Andyjr1515

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

No Next!

Actually, just put the final touches on the Swift Lite 2 a moment ago so close but no cigar cup of tea!

I'm never shocked at how much I mess up. Disappointed, yes, but never surprised What's wrong with the headstock size? Have you checked the tuner positions and string runs? On the face of it it looks like you could get good straight runs. Have you ever seen an Ibanez SR without the tuners fitted...the headstocks look positively weird. But once the tuners are on it looks fine. If it is big enough for functional reasons, it looks fine to me personally on visuals...

Probably a bit of both I'm going to draw it full size over the next couple of days but I'm pretty sure the bottom of the neck pocket will end up at the level of the back wood. If so, the only thing I have to fillet is the top wood, starting from a rectangular 'neck pocket' shaped hole. If so, a bullnose router bit or similar isn't a bad idea to rough it out @Si600 , and remembering the apprentice school engineer blue fitting techniques- but using blackboard chalk instesd of blue and scrapers to fine finish it all off, @SpondonBassed .... So I might have to retitle to: "Andyjr1515, Si600 & Spondonbassed meet their Nemesis?"

Ah...but if it all fails, I have to buy @fleabag a new neck....

At the moment I'm not planning modding the neck. If I was, then yes, I think something on those lines My thought at the moment is to shape the body a little bit like @eude 's erstwhile Shuker and carve a cradle for the neck to slot into. Do I have proven skills to be able to do that? No - not yet Could this end badly? Please refer to the title

Well that's crazy! I literally bing'd 'single cut bass rear view' to find a picture to show people what I was talking about! The really wierd thing was that three of the other photos were of Kert's camphor single cut - one of my own builds

I'm sure I won't.....

Ah! Full acknowledgement, therefore, to ziegenfuss for a beautiful bass that we will use as our...er hum ... inspiration!

Thanks That was also a fun project. Mike had one of these: ….and he loved the sounds, but didn't like the look and wanted more like a Precision Lyte. We agreed that I'd try a totally reversible conversion - even the headstock - so, if he ever wanted to sell, he could revert to original. Here were the two together: The headstock is just a plate held on with 2 sided tape - you can see the green underneath in the logos And the walnut ( @scrumpymike 's mate Merv was a professional axeman/woodcutter all his life) worked beautifully: An hour's work and it would be back into a Rascal and ready for sale at no loss in value I certainly see what you mean about the controls and, for the life of me, can't remember why they are so close together. Maybe Andyjr1515 actually already met his Nemesis back then. Don't tell Mike, though, in case he hasn't noticed