Andyjr1515

Well this is the exciting thing. @scrumpymike works with Gillett Guitars and, through him, I've been able to see some of the innards of these remarkable basses and guitars. I won't go through the finer features of the guitar design itself as it is truly unique and I'm sure Gillett want to keep ahead of the plagiarists as long as they can - it and the basses have a number of patented features which helps. But, I've had the chance to talk at length with their technical manager and - bearing in mind these are both CNC'd and hand-tooled and finished components...high precision stuff - he showed me the components. They were treated exactly the same as the mahogany components for the main production models. It was finish-fitted, sanded, sealed and final finished in exactly the same way. I saw some pieces close to and, if I hadn't been told, I wouldn't have known it wasn't solid wood... By the way...there may well be a full feature in one of the major mags on this material and this specific guitar in the coming months...

Blast! That's a b****r!

OK - I won't hijack my own thread, but it's this game-changing Gillett Contour 6 string Electric in Rocklite Sundari It's been doing the shows over the past couple of months - it's the first full 'top back and sides' use of Rocklite Sundari worldwide - and now it's in my sticky mitts The cutaways are natural walnut. The top back and sides are artificial - the Rocklite Sundari (which aims to be an alternative to Rosewood, now highly regulated and restricted in use and sale). Just look at that grain! I'll do a proper run through when I get a moment on the 'Other Instruments' bit and on Guitarchat but suffice to say I am VERY excited.

OK - something like this? There would be a purpleheart demarcation between the two.

I share your love of the carving stage. It always seems to be the shortest part of the whole process, though! This is a delightful carve, @Marcoelwray Top drawer

Entirely possible

Yes - quite...

It will probably be next week before I actually get to cutting wood on this. Once you start cutting wood then decisions have been made and opportunities for changing - or correcting - those decisions are limited. The real challenge is that the neck fillet carve has to be the final one. No opportunity for adjustment of neck angle - because of the fill-in carve - so it has to be right first time. Also - there are other things to check with custom builds. Such as 'will it fit in a standard case?' So I do a lot of musings and ponderings and checkings...there are a lot of -ings in an average custom build! This is one of the reasons I keep an old P body. It's a good double check and, for this one, it gives me a decent guide how much wider we can go with the Sapele back if we want to: So I have at least 15mm each side of the widest part of the rear bout. What I will do next is draw the back template in Inkscape and have a go at simulating what the revised concept could look like. But that will have to wait - I'm just off to meet @scrumpymike who is going to pass across to me something VERY exciting (and this time for ME! )

Ah...that assumes that I'm clever enough not to have a gap in the first place! Ref the specific point, if I base it on my experiment with the guitar neck, the actual distance from the end of the flat heel to where the top horn will come to is not very long. Bear in mind that the relief at the centre of a properly adjusted neck is miniscule, then the movement for an inch just past the heel will be a small fraction of miniscule. Almost certainly smaller than my building tolerances capability Or put more simply...I think that's the least of my problems....

Clearly, it depends on the density of the wood, but just as a guide, the degree of chambering I did on Harry's bass reduced the overall playing weight from 10.5lbs to 9lbs.

Absolutely.

Now that's dedication! Well, I reckon your instincts about the Sapele back are right, @fleabag The extra width we can get on that rear bout will balance up the look beautifully. Nice neck, by the way

Ooooooh….I'd forgotten that you are veneering it! Oh absolutely. Do you remember Harry's Harley Benton bass? It is surprising JUST how much chambering you need to do, but this made a big, big difference to the playability.

Like this - The top rhs one is mine - the others came with the guitar And it hides this: Which took remarkably little weight out, but did it change it from 'unplayable' to 'only just playable'

Another thing I've done in the past with overly heavy solid bodies is rout a chamber in the back with a 'false' control chamber cover...

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