job when done by someone who knows what they are doing. Would be worth popping it over to him rather than messing about too much.

@fleabag - I'd missed off the control plate off my mockup. You going to post your mockup of my mockup?

No problem - peak and longer horn it is then, you naughty thing

So this is with the peak: This is a bit off the peak: And this is a bit more off the peak: Subtle or what

Ref Mick's observation (he does have a very good eye for such things), I'll do a version with the top horn not made smaller but just rounding off that slight peak off the top and see how that looks side by side. It'll be a while before I cut wood so next will be to go back to the paper version, cut out the revised shape and overlay it on the actual timber just to make sure so plenty of time to make sure it's as you want it.

By the way - the pickup rectangle might not be to scale...

This is the same, but with the back a bit rounder:

Did a quick mockup in Inkscape. Ignore the chalk marks on the wood and also the white border round the purpleheart pickup cover, but this is broadly to scale in terms of where the wood fits. Slightly shortened horn but nothing that a bit of surgery couldn't fix if you wanted a bigger one, @fleabag I can't make the large bout wider because of the wood width, but maybe the top horn a tad smaller? Or a bit shorter? Or the back a bit rounder?

Mmmm - that might work. Looks less messy than plaster of paris….

Yes - I agree. I was going to do that on version 2 and forgot!

I've done an in initial minor tweak on the shape before I get it onto Inkscape: One of the reasons for doing that is that I will turn it over and trace the back view - again, I find it's easier to 'think' through options for the bottom joint with a pencil and rubber... But the other thing that is essential on these types of build is a bit of prototyping. @fleabag's neck is on its way but, in the meantime I have a 6-string electric neck to hand that I can fiddle about with. This is VERY roughly carved, but this is the basic concept. The neck heel sits on the body back in the normal way, and the top is carved to fill in the gaps: At the back, pre-carve, it covers this area. You can see the thinnest part of the top fillet between the back and the neck: Clearly the main rectangle of the heel has to remain uncarved as that is where the neck sits and is attached. However, the 'half moon' area and edges can be curved and carved to look a little more elegant and to reduce the Fender-style 'brickwall' arrival of the body as your fretting thumb moves up towards the upper frets. Indeed, there's no reason why a Precision Lyte (?) softened corner carve couldn't be incorporated - there's plenty of meat to support the machine screws: I still may be proved wrong, but I think the above flat back/carved top fillet concept might just work....

That will be the same wood I use for the control panel and the pickup cover

For tweaking the body shape, I find Inkscape a decent poor man's CAD package, but I do find it easier to start with pencil, set square and paper. Main reason is that the fundamental limits are very easy to get down - the design envelope, the neck dimensions, etc.. For the envelope, I traced round a P bass body I have hanging around (as you do), then marked against that the fretboard dimensions (including 12th fret relative position) using a Squier hanging on the wall and then overlaying the maximum dimensions of the walnut - which, at 320mm max is a touch narrower than a P. Using @fleabag 's photo as a guide, I drew a general outline that I will then transfer into Inkscape to do the aesthetic tweaking. But here's the rough pencil-drawn outline: Initial thoughts are that the leading edge of the top horn needs to be a touch steeper and the top waist maybe a tweaked a bit to match the offset of the tail. But I can tweak that to my and @fleabag 's hearts content on Inkscape. The other part at this stage is to look at the thicknesses of the various components at the neck joint: This is full scale, again using a Squier neck for dimensions - although when @fleabag 's arrives I'll double check it - and here we're in a bit of good luck. Because the walnut is relatively thin (we'll be using basically two tops rather than a top and thicker back) the plan is to have a central splice. And in a flash of inspiration I think I know what that should be! @fleabag wants a purpleheart pickup cover and the neck to be stained to match. So why not use the purpleheart neck splices that David Dyke sells as the body splice. These are the splices in my Swift Lite neck: And they are 6mm thick. And 6mm in between top and back walnut of 13mm each is 32mm - perfect! But there's another bit of good luck. Have another look at that drawing: See the (to scale) back wood. And the 6mm central layer (ie purpleheart) and look where the bottom of the neck heel sits! On top of the back assembly. Then add the depth of the neck - and the fretboard is EXACTLY where my Squier neck fits in relation to the top of the top. And the bridge that @fleabag is sending me is the Schaller low height roller unit - which is the within the adjustment range of a standard Fender P or J bridge I'm chuffed at that Next jobs are to draw the back and then load the drawings into Inkscape - and that's tomorrow's job.

Genius!

Haven't got my finger out.... ...but I HAVE got the drawing board out

I like that type of figuring. I've always preferred that type on Gibson Les Paul tops against the more frequently seen flame tops.

Actually, a useful distraction based on the fact that I haven't got any further with @fleabag 's.

Looks good